Spell 25 - Beast-Bite
Spell 25
Beast – Bite
TTT – TTT
Ponyville was quiet, with most of the town lulled into the sweet embrace of the night’s slumber. Save for a few lights here and there, the town was swept into the darkness with only the symphony of the night that cracked the silence.
WHAM!
“OW! MY TALON!”
“Ooh, never heard that song before, Neato Nitoh!”
Outside the borders of the town, with a number of lights surrounding them, Pinkie and Nitoh attempted to combine a large amount of oddities – An accordion, several tires, confetti, chicken-wire, hammers and much, much more – which was a losing battle. Especially since Nitoh had one of his talons in his beak, a hammer at his lion back legs. “Owwie…”
Pinkie Pie however was more concerned with molding some of the chicken wire. “Whistle while you work – That’s what my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, GREAT, great grandpa said!”
“Speaking of work, what exactly are we doing here?” Kosuke asked after he pulled his thumb talon from his beak. “I get that we making some sort of… Whatchamacallit, but…”
“Actually, its more of a thingamabob,” Pinkie Pie answered back with a warm smile on her face.
“There’s a difference?” Kosuke questioned as he used his tail to lift up the hammer again. “Wait, that wasn’t my question – What I want to know is why. Why do we need all this stuff?”
“Oh, we still need a lot more,” Pinkie Pie answered before she kicked a large chunk of chicken wire, and molded it more. “We’re not even half way done with what we need! We need a couple speakers from Vinyl Scratch, some nails and lots more!”
“That doesn’t really answer the question,” Kosuke stated bluntly, a small bead of sweat rolled down the back of his head.
“Well, let me tell ya, Neato Nitoh,” Pinkie replied as she trotted up close to the griffon, leaned near the side of his head, and then whispered. “It’s a secret!”
Kosuke’s face slumped and his eyes dulled greatly.
“Now that we got that question with the right answer,” the pink mare sung before she trotted back to her mysterious project. “Let’s get back to work! We need to get this done as soon as possible!”
The griffon sighed loudly to himself, “The things I do to keep myself entertained.”
TTT - TTT
“Twilight Sparkle! What an excellent job you did!”
Twilight could feel her chest swell with pride as she trotted alongside Princess Celestia through the highly decorated Ponyville. Everything was perfect – The food, the decorations, the ponies themselves – There weren’t even any Phantoms around. Nothing could possibly ruin this. The purple mare bowed her head slightly, “Thank you, Princess! It’s an honor to hear you say that!”
“I just have one question,” Celestia stated.
“And w-what’s that?” Twilight asked.
“What is that sound?”
Twilight’s eyes snapped open, revealing the slightly reddened orbs. ‘Darn it! It was just a dream and… What is that noise?’
At first, Twilight chalked up that what she heard was nothing more than Spike’s snores. But, there were far too many noises to be a single snore.
As she lifted her head up, Twilight turned around and saw something that struck fear into her heart. “W-Where did you all come from!?”
All around her – on her bed, on the bookshelves, atop of the curtains, on the floor and pretty much everywhere – Were countless carbon copies of the little creature that Twilight had gotten from Fluttershy yesterday, the only difference was that they were all completely different colors. And, unfortunately, when Twilight had yelled out, she had woken up almost all of the bugs and buzzed about the room.
“AAAH! TWILIGHT HELP!”
Twilight turned to see that Spike was lifted through the air by his tail, spines and even his legs thanks to the bugs. Comically, Garuda was on top of Spike’s head, he wasn’t being bugged by the critters, he just relaxed much to the baby dragon’s chagrin. “Get’em off! Get’em off!”
“Spike! What happened?!” Twilight questioned, lighting her horn with her magic to pull Spike free from the little bugs’ grasps.
“I… I don’t know!” Spike yelped out, being gently lowered to the floor with Garuda still seated atop his head. “I gave the little guy some of Haru’s donut stash as a midnight snack, but there was still only one!”
Garuda tweeted a few times.
As a familiar who didn’t need any actual sleep, Garuda was graced with the knowledge of where the many bugs originated from. As it turned out, whenever the buggy creatures devoured food, that food would activate their asexual reproductive systems and they would literally cough up their offspring.
It was actually an interesting event to see happen again and again, although, if Garuda needed any food to live, he’d probably be a little mad since the bugs had raided the fridge and cupboards to devour all the food in the library. Then again, at most, Garuda just pecked at a few seeds every once in a great while, but he still didn’t need to eat food.
Unfortunately, Garuda was unable to convey this information to Twilight or Spike, since, well, he could only speak in tweets. Oh, the stories he could tell if he could only speak their language – not only about what had happened last night, but also the one time he flew across Ponyville he saw this big blue box that faded out of sight, or the one time he went out at midnight and noticed that there was an extra hour between midnight and the next day.
This world is weird.
“Where’s Haru?” Twilight asked as she galloped about, trying to shoo some of the bugs from the bookshelves. “The Princess is going to be here in a few hours and we need all the help we can get to clean this up!”
“I don’t know!” Spike yelped, shooing away some of the little buggers away from him as they tried to lift him off of the ground once more. “AHHH!”
“Spike! This isn’t the time to play around!” Twilight scolded as she watched Spike get lifted off the ground once more.
Garuda snickered from his perch as he watched Twilight’s horn glow once more, only this time that aura spread throughout the entire room and capture all of the little critters into a lavender aura net. This net however also caught Spike amongst the bugs with it, and he was trapped inside the magic.
Once again, Garuda was getting a kick out of this and laughed loudly as Twilight used her magic to send the baby dragon spiraling to the floor from the net.
Without a sound, Twilight used her magic to stuff all of her captured prey into her saddlebags as best she could. “Spike, I’m going to bring these to Fluttershy, if anypony knows what to do with these things, she would.”
“B-But, didn’t you say that she didn’t know what they were?” Spike pointed out as he picked up a few of the fallen books.
“Yes, but she’s great with animals,” Twilight countered as she lifted the saddlebags onto her back. “She’s sure to have learned something about these… things by now! I’ll go see her, but Spike, can you try to clean this place again?”
“Sure!” Spike replied with his tail lifted up in a salute.
“And if Haru shows up, enlist him immediately!” Twilight continued before she trotted down the stairs.
“Aye aye!”
A few moments later, Twilight bustled out of the library, taking a few moments to make sure that none of the destructive little bugs had gotten out from the saddlebags. ‘Gotta hurry up! Gotta hurry up!’
“Excuse me, miss,” a suave voice called out to Twilight.
The young mare turned to the right to see that there was a small table set up a few feet from the library that was covered with a purple cloth with several cards laid atop of it. Behind the table was an older unicorn stallion with a receded black mane, his horn glowed brightly as he shuffled the cards on his table. “You seem troubled, is there something the matter?”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Twilight replied with a slight bow of her head. “But I really don’t have time to talk…”
“I would image so,” The fortune teller chuckled as one of the cards from the pile fell to the table, a familiar white mare with horn and wings was on the upside down card. “After all, with the sun itself coming to visit, anypony would be nervous.”
Twilight slowly turned away from the odd fortune teller as another card fell from the pile – This one with a stallion with a powdered wig and gavel, upside down once more. “I should warn you Miss, you need to have clear judgment on this situation! Otherwise, you’ll be stuck with those nasty little buggers and make things quite bad for your princess.”
The studious mare stopped in her tracks and turned to see that stallion still shuffled the cards with his magical aura. “W-What?”
“Oh, do you find it strange that I know of your infestation problem?” the fortune teller stated with a coy smile on his face as he looked at the cards on the table. “My dear, my talent is seeing the future, and knowing the unknown. You’d be surprised what the cards hold, after all, we still have to show what your future holds – could be good, could be bad.
“And as a plus, I’m doing this for free.”
Twilight turned back and shifted her eyes about at the odd stallion. Part of her was curious what else this stallion knew of her situation, but another part of her didn’t want to waste time – And yet, she couldn’t help but trot over to the stallion as he used his magic to bring the messed up cards into a single pile that floated over the table.
The fortune teller smiled as he focused his magic on the top of the deck, however as he did, a few sparks flew from his horn and two cards slipped from the deck. “Gah!”
The two cards floated down onto the table – One that had a familiar bearded stallion dressed in a blue cloak and magician’s hat that had stars, moon, and bells on it. The other card was rather odd – With a pink stallion with a wild black mane with a pan-flute and dressed in a brown tunic. The fortune teller eyed the two cards and tilted his head, “Well, one of them is the magician card – and it would say that you’ll have the knowledge needed to meet your challenge.
“But the other one… I… I never saw this card in my deck before. I have no clue what it means – It could be good, it could be bad, I’m not sure.”
“Well, this was nice, but as you already pointed out with your pretty little cards,” Twilight huffed as she turned to walk away from the stand. “I have a bit of a problem that I need to be able to deal with! Have a nice day.”
“W-Wait a second!” The fortune teller staggered with his words, but slumped his shoulders when he realized that Twilight had trotted off.
