• Published 5th Apr 2013
  • 8,343 Views, 301 Comments

As The Songbird Sings - chief maximus



Not even 40,000 leagues can stop the Songbird's drive to protect. Except, perhaps, the Lutece twins.

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Deal With the Devils

Deal With the Devils

Rainbow Dash streaked toward the monster in the skies, trying to comprehend what exactly she was chasing. It looked like nothing she had ever seen before. Her first thought was that it was some kind of horrible experiment of a mad scientist gone awry. It had talons like a griffon, and wings as well, but its size alone dwarfed even Grifalia's largest champion.

It's sheer size gave Rainbow pause, but the limp form of her friend Fluttershy restored her wits. Dash pushed forward, swimming in the sky as close as she dared to get towards this otherworldly monster. With a flick of its head, a bright red light shone into her face. Before Rainbow could react, a fist like a cudgel crashed into her. An unearthly screech rang in her ears as she recognized the rushing wind whip past her ears. Rainbow caught glimpses of the ground and the sky, flashing awkwardly before she met the ground with a thud.

Rarity had watched the entire scene, wasting no time in racing to Rainbow's last location. When she arrived, Rainbow looked to be in a bad way. Her wings seemed fine, but her shoulder was twisted awkwardly. Rarity cast a glare up at the monster as it flew away, growing smaller in the sky as it retreated towards the mountains. She made sure to remember where it was going. They'd find it, and Fluttershy. Of that, she was certain. But for now, she had to do what she could to help her friend.

Not a moment later, Twilight and Applejack burst through the wood line. "What in tarnation?" Applejack exclaimed. "What happened?"

Rarity looked back towards the sky. The monster was gone. "Rainbow went after Fluttershy."

"You saw her? Where was she?" Twilight asked urgently.

"A monster had her. Rainbow went after her, and it swatted her like a fly..." Rarity seemed just as dazed as Rainbow. A groan from the crater snapped the other ponies out of their conversation. "She needs medical attention!"

"I'll teleport her back to town, will you two be alright to find your way back by yourselves?"

Applejack and Rarity nodded as Twilight stepped next to Rainbow and disappeared with her in a flash of purple light.

After she had left, Applejack turned to Rarity. "So, you saw what took Fluttershy?"

Rarity looked back at her, what little color there was drained from her cheeks. "Yes. It was... it was a monster."

Applejack scoffed. "A monster? You sure it wasn't a dragon or—"

"It wasn't a dragon!" Rarity snapped. "I don't know what it was... but it wasn't a dragon."


Fluttershy's head was pounding as she found herself on a straw bed. As the world swirled into focus around her, she realized she was back in Mr. Bird's cave. "Oh dear..." she mumbled to herself. The sound she made drew a green light. Fluttershy shielded her eyes with a wing as her eyes adjusted. Mr. Bird was calm again, hopping around his cave as he had been doing before. He brought her more berries and grasses, and much to Fluttershy's relief, no dead animals.

He pushed the meager food towards her. "Oh, thank you Mr. Bird," she said softly. Fluttershy happily ate her rations, but also began to contemplate how she was going to get back to her cabin. She had animals to feed, not to mention how upset Angel would be at having missed his normally scheduled meals.

Fluttershy could understand animals fairly well, even without them being able to talk to her directly. This, however, was a different matter entirely. She wasn't even certain this... bird-like creature was an animal. but, she might as well try. "Uhm... Mr. Bird, you have a lovely home, but I have to get back to my home." She spoke directly to him. He focused on her, and tilted his head to one side. "Do you understand? I have other animals that need my help." She lifted a hoof and stroked Mr. Bird's head. It leaned into her hoof. Though it remained silent, she recognized the body language. It seemed it had been a long time since Mr. Bird had felt the contact of another caring creature.

Taking a bold risk, Fluttershy stood from her straw bed. Songbird raised his head, watching her as she slowly stepped toward the mouth of the cave. The mechanical crunch followed a yellow light glowing from his eyes. Fluttershy knew she had to show him that he was welcome to come with her. In fact, at that moment, she realized why he was so protective of her.

"You're tired of being alone, aren't you?" she asked. Songbird stepped forward, lowering his head before her. She stroked the strange material of his hide. Though it felt alien, she was certain he could feel it. "You don't have to be alone anymore. If you come with me, and promise not to hurt anyone, I can keep you safe."

Songbird raised his head, and stared at her. "Would you like to come see my home?"

Fluttershy turned around and spread her wings. She looked over her shoulder and motioned for Songbird to follow. His eyes flicked from yellow back to green. Her wings still hurt, but she was certain she could make it back to her cabin if she could glide for long enough. She faced the setting sun and took a deep breath. She leapt from the cliff face and for a brief second, awaited the grip of Mr. Bird and his ear splitting shriek. Instead, she turned around to see him gliding after her, his eyes still as green as they were before. Fluttershy smiled and set a course for her home. She was certain Angel would get along fine with her new friend.


