As The Songbird Sings

by chief maximus

The Monster From the Forest

"Call for backup immediately! Get the entire division down here, now!" Sargent Shield said, rushing out of the door, brandishing his spear as it hung in his magic. Once he rounded the corner of Fluttershy's cottage, he recognized the mare they were looking for.

"Miss Fluttershy! Get away from that thing!"

The Songbird stepped forward, causing the earth beneath their hooves to tremble. He balled his fists, revealing the razor sharp blades on his gloves.

"Mr. Bird, please don't hurt them!" Fluttershy cried. It was as if the beast heard her tone, if nothing else. For a split second, it paused, as if to consider the feelings of its new friend. Songbird slammed his fist into the ground, gouging out a massive hole in the ground with his claws. Before either guard could react, they found themselves scooped up in the iron grip of the monster they'd been searching for.

Fluttershy gasped, fearing the worst of Songbird's intentions, until she noticed a flash of green from the mechanical eyes of her angry new friend. Songbird gently placed the two petrified guards in the hole he had dug and buried them up to their shoulders, leaving them dirty and immobile, but unharmed. They sprouted from the ground like a pair of dandelions.

"Sorry about that!" Fluttershy called as Songbird carried her around to the front of her cottage, leaving Shield and Spear alone. "I'll come dig you up as soon as I can!

"Well, the captain is going to love hearing how we got into this mess," Shield groaned.

"Uh, Sarge? I got a bigger problem."

He looked to his charge. "And what is that, private?"

"I have to pee."

---

Mac walked silently beside the odd ponies renting his barn. Their dress seemed a bit outdated, but not unusual. However being as warm as it was, he thought they'd be hotter than blue blazes in those clothes. To his surprise, they hadn't so much as broken a sweat.

"So, where are y'all from, exactly?"

Rosalind turned to him. "We're from... out of town."

"Whereabouts?"

"The capitol," she answered quickly.

Mac nodded. Something about them just didn't seem right. By all accounts, they appeared to be normal ponies, but he just couldn't place his hoof on the uneasy feeling they inspired.

"Tell me, Mr. Apple. Is this farm quiet? We desire solitude and privacy above all else while we work." Robert asked, finishing the apple he'd been eating and tossing the core to the roadside.

"Well, I live there with my family, but it's just me, my two little sisters, and my Granny," Mac said. "But I'll let 'em know ya rented out the barn, so they won't bother you."

"Very good, it is of the utmost importance that you and your family stay away from the barn until we have completed our doorway. It's for your safety, as well as ours."

Mac stopped. All of this was just getting too weird. "Now, hang on a minute. I don't want you building anything dangerous in my barn," he said sternly.

Rosalind smiled gently at him. "Mr Apple, I assure you, what we are building in your barn, we have built countless times before. The only unsafe condition that could exist, is if someone without the required knowledge of theoretical physics entered the barn and touched or tampered with something they shouldn't. I can assure you, that once our time is up, you won't even notice we were there."

He looked over the two ponies. Still not completely convinced, he agreed regardless. The farm needed the money, and he believed he could keep Apple Bloom and Applejack out of the barn for two weeks.

Cresting the last hill before home, the house and barn came into view. No matter how many times he'd seen it, something about his ancestral home in the apple orchard put him at ease. He sighed contently as he pushed on. Weird though these ponies may be, he was certain he had nothing to worry about. After all, he'd just made the farm a hefty sum! Short of blowing the barn sky high, there wasn't much these two ponies could do to take the wind out of his sails. And even if they did, he'd just gather his cousins together and build another one anyway.

Once they reached the grounds, he pointed to their rental space. "Go on and make yourselves at home. I'll try an' have my tools out by the end of the day."

Robert smiled as he stepped toward the large, empty space. "That won't be necessary, we can move them out for you. Trust me when I say we must not be disturbed."

Another strange request, but one he would honor, regardless. "Alright then, will y'all be joinin' us for supper?"

The ponies glanced at each other. "Yes, that would be lovely," Rosalind replied.

---

Rainbow hated the hospital. The boring rooms, the boring doctors, the boring beds, the boring everything! How she was the one who always found herself laid up like this was beyond her. Every adventure she went on, it seemed, she was usually the one coming back in bandages.

"Stupid pegasi bones..." she mumbled, folding her arms. She had at least one more day of observation before the doctors let her out, and she was already climbing the walls. She'd read her flying magazines cover to cover, and all her Daring Do books were at her house. On top of that, all her friends were still out looking for Fluttershy, leaving her alone to recover.

Dash glanced outside. It was the middle of the day, yet a shadow darkened the ground outside her window. "What the..." she got out of bed and trotted over to the window.

Her jaw fell open. High above the clouds, the monster that kidnaped Fluttershy circled town. She dashed out of her room, tearing off her gown and bandages, running past nurses and doctors demanding she return to her room. Their pleas fell on deaf ears as she bolted out the door and took to the sky, wincing as she did.

As she grew closer, she breathed a sigh of relief. The beast still had Fluttershy, and she seemed unharmed. Wisely, Rainbow kept her distance. She tried to take in the monster's form, but it was simply mind-boggling. It was as if it was some kind of Griffon-demon created by a mad scientist in a castle on a stormy night. It had wings like a bat, yet the talons had five claws, and its eyes glowed green as if light by an unseen light.

"Fluttershy!" Rainbow shouted.

She turned her head, as did the creature.

The beast cut a sharp turn, heading right towards Dash, a talon extended to gut her as its eyes switched to a blood red hue. She dodged just in time, the razor shard blades harmlessly cutting a feather off of her wing.