With a sigh, the stallion smiled brightly as he lifted his left hoof up to reveal a green bug, the same that Twilight had stuffed in her saddle bags. The fortune teller’s eyes gleamed a bright green, “Well, her fault for not listening to the rest of my prediction. Now my little friend, go enjoy a meal for my account.”
The little critter buzzed before it flew off into the air, the fortune teller’s grin grew darker with each second. ‘Just a little longer – And once this Gate is awakened, we can awaken any other Gates in this town, after all, nothing like hunger to cause despair… Muhwahahaha…’
“Hey there!”
The fortune teller reeled back when he saw a feathered face only a few inches from his. Kosuke smiled brightly with his beak and pulled back, a large sack filled with odd parts sticking out from it. “A fortune teller, eh? I always love these things! Hey, can I get a reading?”
The stallion smiled once more as he used his magic to gather all of his cards and shuffle them into the air. “Ah, how interesting – A griffon. I don’t normally get a customer like you. Would you care for a free reading?”
Kosuke blinked a few times as he sat down on the ground, “Ah, really? I don’t mean to trouble you with that.”
“It’s no trouble at all,” the fortune teller stated as he placed the shuffled deck right in front of him and then used his magic to lift the top card from it slowly. “I can’t help but worry about you – You seem to have an aura of danger around you.”
“Oh?” Kosuke mused as the card slipped down in front of him – The same card that had the bearded stallion on it.
“This is -!” the fortune teller gasped. ‘Again with the magician card – I thought I eliminated the ring mage already though…’
“You don’t need to tell everypony,” Kosuke chuckled as he lifted his hand up in front of the fortune teller’s face. The griffon then snatched up the card and lifted it into the air. “It’s swirling around in me… But it’s whittling away at my life. That’s what you wanted to say, right?”
The fortune teller cleared his throat as he produced more cards from the deck, “Uhh, I’m rather amazed you know. Not many know what the tarot cards mean right off the back. Back to your fortune however, it suggest that your current situation may be hopeless.”
“Heh, what’s expected from a fortune-teller,” Kosuke chuckled with a goofy smile on his face. “You must know everything!”
“To a degree,” the fortune teller chuckled. “But, it’s quite amazing – You have yet to give into despair. Is there something to support your heart?”
“What?” Kosuke asked with his head tilted slightly. “Support my heart? My ticker’s doing just fine.”
“So I can see,” The fortune teller loomed in closer towards the griffon. “But you must have something that prevents you from falling into the depths of despair – Would you mind sharing that with me? It’ll help my reading greatly.”
Kosuke crossed his arms and rubbed his lower beak. “Hmm… Well… This would be a pinch, right?”
“A pinch?” The fortune teller questioned as Kosuke dropped the sack of items to the ground.
“Yeah! You see, basically, a pinch is a chance,” the griffon explained as he walked around the balding stallion. “When driven into a corner, you think of new ideas. When forced to rock bottom, there’s only one place to go, and that’s up! Your job is to tell ponies’ fortunes…”
Kosuke used his tail to whip up the magician card and hold it over his head. “So, I think your advice should be a bit more positive! After all, if you know what’s going to come, you need repeat business and get those ponies a coming again and again!”
“I, uh, well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” the fortune teller admitted.
“That’s the spirit!” Kosuke stated as he wrapped an arm around the balding stallion’s neck. “Who knows! Karma might smile upon you and get you your hair back!”
“Wait, what?!”
Before the fortune teller could tell off Kosuke, a joyous voice called out, “Neato Nitoh! There you are! Hurry up! We still need a kazoo!”
“Sorry about that, Pinkie!” Kosuke called back before he leapt away from the fortune teller, with his tail wrapped around the burlap sack. The griffon waved his talon to the balding stallion, “Thanks again, sir! I had fun here!”
The fortune teller stood there dumbfounded as the griffon walked away from his table. ‘What the Tartarus just happened? Oh well, after I awaken the Gate I’m currently after, he’s next. I’ll make him suffer despair and… Gee, I sound so clichéd!’
TTT – TTT
“P-Please stop. Stealing is wrong! T-That food belongs to… Oh! Please don’t knock that over!”
At Fluttershy’s cabin, a countless and colorful assortment horde of the bugs flew around the area just outside the Everfree forest, eating plants and the animals’ food, or just flew about to take up space around the area. The yellow mare trotted about and attempted to try to calm the horde of insects. “N-no! Angel! Please stop hurting them!”
Angel just ignored Fluttershy as he reeled up a random carrot and slammed it into one of the bugs. The little white rabbit pumped one of its paws as it readied itself to whack another bug with the carrot.
The young mare winced as Angel knocked another bug through the air.
“Fluttershy!”
The animal caretaker turned to see her two unicorn friends quickly trot up to the mare, while in the air above, Rainbow Dash flew through the air trying to dodge the onslaught of bugs that chased her. With a nervous smile, Fluttershy trotted towards her friends, “Oh, h-hello girls. I didn’t know that you were visiting today, if I-I had known…”
“Dear, I believe you’ve got bigger issues to deal with,” Rarity pointed out, while trying to keep the bugs within her saddlebags.
“Fluttershy, do you know what these things are?” Twilight asked as she used her magic to pull one of the bugs from the air. “They’re everywhere!”
“I… I don’t know, Twilight!” Fluttershy wailed as she fell to the ground. “I tried everything I could with them! I tried asking them to stop. I tried pleading, bribing, giving them the ‘stare’, but nothing works!”
Twilight bit her lower lip, “This isn’t good, we need to figure out what these things are and how to deal with them!”
“They’re Parasprites,” A familiar masculine voice called out to the mares.
Walking up to the small trio of mares was none other than Kosuke, an empty sack wrapped up in his tail. Almost immediately, Fluttershy’s worries melted away and she trotted over to the exuberant griffon. “Neato! You know what these things are?”
“Not personally,” Kosuke replied as he rubbed the back of his feathered head. “Way too many of them to do that, plus, they only speak insect. I’m not too familiar with dialect.”
“Mr. Nitoh,” Twilight drew the griffon’s attention. She froze for a few moments, still having a hard time trying to believe that this griffon was the famous archeologist that she had read about for ages. “How do you know what these things are?”
“Hmm? Oh, that’s simple, Little Miss Magic,” Kosuke chuckled, one of his clawed talons lifted up and wagged it a little bit in front of him. “Your pink friend informed me of what this little buggers are and she’s working hard on a solution.”
A smile crept onto Twilight’s face, “Really? She knows what these are and how to get rid of them? How is she doing it?”
Kosuke chuckled as he looked away from the purple eyes that leered at him. “W-Well, she didn’t really tell me what we were making with all the stuff we’re borrowing. Oh, that reminds me, Flutters, you got any, uh well, you got tools around here? I’m kinda looking for a wrench, headlight fluid and some sort of soup can mechanic or something like that.”
“Um, sorry, but I don’t have those things,” Fluttershy replied.
The griffon snapped his talons and clicked his tongue against his teeth, “Great, that’s going to be a problem. Oh well, I’ll find that stuff later… So, why are you all out here?”
Rarity and Twilight leered at the griffon before they pointed towards the clouds of Parasprites that flew overhead. Kosuke chuckled nervously as he rubbed his feathers again. “Oh, right, duh! Flutters was always good with animals.”
“And you were always good at breaking things,” A rather familiar voice sounded out, which sent chills down Kosuke’s spine.
Slowly, the feathered hybrid turned around to see Rainbow Dash now midair behind him, using her wings to keep herself afloat in the air (as well as to slap away some of the Parasprites that flew around her). She had her front hooves crossed over his chest with a cold glare aimed directly at the griffon. Kosuke’s feathers were immediately drenched with an icy sweat as he slowly backed away from the obviously angered pegasus. “N-N-Now, Dashie, let me warn you. There are witnesses here, and if you strike me down, I shall return twice as…”
Kosuke never got to finish. Because at that very moment, Dash had slammed both of her hind legs into the griffon’s chest and sent him through the air. Kosuke screamed as he sailed through the massive amount of Parasprites.
“Going, going, gone!” Dash laughed loudly.
“Rainbow!” Twilight scolded as she trotted up to her multicolor haired friend. “Why did you do that!? We need all the help we can get with this situation!”
“I can’t help it, Twi,” Dash sighed with a roll of her eyes. “That griffon is nothing but trouble!”
“Rainbow, Neato’s just a little clumsy,” Fluttershy spoke up, her brow a little furrowed. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean to cause any trouble.”
“Oh?” Dash huffed. “What about the one time he ‘accidentally’ stole your lunch and slathered it in mayonnaise? Or when he crashed through my old house’s roof? Or when…”
“Dash, we don’t have time for this!” Twilight interrupted as she stomped a hoof into the dirt. “Princess Celestia will be here soon, and we need to clear this mess up! We’d need all the help we can get!”
“Doubt that you’d get any help from that slacker,” Dash muttered under his breath.
WHAM!
“UGH!”