"Rainbow?"

Someone was calling her name. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. She cracked her eyelids, a blurry purple shape standing over her.

"Ow." As the blur came into focus, Rainbow noticed it smiling. "Hey Twilight..."

"You took a pretty hard hit up there."

Rainbow sat up in bed and put a hoof on her bandaged head. "It feels like it." She looked to Twilight. "What happened up there?"

Twilight sighed. "I wasn't there at the time, but Rarity said she saw what took Fluttershy."

"What was it?"

"Well... she doesn't know."

The sound of the door opening drew their attention. Rarity and Applejack stepped into the room.

"Glad ta see you're alright, sugar cube." Applejack stepped up to the side of her bed. "Looks like you faired pretty well."

Dash smiled. "Yeah, you're not the first pony to say that." Rainbow shifted uneasily in her bed. "What happened to Fluttershy?"

Her friends exchanged glances.

"She's still missing?"

"I'm afraid so," Rarity replied.

"Do you remember what it looked like?" Twilight asked, putting a hoof on Rainbow's bed.

Dash closed her eyes, thinking back to the last thing she remembered. She could see it plainly enough, but to put it into words would be a challenge. "I do... kinda. It was this huge black and brown thing, like a bird. But, it had these crazy eyes... like they had lights behind them or something, and they changed colors while it was flying."

This sounded like no creature Twilight had ever heard of, in legend or in a textbook.

"I think perhaps I may be of assistance." The ponies whipped around to face the owner of that very maternal tone. Princess Celestia ducked her head beneath the doorframe and stepped inside, her mane and tail shimmering in the sterile hospital lights.

Instinctively, the standing ponies bowed, even Rainbow managed to bend her head down as the matriarch of their kingdom strode towards them.

"Arise, my loyal defenders," she said softly. "I apologize for my unannounced visit, but when I received word Fluttershy had been kidnapped by some kind of beast, I knew I had to personally investigate."

She turned to Rainbow Dash striding toward her bedside to rest a hoof upon her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Dash nodded. "I got pretty banged up, but I've had worse."

"So I see. Tell me, would you describe this beast as, not of this world?"

"Yeah. It was pretty freaky."

"It is as I suspected," she whispered to herself. "And this beast still holds Fluttershy hostage?"

"As far as we know," Twilight replied.

"I would like you girls to cease your efforts to find Fluttershy."

A gasp filled the room upon her request.

"Princess, we can't just leave her in the clutches of that hideous monster!" Rarity insisted.

"Nor will I. I will send five companies of my finest guards into the Whitetail Woods. They will not stop until she is found, I assure you."

Rainbow sat up fully. "Princess, I can't just sit here while she—"

Celestia held up a hoof. "No, I cannot risk even more element bearers. I must ask that you trust in me."

Uncomfortable looks passed back and forth across the room before Twilight spoke up.

"As you say, Princess."

"Thank you, girls. We will find her, and she will be okay." Celestia stepped away from the bed. "I wish you a rapid recovery, Rainbow Dash." She turned to Twilight. "May I have a word with you, my student?"

Twilight nodded, following her mentor outside the hospital room.

"The beast that has Fluttershy is quite dangerous," she said bluntly. "It is not of this world, and yet has lurked in the shadows, unseen, for eons."

Twilight stood aghast. "What do you mean, not of this world?"

"It came to our world through a doorway, opened by powers beyond my understanding."

If she wasn't confused before, Twilight certainly was now. "Beyond... your power of understanding? But... how is that possible, you're the smartest being in the entire world!"

Celestia chuckled. "Oldest does not equal most learned. I must ask you to keep an eye out for two suspicious looking ponies. They are two unicorns with auburn manes in very proper dress."

Now Twilight was just confused. "Why? What do they have to do with the beast?"

"I don't know as of yet, but I believe they are from whatever world this beast originates. They seem to know more about this creature than anypony."

Though the fog of her confusion still lingered, Twilight nodded. "I will."

"Thank you, my student."

"What about the other girls? Should I tell them to keep an eye out for these ponies?"

"Yes, but tell them not to attempt to apprehend them. They posses powers not of a normal unicorn. It is possible that they are extremely dangerous if threatened."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Then what do we do if we find them?"

"Alert me. I will be there in an instant."


"Heads."

The coin flipped, and landed in Rosalind's hoof.

"It seems there is not a universe where the coin toss has a different outcome." Robert smiled.

Rosalind glanced at Mac's coin purse, seeing it was somewhat empty on the counter.

"The business of selling apples is sparse, I take it?"

Mac glanced at his coin. "It's been a slow day..."