"Mr. Bird, stop this right now!" Fluttershy demanded, pounding a hoof on his hide. It seemed to get his attention, as he flew south, back to her cottage.

"Wow, that was too close," Rainbow said to herself, tailing the beast, going from cloud to cloud to make sure she remained hidden. "You aren't getting away from me this time."

---

"What you did to Rainbow Dash was very mean!" Fluttershy scolded as Songbird landed in front of her cottage. "She's my friend, and you are not allowed to hurt anypony!" Songbird slammed his fist into the ground, his eyes shifting back to yellow. She wasn't sure what those glowing orbs could see, if anything, but the stare had never failed to calm an upset animal before.

Fluttershy stared him down. For a moment, there was silence. The clanking of mechanical gears changed his eyes back to a soft green as he bowed his head to her. She stroked the strange material soothingly.

"There, there, you must control that temper. Ponies are your friends, they would never do anything to hurt you."

No sooner had the words left her mouth, a chain lasso cinched itself around its neck, followed by three more. Fluttershy gasped and looked behind her large friend. A regiment of the royal guard, lead by none other than Shining Armor, stood with spears and shields ready for combat.

"Fluttershy, get away from that thing!"

She stepped in front of him, tugging weakly at the chains. "Take these off of him, you'll only make him—"

It was too late. Songbird roared, the stallions sent to subdue or destroy him dropped their weapons and covered their ears. His eyes were crimson once again. With a flick of his neck, the ponies holding onto the chains were lifted up and flung into the wood line.

Once Shining recovered, he grasped a spear in his magic. "Destroy it!"

Spears flew from the ranks, most clattering harmlessly to the ground, but more than a few finding their marks. "Bring up the capturer!" Shining commanded. A unicorn mage stepped forward, his ornamental armor glowing with ethereal magic. A bright light shot from his horn, a green jet of magic, capable of ensnaring even the most unruly of dragons raced toward the rampaging Songbird.

As soon as the beam made contact with the creature, it dissipated out of existence. The mage's jaw nearly hit the floor. He composed himself and fired again. The same result.

Now the beast had had enough games. With both talons out, he began swiping and clawing at the guards foolish enough to go near him.

Fluttershy pleaded with him and the guards to stop, but above the clanging and clattering of war, her voice was lost. Within minutes, the guards beat a hasty retreat.

Rainbow observed the entire battle from her cloud, amazed that an entire company of royal guards were utterly routed by a monster no larger than an adolescent dragon.

"I gotta warn Twilight!" she said, bolting from cover and racing towards Twilight's home.

As the guards retreated, Songbird once again grabbed Fluttershy and took off into the clouds. Only this time, she had no idea where he was taking her.

Spear and Shield watched the beast take off into the sky, still buried up to their shoulders.

"She's... she's coming back, right?"

---

Rosalind's ears perked up. She knew that sound. She shared a glance with Robert. "It seems as though the Songbird is closer than we thought."

"Indeed. The sooner we complete the doorway, the better off we'll be."

Rosalind laid out the schematics for their device on Mac's workbench. "I must admit, relying on the horses to track down and capture Songbird while we build the doorway was a brilliant idea. How ever did you know they would go for it?"

"Well, in nearly every universe, they did. Law of probability and all. However, as you know, we mustn't dally. This universe won't be able to hold Songbird and the two of us and be stable for very long."

She nodded. "Of course. We don't need any more temporal rifts than are necessary, lest this universe go the way of the one that gleaned us this information."

Both of them shuddered.

"Well then, let's begin, shall we?"

Robert shook his head. "Oh, we simply can't begin yet."

Rosalind raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"We promised that lovely young horse we would join his family for dinner!"

She stared flatly at him. "Really? After the talk we just had about not dallying?"

"Come now, aren't you the least bit curious as to how these creatures eat?"

She had to admit, she was curious. They had passed a flatware store in town and could not figure out for the life of her how it would stay in business. "Very well. One meal."

Author's Note:

I know it took forever, job's gonna job.

Comments

[Maximum Stupid]

Woohoo!

[Robin the Pony]

Holy Bioshock Batman IT'S ALIVE!

[DavidPony]

its alive? woot!

[Coranth]

I hate the Lutece twins...

[HellBreaker]

6179323 at least they help you throughout the game, even if slightly obsured

[qazse]

It's good your back, and congrats at being featured

[The A I]

Long live the songbird!

[Doctor REDACTED]

6179539 I picked cage

[pahnazd]

Welcome back! Yeah, job's gotta job, I feel you.

Though I dare to say that this chapter was good enough for the wait to be forgiven

I wonder if the guard really thought the Songbird, which is already on first sight an otherworldly being, could be subdued so easily.
Poor Fluttershy, she's going to have a very hard time calming it now.

So the Lutece twins having dinner with a normal pony family. This will be interesting for sure!

[chief maximus]

6224318 it was started before any of that happened.

[Cold Spike]

I think the only odd thing about this whole story are those two twins. From what I could gather, from the game, they probably wouldn't care if a universe died or not? At least they seemed to allude that's what happened. That's one of the issues with an emotionless character, like those two. They're very fun to listen to, but not so interesting to think about.

Still, glad this is alive!

[zorolu]

I want more! Please

[Mkchief34]

MORE!

[dukesofhazzardftw]

Oh for god's sake can we get an update already?

[Camolot the Creator]

Oh, this is excellent!

More.

[HB_DS2013]

Shining Armor and the Royal Guards are doomed.