“What in tarnation!? MAH APPLES!”
The small group of mares turned to see that Kosuke had smashed into a cart of apples that Applejack had pulled up to Fluttershy’s house. Not only did the griffon smash into her apples, the Parasprites were eating the bits of apples that fell from the cart. Applejack narrowed her eyes at the griffon and Parasprites, “Who in Celestia’s mane are…”
“Applejack!”
The southern mare’s head snapped back to see her friends trotting up to her, Twilight leading the group. “This is perfect! Applejack, you’re the best pony around who can herd like no other.”
AJ rubbed her front hoof against her chest, a bright smile on her face, “Ah don’t like tooting mah own horn, but…”
“Can you help us round up these Parasprites, please?!” Twilight begged.
AJ smiled brightly, “Shoot Twi, no need to be so formal! Ah’m always ready and willin’ to help a friend!”
A couple of loud crunches caught the mares’ attentions back to the apple cart, where Kosuke was munching on one of the apples he managed to save from the Parasprites. “These are really good apples!”
“Alright, Mistah Griffon,” Applejack sighed as she bucked the cart to knock Kosuke out of the cart. “Yer gunna help us out with this.”
“What?!”
TTT - TTT
“And with this last book… DONE!”
Spike sighed with relief as he wiped his brow. He had spent the good portion of the last hour fixing up the mess that the Parasprites had made, of course, the baby dragon didn’t do the cleaning by himself. Garuda and Uni gave their own aid to the number one assistant, with Uni pushing away debris while Garuda helped sort books.
When the work was done, the three sat down on the floor, exhausted. Spike smiled as he rubbed his claw against Uni’s sapphires, “You two really are helpful – And you still look tasty.”
Both Garuda and Uni leered at the dragon.
“Kidding, kidding!” Spike nervously chuckled as he lifted his claws up. “I’m not gonna take a bite out of you guys… Again…”
Garuda didn’t buy it for a minute and flew away from the dragon.
“I’m serious!” Spike stated.
The door to the library quickly opened up and allowed a familiar red dragon to fall to the wooden floor. “Ugh… So, tired…”
“Haru!” Spike ran towards his fellow dragon and got to his side, with both Garuda and Uni right next to him. “W-What happened to you? Where were you?”
“I… I was poisoned,” Haru sputtered out as he slowly pushed himself up. However, his claws slipped on the wooden floor and he landed face first into the ground once more. “By a… A Phantom…”
Spike reeled back when he heard that, “A… A Phantom?! Are you alright?! Should we get you to a doctor?”
“Already saw one,” Haru sighed, not bothering to lift his face up. “I’m cured, but I’m really, really low on mana and tired. But we can still track down the Phantom, I was only poisoned half an hour ago – Ya know, when I was going to get cleaning materials.”
“Huh? Haru, that was yesterday!” Spike pointed out.
The red dragon’s blue eyes widened and he struggled to lift his head up. “W-Wait, what? Are you kidding? But I was just poisoned less than an hour ago and… and…”
“Maybe that poison’s messing with your mind,” Spike suggested.
“Well, I just walked out of a blue box that wasn’t outside the library earlier,” the magical dragon muttered under his breath as he tried once more to push himself off of the ground. This time actually able to get to his feet, admittedly he was still shaky, but still he was up. “In any case, Garuda, Unicorn…”
The two familiars nodded and went out of the library through the door. Haru sighed as he ran his claws over his face. “Thanks. While those two look for the Phantom, I need to rest for a few minutes – Spike, do we have anything to eat or something?”
“Uh, well… Not really,” Spike answered with a nervous smile on his face. “A lot’s happened since you left to pick up the cleaning materials.”
TTT – TTT
Thanks to the efforts of Applejack’s herding skills, the five mares and one griffon were capable of forcing the Parasprites into the Everfree Forest – which was to cram the bugs into a large ball and rolled them into the woods. With Fluttershy and Dash in the air, the rest of the group galloped around the orb of bugs (which was odd since Kosuke should’ve been with the two pegasai, but didn’t do so).
With the last of the Parasprites now in the Everfree Forest, Twilight was able to finally breathe a sigh of relief. ‘This is perfect! Now all we have to do is do some clean up the mess the Parasprites made, and everything will be all ready for Princess Celestia.’
“Woohoo!” Kosuke cheered as he threw his talons up towards Twilight. “Great job! High hoof!”
Twilight blinked at Kosuke’s action, and when the griffon realized that Twilight wasn’t going to slap his talon, Kosuke turned to Rarity. “High hoof!”
Rarity stepped back from griffon’s talons and Kosuke pocketed his talons into his jacket. “Great, thanks for leaving me hanging.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Nitoh,” Twilight replied with a slight bow. “Thank you for your help, you too girls. You don’t know how much this means.”
“Shucks, Twi, ya’ll don’t need to thank us,” Applejack stated with a wave of her hoof. “That’s what we’re here fer.”
“Indeed, we all have to pitch in to make sure Princess Celestia’s visit is absolutely perfect,” Rarity added.
“Well, it was nice working with you all,” Kosuke chuckled as he waved his talon. “But I gotta find Miss Pie and…”
Kosuke started to leave, but was yanked back. As it turned out, Rainbow Dash had landed on his tail without him noticing. Of course when he realized that he was trapped, he looked up to see that Dash had her eyes narrowed down at him. “Uh… Could you please move?”
“I’m not gonna let you get away this time,” Dash growled as she put pressure on the griffon’s tail, sending a jolt of pain up the griffon’s body.
“Gah!” Kosuke yelped loudly.
“Um, girls, why don’t we head back to my cottage for a moment? I’ll make us some tea before we get back to work,” Fluttershy offered as she used her wings to fly into the air. Save for Rainbow Dash, the other mares trotted behind the yellow pegasus to the cottage in the distance.
“N-NO! DON’T LEAVE ME!” Kosuke pleaded as he reached out to the mares – But they left him alone with Rainbow Dash.
With a loud, audible gulp, the goofy griffon slowly turned his head back and met with a pair rose colored eyes that pierced his very soul. A nervous smile crawled onto Kosuke’s beak and he lifted his talons up defensively, “H-Hey there, little Dashie! L-Look, I’ll pay you back for your Spitfire figure, I have the bits and… And I just need to find one and I can…”
“Oh, just shut up!” Dash barked.
Kosuke’s neck lowered slightly, “Yes, Dash.”
“Good,” Dash growled as she pushed off of the ground so that she was off of Kosuke’s tail. “This isn’t about just the figure – There’s more!”
“Uh, okay,” Kosuke gulped.
“You just up and leave Cloudsdale one day,” Dash jabbed her hoof into Kosuke’s chest a few times. “You just disappear – After everything you break, after everything that happened, what the Tartarus happened that day!?”
Kosuke turned his attention away Rainbow’s gaze, knowing full well he couldn’t evade it. He took a deep breath, and with a weak smile on his face, the griffon lowered his head. “A lot happened that day, Dash… Way too much for me to recount. And a lot has happened in five years…”
“But you just disappeared!” Dash barked back. “Did you even see me pull off…”
“You don’t need to worry, Dashie,” Kosuke replied as he smiled brightly. “I saw that spectacular little stunt you did! The colors were amazing! You were really impressive, I’ll never forget that day!”
The scowl on Dash’s face slowly melted away into a cocky smile before she pumped out her chest, “Of course! Who else could be so awesome to pull off a Sonic Rainboom?”
Kosuke crossed his left arm over his chest and gripped his right shoulder tightly between his talons. And yet, he still had that smile on his face, “Nopony else, Dashie, nopony else. You run on pure, Grade-A kick-flank!”
“Aw yeah!” Rainbow Dash cheered out as she flew through the air. “Now hurry up! We’re getting left behind by the others!”
The griffon smiled as Dash flew off after the other mares, but Kosuke sighed under his breath and gripped his right shoulder even tighter. With a shake of his head, Kosuke slowly followed his old friend on the ground. ‘… Someday I’ll tell Dashie and Flutters, just not right now…’
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!”
When that scream shattered the silence, Dash turned back to Kosuke before she quickly flew through the air, the griffon running as fast as he could to keep up with the mare. When the two reached Fluttershy’s cottage, they saw that the others were surrounded by an incredibly large swarm of Parasprites that buzzed around the area. The griffon had to stop and take in everything that he was looking at, “Where in the world did they all come from!?”
“Um, w-well,” Fluttershy sheepishly answered with a shy smile on her face, and from her mane, a single Parasprite popped out to join its fellow bugs. “I might’ve kept one…”
The leers that Fluttershy got in response made her shirk back.
“Now, wait,” Kosuke questioned as he raised a brow. “Where did the Parasprites come from?”
“Fluttershy opened the door to her house,” Applejack explained. “And all them things just flew out into the sky!”
“But didn’t she keep one in her mane to keep?” Kosuke asked with his head tilted. “Then, if we just gathered all of them, then wouldn’t that mean that it wasn’t her Parasprite that made all of these?”