"Perhaps it has been for quite some time?" Robert questioned.

It was true, but there was no way they could have known that unless they'd been watching his stand for the past week. Still, the payments on the farm weren't going away, and he was still short a few hundred bits.

"What's it to ya?" he asked, looking over the two suspiciously.

"You have a barn on this farm of yours, correct?" Robert asked.

"Yeah..." he answered cautiously.

Rosalind reached into her pocket and produced a giant sack of coins. She dropped them on the counter, some spilling onto his cart. "Silver is valued here, is it not?"

Mac's eyes went wide. "Eeyup!" There had to be at least fifty thousand bits worth of silver coins in that bag!

Robert straightened his tie. "We are in need of a large space, but only for a short time. We were wondering if we—"

"Could borrow your barn for a few weeks." Rosalind completed.

Mac paused. He certainly got a creepy vibe from these ponies, but the farm sorely needed the financial boost this much silver would bring in. Ordinarily, he would consult with his sister on something like renting out the barn. However, he was sure she would appreciate the financial windfall. In an instant, he made the decision.

"Alright, we can rent it to ya for two weeks, but then we need it to store hay and cider."

The Luteces smiled. "Wonderful. We will be moving in shortly," Robert replied.

Mac looked around the two ponies.

"Y'all have any bags?"

They looked at each other and smiled. "No, we simply need the space for construction."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "Construction? Of what?"

Robert brushed his hoof against his jacket. "Let's just call it, a doorway."

"A doorway that you need not worry about. Once it is complete, you will never have even realized we were there," Rosalind completed.

Mac reconsidered. After all, what kind of weirdos rent a barn just to build a door? Still, they weren't trying to make drugs as far as he knew. And, though they were certainly weird, they seemed harmless.

"All right then. I've got a few more hours still ta sell, but you're more than welcome ta browse around the square till I'm done."

The ponies smiled. "Excellent."


Fluttershy smiled as her cottage came into view. She fluttered down in her backyard with Mr. Bird landing with a sizable thud. The animals normally puttering about in her yard were nowhere to be found.

"Where is everyone?" She asked herself as she looked around the empty birdhouses and silent dens. A rattling of pots inside her house grabbed her attention, followed by voices from within.

"Oh my! Burglars!" she whispered, shrinking back in fear. Songbird sensed her fear and stepped forward, offering a massive yet gentle hand to her.

She looked at the hulking beast and wrapped her forelegs around his thumb. He stroked her mane and set her behind him, his eyes shifting from green, to yellow, to red.


"Room, at ten-shun!" The stallions of the royal guard regiment 556 snapped to their hooves.

"As you were," Captain Shining Armor said as he took his seat at the head of a very long table.

"The Princess has assigned our company to search for a missing pegasus." As he spoke, another unicorn projected a picture of Fluttershy on a blank wall. "Fluttershy, the element of Kindness has gone missing." The other stallions nodded, but Shining could tell they still didn't know exactly why they were being put on a missing pony case. "She isn't just missing. She was abducted by a monster."

Murmurs raced through the room as Shining kept talking. "I know how that sounds, but this came straight from the top. I don't know about you, but I take the orders from her Highness seriously."

Shining turned to two bored looking stallions near the end of the table. "Sargent Shield, you will take Private Spear to investigate Fluttershy's cottage, the rest of you will follow me to hunt for the beast."

Shield sighed. It was no fun being on the captain's shit list. Ever since he got caught sleeping in during a battalion run, it was all grunt work. Even worse, now he had to take the company bumbler Private Spear along for the ride. "Yes sir," he said with fake sincerity.

Once the meeting was adjourned, he found his private and headed out toward the hole-in-the-wall town of Ponyville. Why what amounted to the superheroes of Equestria all lived in the middle of nowhere, he'd never understand.

"So sarge, you think they're gonna find that monster?" He sighed. If they were lucky, but somehow, he doubted it.

"Maybe."

If he kept talking, this was going to be a long flight.

Mercifully, they made it to Fluttershy's cottage only to find it Fluttershy-free. They knocked, but no one answered the door, save a small white rabbit. Thinking it odd, they stepped into the house, despite the rabbits apparent protest. They set him outside as they began to scour her house for clues. Not that Sgt Shield expected to find anything. After all, someone has to babysit Pvt Spear.

"You think we'll find anything here?" Spear asked.

"I don't know, just try not to—"

A clatter of pots and pans cut him off.

"Break anything."

"Sorry Sarge, I..." He paused, mid sentence. "Did you hear something?"

Sgt Shield listened, swiveling his ears this way and that, stepping toward the window and accidentally kicking over Angel's copper food bowl and creating another loud clatter.

A strange mechanical sound echoes from outside the house as Private Spear came to the window. What he saw put ice in his veins.

"S-sarge... you better come look at this!"