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it to think, ‘Mr. Nitoh does have a point – Even if Fluttershy did keep one, she had it on her while we were herded the others. Did someone else do this?’
“That’s it!” Dash yelled out as she reached into her mane and pulled out a pair of goggles that she slipped over her eyes. “Time to teach this adorable trash not to mess with the best!”
“Adorable?” Kosuke snickered with his talon brought to his beak.
WHAP!
“OW!”
After slapping Kosuke upside the head, Dash flew up high into the air and began to spin around through the air. The cyan pegasus flew faster and faster in circles until she became a multicolored twister that danced over the ground and actually began to suck up the Parasprites into it.
In order to make sure that they didn’t get drawn into the twister, the mares and griffon gripped onto nearby trees. The twister flew about the dirt road and the Parasprites disappeared into it.
“That’s it Rainbow!” Twilight yelled out, keeping her grip on tree. “Keep this up and soon our problems will be solved!”
“Don’t worry Twilight! They will be with these!”
Twilight turned to see Pinkie Pie skip down the path, four, silver circular items hung around her body that were connected with a rope. The items jingled with each step she took, but when she got close enough, the Twister immediately pulled them from the pink mare’s back. “HEY! Give those hubcaps back! They have to be bought in packs of four!”
Kosuke jumped from the tree he hugged, and latched onto the rope that was attached to the hubcaps. “Got them!”
“Neato!” Pinkie called out. “Who’s got you!?”
It took the griffon a second to realize that his feet and talons didn’t reach the ground, so he was being sucked up into the twister. “NOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo!”
The feathered and furred being was drawn into the multicolored twister, and moments later, both Kosuke and Rainbow Dash were flung from the twister and then crashed into the ground. Thankfully, Dash had managed to land atop of the griffon’s back. The two were completely dazed, but safe – however, with Dash no longer supporting the twister, the Parasprites were flung through the air towards Ponyville.
“No, no, no… NO!” Twilight screamed as she watched the small little bugs float down from the sky onto the town. Another hair atop of Twilight’s head sprung up as she turned towards the pink mare near here, the unicorn’s face contorted with anger. “PINKIE! What have you done?! You just ruined everything!”
“Ruined?!” Pinkie Pie gasped as she brought her hooves up to her mouth. “I’m not the ruiner! I’m the ruinee!”
“Grammar needs work,” Kosuke moaned loudly.
Twilight sighed as she used her magic to lift Rainbow Dash off of the dazed griffon, “C’mon girls! We have to hurry!”
All the mares, save for Pinkie, chased after Twilight. The pink mare sighed and trotted over to Kosuke, “Those girls need to learn to listen. Are you okay, Neato?”
“Meh, I’ve had worse,” the griffon coughed as he lifted his talons up into the air, showing that he still held tightly on the rope that had the hubcaps. “By the way, I believe these are yours.”
“Good job, Neato!” Pinkie Pie cheered as she lifted her hooves up into the air. “Now let’s hurry! We have just enough time to strap these bad boys in and we’ll be good to go!”
“Alright… But, can we make a pit stop?” Kosuke requested as he pushed himself off of the ground. “I’m getting a bit hungry and I need to grab something from my camp. Is that okay?”
“Hmm, well, we haven’t had a snack break for a while,” Pinkie Pie admitted with a bright smile. “So sure! What ya need to pick up?”
“Oh, nothing much,” Kosuke replied, dusting off his hoodie at the same time. “I just need to pick up my belt.”
While the two chatted it up, a familiar balding unicorn stepped out from behind Fluttershy’s cottage, a single Parasprite rested on top of his head. With a smirk on his face, the fortune teller slowly made his way back towards Ponyville, ‘This is turning out to be a rather interesting – Good thing I had Dryad leave me one of these little Parasprites. Now, to watch the fruits of my labor.’
TTT – TTT
All over Ponyville, Parasprites rained over the town. Citizens were perplexed as to the mysterious creatures that floated about their town – The cute and innocent creatures that lofted around their buildings, their outdoor furniture and even their food…
Even around the Golden Oaks Library, the Parasprites fell from the sky. When the had just started falling, Spike and Haru had returned from getting some groceries to replenish the ones that were eaten earlier. Spike stopped in his tracks when he saw all of the Parasprites, but Haru was more interested in the donut that he munched on.
“Haru! They’re back!” Spike cried out as he nearly dropped the bag of groceries to the ground.
With a mouthful of donut, the magical dragon looked up to see one of the Parasprites land on his nose. “This is the menace you were telling me about? How could something like this be so dangerous?”
The Parasprite chirped before it flew from Haru’s nose and devoured the donut in his claws. A few moments passed before Haru narrowed his eyes, “You bastard!”
Haru dropped the groceries and swiped at the little bugger, he missed the Parasprite, and the other bugs began to snack on the dropped groceries. The red dragon staggered back when he saw that more and more Parasprites were around his feet. “What the!?”
“So many of them!” Spike yelled out, shooing away some of the Parasprites from the groceries. However, more and more of the Parasprites flew from the air and countless continued to erupt from around the two dragons’ feet.
“Gah! How is this even possible?!” Haru yelped out as he valiantly tried to defend the donuts, but failed as several Parasprites knocked the box out of his claws. “NO!”
Shaking his head, Haru used his tail to slam into a few of the Parasprites, “Spike! Where was Twilight again?!”
“S-She was headed towards Fluttershy’s,” Spike shouted out as he watched a few other ponies gallop about, trying to get the parasprites away from them. “But that was a while ago! I don’t know where she could be!”
Haru gritted his teeth as he closed his eyes. He then reached into his jacket and pulled out one of his rings, “Spike, I’m gonna go find her, try to do what you can to make sure that things don’t go south here!”
A loud crash echoed through the air which made Haru wince, “Or, try your best to do so.”
“I’ll try to do so!” Spike yelped.
Haru fitted a ring on his claws and brought his claw to his belt, “ERROR!”
‘Damn it! I still haven’t recovered my mana back!’ Haru thought to himself as he threw his fist to the side. ‘I can’t use Connect to call my motorcycle – Damn it, I’ll have to find my WizardSwordGun too in case that Phantom appears! I hate carrying it around, but I don’t have a choice!’
And like that, Haru dashed away from the library. Meanwhile, above in the clouds a certain mint green pegasus who laid down atop the clouds and watched as the Parasprites wreaked havoc on the town. Sora rubbed the side of his head and adjusted his fedora, ‘Yeesh stallion, I leave you in charge of this place for a couple days and you infest it with these cute little buggers… I’m almost impressed! Too bad they’re just eating food.’
From his perch on the clouds, Sora looked over Ponyville and saw a familiar group of five mares enter into the chaotic fray. A little curious, Sora leapt from his cloud and flew over to a nearby roof so he could observe the group. ‘Little Miss Librarian and her cute little friends – I guess Manticore decided to take advantage of this and target her. Applause for the bug guy later.’
Sora was close enough to be able to hear the group (which was amazing since most other ponies were screaming out for their stolen food or ruined gardens) and the one he knew as Fluttershy immediately spoke up. “O-Oh my! What do we do? They’re eating all the food in town!”
The orange mare (wasn’t she named after some sort of breakfast cereal? Meh, didn’t matter. Then again, Sora never interacted with her before – And why would he? She seemed to be a bit of a bore to him) quickly dashed away from the group, yelling something about apples. ‘Apples? Doesn’t she know that apples are so last season? Oranges are where it’s at! Maybe bananas, melons and grapes, but definitely not apples. Huh, now why do I get the sudden urge to watch a feudal battle between these fruit?
‘Nah, that’ll never happen.’
“I… I… I think I have an idea!” Twilight announced, garnering her friends’ (and Sora’s) attentions towards her. “I’ll case a spell that’ll make them stop eating all the food!”
“Uh, Twilight, how do you know a spell like that?” Dash asked as she landed on the ground next to the purple unicorn.
“W-Well, when I was studying,” Twilight began to explain as she looked away from her friends. “I kinda goofed a spell that, well, to put it lightly, made me not wanna eat food for a long time. Just the sight of food would make my stomach turn.”
“Dear, do you think it’s wise to use such a spell?” Rarity asked.
“At this point, I’m willing to do anything!” Twilight replied as she lowered her head down and charged her horn with magical energy. Then, when she lifted her head up, Twilight unleashed a powerful surge of purple energy that washed over the Parasprites in town.
When the magic absorbed into the disastrous insects, they stopped eating all the food in sight. Rarity, Dash and Fluttershy stood in awe at the sight before them. As the Parasprites flew about confused, one of them came close to a discarded box of donuts (with only one donut within it). Twilight bit her lip as she watched the disastrous insect hover about the donut.
And then it turned away from the baked treat.
“It worked!” Twilight sighed with relief with a large smile on her face.
It was then that the Parasprite opened its mouth extremely wide and devoured the entire box! Then it spat out the donut. All over, the Parasprites were no longer eating food, but were rather eating everything else!
“Smooth,” Dash sighed.
From atop the roof, Sora snickered. “Ooh, I can’t believe that stallion’s luck with his plan! This is the kind of thing that borders on being the god of luck!”
CRUNCH!
Sora’s eyes widened as he looked up to see a Parasprite in front of him, munching on something. There was a large bite mark in his fedora, “Hey, my hat!”
CRUNCH!
“My scarf!”
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! MUNCH!
“MY TAIL!”
Sora screamed as he propelled himself from the roof, his tail much shorter. Several Parasprites flew after him, some of them nipping at his tail. As the green pegasus tried to escape the Parasprites, he flew past the group of mares, which caused them to stare at the sight.
It was then that Rarity came to a realization, “No! If they get inside my store… EVERYPONY FOR HERSELF!”
And just like that, the white unicorn dashed off.
“Not good, not good, NOT GOOD!” Twilight yelled out as a number of Parasprites flew overhead, devouring what appeared to be a half-eaten couch. “What do we do? What do we do!?”
“Perhaps it would be best if you just accept your fate,” A familiar voice chuckled out. “After all, you cannot go against fate itself.”
The remaining three mares turned to see the balding Fortune Teller slowly trot behind them, a coy smile on his face. Around the Fortune Teller’s body were several Parasprites, yet they didn’t even bother him, just floated around him. “Although, I must say, not even the fates could see what you would do to these wondrous creatures.”
“Who the hay are you?” Dash questioned as she pointed a hoof at the fortune teller.
The balding stallion chuckled as his face shimmered slightly, where another face superimposed over his muzzle – The face looked to have mandibles and large, green, segmented eyes. The stallion’s horn lit up and a single tarot card appeared, “Oh my, the Grim Reaper – A proper card to describe me, for I shall be the end of your current lives…”
TTT – TTT
Rarity was distraught. No, that was an understatement. She was on the verge of coming apart! All about in Carousel Boutique, the Parasprites had broken into her shop and begun munching on most of her dresses, materials and even her furniture. “NOOOOOO! My outfits! GET OUT OF HERE!”
At first, Rarity tried used her magic to get rid of the pests, however, when a few of them literally coughed up a few more dozen of them, the white mare had to back off. Earlier, before she had met up with Twilight and the others, she had used the Parasprites in her work (despite the fact that using the creatures was against animal labor laws) and had witnessed their ‘miracles of life’.
Needless to say, the sight of it wasn’t the most appealing thing to the usually cool headed designer.
“AAAAAAH! Stay away from me!”
Rarity had leapt to the top of one of the chairs in the room, fearful that she’d come into contact with the disgusting bugs. The white mare winced as the Parasprites flew past her, some of them brushed against her hooves, mane and tail. Rarity was on the verge of breaking down when all of a sudden…
“I’ll SAVE YOU!”
Before Rarity knew what was happening, something scooped her up and had brought her outside of her boutique. The young mare blinked a few times and shook her head. “You have no need to worry, mademoiselle – you have been saved!”
Rarity turned back to see that she was being carried in the arms of one Kosuke Nitoh – A warm smile on his face. The white mare shyly looked away, “Thank you… I’m sorry, but what was your name again?”
“Kosuke Nitoh,” The griffon replied with his grin growing larger.
A few moments passed, and then the awkwardness began to settle in. Rarity chuckled sheepishly, “Well, any time today you can put me down.”
“Oh, I’m aware of that,” Kosuke answered back. “I’m just waiting for the rest of my thank you.”
“Excuse me?” Rarity questioned.
“Think about it,” Kosuke spoke back as he turned his cheek slightly. “A handsome griffon comes to the aid of a beautiful mare, saving her from a fate far worse from death… How’s about a little peck on the cheek?”
WHAM!
Kosuke fell to the ground, a fresh bruise rising up from the right side of his face. Rarity huffed before she trotted off, “The nerve!”
‘That… Actually works,’ Kosuke thought to himself, slowly pushing himself off of the ground. When he brought a talon to his the bruise, the griffon winced. ‘OW! Oh well, I guess I’ll have to get back to Pinkie… After all, it’s almost time for my big reveal!’
Kosuke stood up to reveal that around his waist was a large belt that had a silver gate as it’s buckle. With a tap of his talons on it, Kosuke smiled to himself. ‘Soon… Very soon, I’ll get you something to eat, so just be patient.’
TTT – TTT
Twilight had only seen one Phantom transform from a pony – but, from what she saw when she witnessed Gnome’s transformation, it wasn’t as horrendous as Manticore’s. Several green cracks appeared on the fortune teller’s body before the monstrous form tore away the shattered bits of the purple unicorn’s skin.
Anypony that wasn’t running from the Parasprites had stopped to see the odd Phantom stand tall before Twilight and her friends. “So, interesting. I never thought that it’d escalate to this level – Having the Parasprites changed to devour anything but food. You practically did my work for me.”
Manticore lifted his claws up and allowed a few Parasprites to land on his armored finger. “Such a destructive little creature, isn’t it? Crafted by the entity of Chaos himself…”
“A Phantom,” Twilight gasped as she stepped back. ‘Who is he after? And from what he said, he was the one who orchestrated this but…’
Before Twilight could continue her thoughts, a multicolored blur crashed into Manticore’s body, and sent the Phantom to the ground. Dash kept her hooves on the Phantom’s shoulders as she leaned close to his eyes. “Alright, you bug eyed freak! Tell us how to stop these things! You’re the one who started this whole mess, aren’t you!?”
“The plan was mine, yes,” Manticore admitted completely calm, despite the fact that Rainbow Dash was interrogating him. “But the means were acquired by a fellow Phantom of mine – All she did was plant the means of this. I have no idea how to stop these little critters, especially now that their fundamental nature has been so radically changed.”
It was then that a large scorpion tail wrapped around Dash’s neck and pulled her off of Manticore. The Phantom cackled as he pushed himself off of the ground and brought Dash close to his face, “I’m curious though… Are you a Gate as well? It certainly would make things easier if you were…”
“Dash!” Twilight called out as her horn began to charge with magic. ‘I don’t know if my magic will work with that Phantom around, but I still need to try!’
Just as Manticore brought his hand up to Dash, a purple aura popped around the cyan pegasus and she disappeared from his tail. The Phantom tilted his head to see that Dash had appeared next to Twilight and Fluttershy, the latter making sure that her fellow pegasus wasn’t hurt.
Manticore chuckled, “That’s fine – Not like it matters either way. I’ll soon be able to tell if you’re a Gate or not. With this swarm, everything about this town’s life shall be shaken to the core!”
“Not if I have anything to say about it!”
The Phantom turned around just in time to have a familiar blade slash against his chest, sparks flew from where the metal connected. “URHG!”
As Manticore stepped back, Haru stumbled to the ground, his blade being used to help him from falling face first into the ground.
“Haru!” Twilight called out as she galloped towards the dragon. “Where were you?!”
“Just… Just trying to survive,” the dragon wheezed out as he pushed himself up to his feet.
“W-What exactly happened?” Twilight asked. Twilight’s ears perked up as she turned to a nearby hill. ‘Is that music?’
“I’m amazed you were able to survive, Ring Mage,” Manticore applauded with a his segmented eyes narrowed slightly. “I’m really surprised that you managed to survive my poison for so long.”
“Poison? You were poisoned?!” Twilight gasped.
“I… I got better,” Haru wheezed out as he stood up and switched the WizardSwordGun into its gun form. The dragon lifted the weapon up and aimed it at the Manticore.
The Phantom sighed and shook his head, “Are you seriously going to try to defeat me? You may be tenacious, but you can barely stand up… And even if you do manage to defeat me, what can you do to stop the Parasprites? They’ll still devour everything… And…
“And for Hades’ sake! What is that music!?”
Everyone turned towards the hill, ever since Manticore began his little tirade, there was a subtle song being played through the air. And just as everyone’s attention was drawn to the hill, a large mass of pink slowly emerged in sight. Said pink was a large float that looked to be a familiar pink mare with several instruments strew about. The float was moving on its own since on the float was none other than Pinkie Pie and Kosuke who danced with each other to the joyful music.
The float was also going pretty fast, since it was able to run Manticore over rather easily. “GAGH! WHAT THE TARTARUS!?!”
As the float slowed down and rolled over the Phantom, everypony just stood there dumbfounded at the sight. Even more puzzling was the fact that the Parasprites had stopped eating and began to bounce after the float. Manticore lifted his head up and tilted it at the sight of what happened, “WAAH!? WHAT IS HAPPENING?!”
“If we knew, we’d tell you,” Haru muttered under his breath.
Manticore growled as he quickly jumped to his feet. To his disdain, most of the Parasprites were mesmerized with the music. “Damn it! Why is this happening?! Grrr… Oh well, I can still…”
“MY MEAL!”
Manticore turned around just in time to get tackled by Kosuke, the griffon forced the Phantom back to the ground before Kosuke leapt back into the air. The goofy griffon landed in front of Twilight and the other and licked his chops, “Ooh, this pinch is awesome! I knew I’d find you again!”
“Oi, you’re that griffon,” Haru coughed.
“Kosuke!” Dash shouted.
“Neato?” Fluttershy questioned.
Kosuke turned his head around and smiled, “Dashie! Flutters! Sparkles! And…”
The griffon narrowed his eyes at Haru, “YOU! You’re that dragon that tried stealing my meal!”
“Steal?” Haru questioned with his head tilted. “I was just trying to defeat the Phantom and…”
Kosuke lifted his talons up towards Haru as Manticore slowly pushed himself up, “Ah, no need to say any more, I found this Phantom first, and he’s mine!”
“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked as she stepped towards the griffon.
Kosuke didn’t say a word as he stood up on his hind legs and reached into his hood’s pocket. Manticore snarled loudly as he lifted his hands up, several stones between his fingers, “You lousy… I’ll tear this entire town to the ground! Not like you can fight me in your poisoned state, Ring Mage!”
Manticore tossed the stones into the air, and seven Ghouls landed on the ground, each with a spear in their hands. Haru gripped the handle of his gun and slowly stood up.
“HERE IT IS! MY INTRODUCTION!”
Everyone turned back to Kosuke who lifted both of his talons up to reveal that there were rings on his middle claws. Kosuke brought his right talon over to his waist.
“DRIVER ON!”
A bright gold light erupted in front of Kosuke, followed with a loud roar.
“That voice…” Haru muttered with his eyes wide. “He’s…”
Kosuke then threw his left arm high into the air, circled his arms in front of him before he threw his left arm towards his right leg. “Heeeeeennnnn… SHIN!”
With his arm snapped back, Kosuke slammed his ring before his waist. “SET!
“OPEN!
“L – I – O – N! LION!”
Kosuke threw his arms to the sides as a large gold, runic circle erupted in front of him. The circle enveloped his body and immediately, the griffon’s body was covered with a black jump suit with golden armor, a lion head covered his left shoulder while his head was masked with a lion-like face with bright green eyes.
Everyone around stood there stunned at the sight of the golden mage as he pumped his left arm towards his chest. “The name’s Nitoh Kosuke – I’m the wild mage: BEAST!”
Haru blinked a few times in confusion.
Twilight was dumbfounded. “Mage…”
Fluttershy brought her hooves to her mouth, “Neato?”
“When the hay were you able to do that?!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“So… That’s what the Magician Card meant, it didn’t mean the Ring Mage!” Manticore gasped as he staggered back. “G-Gremlin didn’t mention anything about this!”
‘Gremlin?’ Haru thought to himself.
“Heh, looks like I got an all you can eat buffet before me!” Beast chuckled as he cracked his knuckles loudly.
The Ghouls hissed loudly before they charged towards Beast, the spears aimed towards the golden mage’s body. However, before the spears connected, Beast lifted his hands up and grabbed the spears. “Oh come on! You guys can do better than that! Make me work for this meal!”
Beast pulled the spears away and spun around to slam his foot into the two Ghouls’ faces, that sent them back to force the other Ghouls to dodge their comrades. Beast leapt high into the air and slammed both of his hands into the necks of two of the Ghouls forcing them into the ground. Neato’s covered tail whipped around and reached for his opened belt buckle and pulled out a thin rapier that he whipped through the air. “Time for some proper utensils!”
The golden mage spun around and slashed his sword against a number of Ghouls that charged towards him. And with a quick toss of his sword, Beast got back on all his hind legs and stabbed his sword into one Ghoul’s stomach, with several cracks emerging from the point where the blade connected.
One Ghoul charged from behind, but Beast’s tail coiled and flew back to slam into the Ghoul’s face. “Heh, enough tenderizing!”
Beast ran towards the ghouls that had gathered before Twilight and the others, and slashed his blade against them several times. When Beast stopped in front of the group, he spun about and brought his left hand towards his belt, the Ghouls’ bodies surged with golden energy before they exploded into several similar golden runes.
The runes flew towards Beast’s belt buckle and were absorbed into it, each time it absorbed one, a loud gulp sound echoed through the air. Beast sighed as the last rune got absorbed into his buckle, “Not bad for an appetizer, but not filling enough.”
“Is… Is he eating the magical energy?” Twilight questioned as her eyes gleamed brightly. “That is amazing! I’ve never seen a griffon perform magic before, and it’s similar to yours, Haru!”
Twilight’s euphoria at a new form of magic however didn’t last long, her eyes were drawn towards Canterlot, and she saw a familiar chariot being pulled by four pegasai, with a familiar white form in the chariot. “Oh no! Princess Celestia! The town’s a disaster!”
“T-Twilight,” Haru coughed as he stood up. “Go… Go to Celestia…”
“Haru,” Twilight muttered before she turned toward Fluttershy and Dash, and nodded at the two. The three mares dashed after Pinkie’s odd float, which was headed in the same direction that Celestia’s chariot was headed to land.
“Aw stallion, why’d you send the mares away?” Beast questioned as he turned around to scold the dragon behind him. “I was making an awesome impression! First the meal, then the mares! You just like getting in my way, don’t ya?”
“Look out!” Haru shouted.
“Huh?” Beast mused.
SHINK!
“GAH! MY BUTT!” Beast yelled out as he leapt high into the air, his talons drawn to his backside.
As it turned out, Manticore had used his stinger to inject his poison into the griffon’s ‘blind spot’. The phantom chuckled as the golden mage landed on the ground. “You may not be a Gate, but if I eliminate two Mages, I’m sure to become a greater Phantom! Let my venom drain you of your mana, sap your life away like it did that other mage…”
“Huh, is that why you’re so weak?” Beast coughed as he stabbed his sword into the ground, his attention draw towards Haru. “Heh, like something like that won't stop me!”
Beast held onto a different ring from the chain-ring at his belt, and slipped it over his right talon. Stiffly, Beast brought the ring to the right side of his belt, “Dolphi!
“Go! Do-do-do-do Dolphi!”
A large blue aura erupted next to Beast’s right side as he lifted his arm up, the aura engulfed his arm and immediately his left arm was covered with a blue shoulder pad that was in the shape of dolphin’s head. His right arm was draped in a blue mantle with several golden runes on it. The echo of a dolphin’s cry billowed into the air before Beast spun around.
Several blue sparkles flew from the fabric and billowed over the golden mage and Haru. “A drink on the house, Mr. Dragon!”
As the sparkles absorbed into the mages’ bodies, Haru’s eyes brightened and he stood up straight without any trouble, “What the?”
“It’s a healing spell,” Beast chuckled as he jumped about and reached for another ring on the chain at his belt. “Stallion, I’m such an awesome guy to heal his rival.”
“I-Impossible! My venom had no effect?!” Manticore stammered as he slowly stepped back.
“Sure looks like it,” Beast chuckled as he slipped a new ring over his talons. “Now then, time for the main course! You gonna make me work for my meal too?”
Manticore stammered before he turned about and ran off. Beast sighed as he shook his head, “Heh, a chase? That’s always a good way to burn calories.”
“Buffa!
“Go! Bu-Bu- Bububu – Buffa!”
Beast held out his right arm again, this time a red runic circle appeared over his arm. As the circle wrapped up his arm, the mantle over his arm transformed into a bright red one with a bull-head shoulder pad that had a pair of golden horns protruding from its head. Beast lifted his hand up to his mouth guard and made a kiss noise as he brought it away. “Time for the mane dish!”
With his rapier in his left hand, Beast spun the odd dial that was attached to it before he brought the ring on his right hand into the opposite side. “SIX!
“Buffa Saber Strike!”
The large golden rune appeared before Beast before he brought his blade down into it.
Haru’s eyes widened as six figures appeared from the runic circle, “You have gotta be kidding me…”
TTT – TTT
While Beast was ultimately decimating Manticore and his forces, Twilight and the others had managed to gallop/fly ahead of Pinkie Pie – Rarity and Applejack saw Pinkie’s interesting float, and her small parade of Parasprites and joined their friends.
The group of five mares managed to reach the road where Celesita’s chariot landed, and approached the smiling princess. As the sun princess disembarked her chariot, Twilight and her friends bowed their heads. “Twilight Sparkle, my prized pupil!”
“Oh, h-hello Princess,” Twilight replied as she lifted her head up, followed by her friends doing the same action.
Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted when Pinkie’s float drove past the group, the Parasprites bouncing along with the tune. Celestia stood there, watching the odd parade that occurred before her.
“So, how was your trip here?” Twilight chuckled sheepishly, trying to draw her teacher’s attention away from the little bugs that destroyed the town. “Would you care for a peaceful walk in Whitetail Woods?”
Celestia opened her mouth to say something, but…
“Nononononononononononononononono!”
Running down the path, was none other than Manticore being chased by six golden, phantasmal bulls that had Beast atop of the lead bull. “Yeehaw! Dinner time!”
Manticore continued to run, but thanks to a random pothole in the dirt road, he tripped face first into the dirt. Unfortunately, that was the last thing the Phantom did before all six of the bulls crashed into him, and exploded into a yellow, fiery explosion. From the smoke and flames, Beast flew through the air, his arms outstretched as he yelled out loud. “WHAHOOOOO!”
And yet, Beast easily landed on Pinkie Pie’s float, which had managed to get to the entrance of Everfree Woods to allow the Parasprites to bounce into. “Heya, Pinks!”
“Ooh, neato, Neato!” Pinkie Pie gasped before she lifted up a large card that had a blue ten on it. “You stuck the landing!”
“Oh, that’s good, I guess,” Beast muttered as he rubbed the back of his head as a golden runic circle flew from where Manticore exploded and towards him. ‘I was hoping that she’d be in awe of my awesomeness and… Hey, wait a second, she didn’t see me transform, so how does she it’s me under this mask?’
“Well Miss Sparkle,” Celestia coughed out. “I’m very grateful that you and the fine citizens of Ponyville arranged a parade and even a show for my arrival…”
“O-Oh yes!” Twilight chuckled nervously before a bright smile grew on her face. “A parade and show!”
“But unfortunately, this little visit will have to be postponed for a while,” Celestia explained with a warm smile. “As it turns out, there’s a little bit of an infestation in Phillydelphia and I need to meet with the Zect Company to discuss how to contain it.”
“An infestation?” Twilight questioned as she looked at some of the remaining Parasprites that still hadn’t disappeared into the Everfree Forest. Her four friends nervously looked at each other for a few moments.
“Yes, but it shouldn’t be a problem,” Celestia replied before she slowly trotted to her chariot. “But I still need to apologize, you and your friends obviously did a lot of work for my…”
“Yo!”
Beast casually walked up to the ground waved his right hand, “Woo, that was a good meal! An earthy texture with a hint of lime.”
Celestia tilted her head at the odd golden armored griffon in front of her. “Oh, and you are?”
Beast puffed out his chest and placed his white gloved talons at his belt. “A pleasure to meet ya, your royal highness – The name’s Kosuke Nitoh, the wild mage: Beast!”
“Hmm, Kosuke Nitoh,” Celestia mused as she leaned towards the golden mage. “If I recall, you're the Griffon Archeologist, I’m aware of your contributions to Ponykind’s history – I wasn’t aware that you were this… Exuberant.”
“Well, you know what they say about geniuses,” Beast chuckled as he walked around Celestia. “We tend to be awesome. Hahahaha!”
“Although, I would appreciate it if you didn’t sell some of your discoveries to private collectors,” Celestia sighed loudly. “We’re still trying to track down that Alicorn Amulet you sold.”
“Hey, hey, a griffon’s gotta eat somehow,” Beast replied as he slipped a different ring on his right hand. “Besides, I’m the guy who discovered it, and legally, I can do whatever I want with my discoveries.”
“Perhaps, but I would still like to discuss this stuff with you,” Celestia pointed out as she backed off her chariot and stood over Beast – But not by much, Beast was rather tall.
Beast snapped his new ring into the side of his belt buckle, and a whipping sound echoed through the air, “Chameleo! Go, Cha-Cha-Cha-Cha-Chameleo!”
“I apologize Princess,” Beast chuckled as he lifted his right arm up as a green circle appeared over hand and rode up his arm. The runes changed the red mantle into a bright green that had a chameleon’s head as his mantle with a long golden tongue out of its mouth. “As much as I would love to discuss the finer things with you, particularly over a candle lit dinner, I have some other things to do!”
Beast spun around, and his body shimmered in green light before he vanished into thin air. Everypony save for Celestia looked shock as the golden griffon had disappeared from sight, Celestia herself smiled, ‘First Haruto Souma as the next Wizard, and now Mr. Nitoh as a Primordial Mage – Shiroi, is this just a coincidence? Or is it more?’
Celestia shook her head and turned back towards her student and her friends, “Well, until we meet again Twilight Sparkle, I look forward to your next friendship report, and please say hello to Spike and Mr. Souma for me.”
“Of… Of course, Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed as Celestia got on her chariot.
Within a few moments, Celestia’s chariot was drawn into the air and she flew away. Twilight nearly fainted out of relief just as Haru casually walked up to the group, “Did I just miss the Princess?”
“I’m glad I just missed that near fatal heart attack,” Twilight sighed loudly as she lowered her head.
“So, wait, who in tarnation was that golden armor?” Applejack asked as she looked around.
“That was Neato,” Fluttershy explained with a smile. “Although, I’m pretty sure he didn’t have that armor before… Did he, Rainbow Dash?”
“Hay no!” Dash huffed as she flapped her wings up. “He was never able to pull that off!”
“That ruffian was in that armor?” Rarity asked as she tipped her nose up. “And it looked so interesting in design too – Gold and black, with the additional mantles… Such a shame.”
“Too bad none of you realize that I didn't leave,” Beast’s voice sounded out as he immediately materialized behind them all. "Rather rude to talk 'bout someone when they aren't around."
The group jumped and spun around as Beast slowly sauntered around the group, “Like I said Dashie, a lot can change in five years. And you shouldn’t say anything bad ‘bout someone who just saved the day, ya know.”
“Kosuke, right?” Haru inquired, drawing the attention of the green eyed mage. “You eat Phantoms’ magical energy?”
Beast chuckled as he stood face to face with Haru, “I’m sure you do too.”
“Huh?” Haru questioned with his jaw slightly slacked.
“Don’t play dumb,” Beast stated as he leaned his arm atop of Haru’s shoulder. “It’s pretty sad if you have to lie to your rival.”
“Rival?!” Haru sputtered. “No… I’m -”
Beast lifted his hand up in front of Haru’s muzzle before he circled the red dragon, “Nope, no need to say it in front of all these mares. I know how it can be when ya got a good number of pretty mares watching ya, and you probably feel threatened that I’m moving in on your turf. Under that cool persona of yours, you’re probably in an uproar."
“No, not really,” Haru stated with a dull look in eyes.
But he was ignored as Beast walked away and wagged his finger. “But, I found the Phantom first this time! So, it’s only natural that I get to eat ‘em. I got to eat today, so it’s fine… But let me say this to start…”
Beast threw his finger towards Haru’s face, nearly hitting the dragon’s snout, “I’ll show no mercy the next time you try to steal my meal! Got it?!”
And with that, Beast spun around with his green mantle flowing over his body, his armored form shimmered with green energy until he faded away from sight.
It took a moment, but Haru turned back to the mares, “Anypony know what just happened?”
“Haru, do you actually eat the Phantoms?” Twilight asked as she trotted up to the dragon.
“What?! No!” Haru shouted as he lifted his arms up defensively. “I’m more than capable of getting my own mana, and the only thing that could be considered my prey is a box of donuts!”
“That’s kinda true,” AJ chuckled.
“Ah, you guys are thinking too much on this,” Pinkie Pie announced as she trotted up to the group. “Neato’s just awesome! He was really helpful with me, and he’s really fun!”
“That reminds me,” Twilight stated as she looked at the float that was still playing music. “How did you know that would make the Parasprites follow it?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Pinkie Pie replied with a large smile. “My Uncle told me a story a few times about one of my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfathers – Piper Pie! Parasprites once over took the town of Neighlin, but my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather Piper Pie appeared and made a wager with the town’s mayor.
“He wagered that he could drive away the Parasprites in return for a place to stay and some bits. When the wager was made and set, Piper played his flute and began to draw the Parasprites after him through the foodless town and into a local forest.
“And thanks to his music, Piper Pie lured them all into the forest where they stayed. Well, save for one, but the point is that he managed to save the town, and my Uncle Kougami told me that if a parasprite ever appeared before me, I needed to use very lively music and lead them to a forested area.”
“Wait a sec,” AJ stated as she trotted forward. “Granny told me the story of the Pied Piper of Neighlin, are ya really saying…”
“Oh, that story was based off of Piper Pie,” Pinkie explained with a wave of her hoof. “The story makers just switched up his name a little bit.”
Everypony just looked at each other for a few moments, while Pinkie just smiled innocently. Haru on the other hoof just looked about, his eyes landed on the location where Beast’s final attack ended Manticore. ‘Beast – Kosuke Nitoh, just what are you? And how did you gain the ability to use magic like that?
‘What in the world is going on?’
TTT – TTT
“DAMN IT! THAT HAT WAS A WINDSCALE EXCLUSIVE!” Sora cried out, looking at the remains of his hat that he held in his hooves. After some inexplicable reason he was able to escape the Parasprites, Sora found himself on the outskirts of Ponyville, seated on a single cloud with his ragged tail and clothes with several holes and bite marks in them.
The stallion had tears in the corners of his eyes as he brought the hat close to his chest. ‘I’m gonna have to go to Cloudsdale to get this repaired… Damn it…’
“I thought I saw you flying about, Gremlin.”
Sora’s ears perked up as he quickly turned around to see the red, pegasus stallion whom he knew as Phoenix flying right behind him. The mint pegasus narrowed his eyes at the red stallion, “Hey! Feenie! No fair! Appearing behind others unexpectantly is my schtick!”
“Phoenix,” The red pegasus growled as he landed on the cloud. “My name is Phoenix, just like your name is Gremlin.”
“Ah, ah, ah,” Sora scolded with a wag of his hoof. “Sora’s my name, and your name, Feenie, is…”
“Don’t say it!” Phoenix snarled as he slammed his head into Sora’s, his blue eyes leered into Sora’s. “That name means nothing to me anymore, the owner of that name died on that fateful day and so did Sora.”
“Nope!” Sora laughed as he playfully trotted around his fellow Phantom. “I’m still Sora! Always have been, always will be! Now, what do I owe a visit of the legendary berserker of Phantoms - Feenie?”
Phoenix sighed loudly. “Manticore was your subordinate, correct?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry to see him gone,” Sora stated with a roll of his eyes. “But, he was kind of an idiot. His stupid plan cost me my tail, my scarf, and even my hat!”
“At least you can see that he was a screw up,” Phoenix chuckled as he turned towards Canterlot in the distance. “He was also a coward…”
“Not every Phantom is a force of nature like you, Feenie,” Sora pointed out. “Some need to rely on tricks and backstabbing to get their jobs done.”
Phoenix scoffed to the side before he laid down on the cloud, “Whatever. But you need to know this, since we’re both here, and with the arrival of this new Mage, focus is being drawn to this town. He’s going to be sending her here soon.”
Sora’s eyes widened and he slowly turned his head towards Phoenix, “H-Her?! W-Why?!”
“She’s the most successful of us Phantoms,” Phoenix answered. “She can sense Gates, and she even managed to acquire a veritable well of magic that we have access to.
“Once all three of us are here… Those Mages won’t survive for long. And neither will these gates.”
Sora trembled as he turned from his fellow greater Phantom, but unbeknownst to the fiery Phoenix, Sora had a large, cocky grin plastered on his face. ‘This is perfect… Just so perfect!’
TBC
Stats
Page generated in 0.051 seconds
Total duration
972 users online
386,796 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
He'll definitely be a moocher.
Gaim, Kabuto, and Den-O references, I like.
I've been liking Gaim so far.
Gaim reference! And it appears the infestation that Princess Celestia needed to help with was a Worm infestation here, since she mentioned meeting with the Zect Corporation. And Pinkie Pie's uncle is Kougami. Who else saw that coming?
So I'd imagine right now, Dryad is extremely angry at Neato Nitoh for killing Manticore. In other words, she's going to either kill him, or become his main dish.
Well, if Fluttershy remembers that, she could help them identify Dryad.
And just like in canon, Beast isn't listening to the explanation that Haru doesn't eat the mana from Phantoms. Well, he'll learn, but probably not before Medusa tricks him like she did in canon.
Awesome chapter! Here, have some badges!
fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/282/e/5/twilight_sparkle_approved_by_ambris-d4c255h.png
fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/277/e/a/pinkie_pie_approved_by_ambris-d4brtm4.png
fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/345/0/9/fluttershy_approved_by_ambris-d4ivleb.png
fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/282/4/e/rarity_approved_by_ambris-d4cdq6y.png
fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/282/7/5/rainbow_dash_approved_by_ambris-d4bdn33.png
fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/345/9/d/applejack_approved_by_ambris-d4ivlan.png
fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/060/f/5/princess_celestia_approved_by_ambris-d4rftlj.png
Have Denliner's Owner and the Doctor be old friends! Later!
3393296 That's actually a smart idea for the Doctor! Nice job.
3393491 After all, they're both well-versed in the ways of time travel. It's only logical that they would know each other!
Pinkie being related to Kougami makes so much sense.
I think I'm going to pass out from sheer reference overload. Let's see...Gaim (I'm still waiting for an apple form personally), Zect Company dealing with an infestation (Worms perhaps?), Fuuto's Windscale exclusive, Pinkie being related to Kogami (You are aware that you are now pretty much obligated to have Pinkie shout SUBARASHI! at least once, right?) just to name a few...
Neato is talking in plural here, so it should be "these little buggers".
Good chapter.
However you did make a mistake
Where it should say “L – I – O – N! LION!”
Instead you have “L – L – O – N! LION!” An L where the I should be.
I wouldn't bring this up normally. But its highlighted in bright yellow.
3393753 Wait, how is Pinkie related to Kogami? I missed that.
3394167
i see that someone knows about Social Links...
and, is there some kind of time where, if you see something at midnight, it shows your coltfriend or fillyfriend?
3394313 more like soulmare /soul stallion
3398294 Minor error in editing, I try to catch that. As for your other question, yes, Haru does enter a 'Underworld'
3399657 I just watched that episode of Kyoryuger with TV-Nihon subtitles, and they actually outdid Over-Time.
You see, the last Secret Stone necessary for reviving Bragigas, as well as Bragigas itself, were in a location known as Madou Lake. Over-Time decided not to bother trying to translate it, but TV-Nihon went the extra mile and translated it into Devil Grotto Lake.
Sure, they don't bother translating Zyuden Sentai, Zyudenryu, or Zyudenchi, and they don't give the Woolseyism treatment to the sound effects made when a Beast Battery is used in a Gabrevolver, but at the same time, they provide a context for Nossan's puns. And it would have been just like Over-Time to translate the sound effect that the Zandar Thunder makes with a single Beast Battery as Slice, but instead they leave it as ZAN! So Over-Time has been slacking off, and TV-Nihon has been doing a better job then Over-Time!
As for Dragon Knight, I didn't much care for it. I watched the pilot episode, but that was it. I personally think the whole Earth-Ventara angle was a little too much, and that they would have been better off sticking to the Ryuki formula of one deck per Rider and the Riders are in a war where only one of them can win, instead of having the Ventara Riders be a whole organization that was betrayed.
3399895 Perhaps you could contact FlairNightz, the guy doing all the artwork for this, and ask him for help?
Just send the general theme, along with the names and powers of the Memories and, provided you have one, a name for their fused Rider form, and he might be able to handle the rest.
3399657
I know you're not asking me, but:
Eh, it was decent. I don't really care for Ryuki or Dragon Knight, though I would pick Dragon Knight in a heartbeat, if only for the fact that it doesn't make your ears bleed whenever a monster appears like Ryuki did. And it's a lot less confusing. Also,
3399752
It gets a LOT better after episode 5. Just watch up to a little after that point, and you should be able to tell whether or not it's for you.
3399657 In my opinion, Dragon Knight was better than Ryuki. Because it was upfront about the plot instead of having characters that do know the plot not tell what is going on even when asked in story what is going on by a person they don't want getting involved whom they could probably persuade to stand aside or leave if they just told him what was going on but they don't and the plot gets dragged out and nothing gets explained and ARRRRRRRRG!
....so yeah I'm not a fan of Ryuki, but Dragon Knight actually does a very good job. And is actually a bit darker, since defeated riders don't die but are instead trapped in a limbo dimension all alone forever. In censoring out death, they made it more horrifying.
3401559 Yeah, it's been a while but if I recall correctly it's because he's the one who vented the origional Riders before the series started. So that bumps his count up quite a bit.
3408591
-takes a deep breath- This is an alternate universe, some stories have been completed while others have not. As much as I would like to say which stories have been completed and others haven't...
I like to leave that to the imaginations of the readers and allow them to take the opportunity to form their own stories within this continuity. As it stands, only one other person on this site is doing it, and while that does make my heart grow warm to know that, its only one person.
Still, its fun to see that, and I hope to see more.
3416908 That was me. And technically, I simply mentioned it as a possibility.
But you have to admit, with Doctor Whooves being in this, it wouldn't make sense NOT to do that.
3453422 I think the reason for that is simple.
Over-Time always gets their subtitles done first. This indicates to me that they rush their translations. When you're in a rush like that, you tend to hear things wrong.
At least TV-Nihon takes their time, so they don't make mistakes quite as often. Plus, their subtitles look much cooler.
Sorry it's been awhile! been busy!
Awesome chapter! Fun to see Beast on the rampage! And now we see all the Higher Phantoms together! this'll be interesting!
After reading this chapter the one thing that really shouldn't surprise me, bu did, (thank you Pinkie) is that she is freaking related to Kougami. I smile and crack up just thinking about that. Kougmi and the rest of the Mane6 should really meet.
SUBARASHI!!!!!!!!
Oh man, this is getting serious.
When the had just started falling, Spike and Haru had
I’ll case a spell that’ll make them stop
that had a silver gate as it’s buckle
so how does she it’s me under this mask
Everypony save for Celestia looked shock as the golden griffon
1. They.
2. Cast.
3. Its.
4. So how does she know it's me under this mask.
5. Shocked.
The Zect Company? Oh-ho-ho, if the Worm don't take this golden opportunity to infiltrate the castle, I will be very disappointed.
No more pic? Where is it now??? 😞