Screams: Three Bound Rats
“What if we encounter something terrifying and need to get away quickly? All these layers could slow me down, or worse, make me trip.”
“A mask? They can be just so difficult to see out of.”
“Well, um, it’s just that if I’m blindfolded and somepony were to leap out in front of me, I’d never have the chance to defend myself.”
“It’s just that, um, what happens if, when my head is deep down in the water, some kind of scary monster appears? How would I even hear to know I was under attack?”
“W-well, it’s just… what if when I’m eating one of these chewy taffies, my mouth becomes glued shut and I can’t scream for help?”
“Oh, goodness,” Fluttershy moaned, seeing the looks from her friends’ faces. Rarity set her candy down, Twilight tossed her bag to the side, Applejack just stood with her face frozen mid-chew, and Rainbow Dash gave her a slight glaring eyebrow. “We’ve only just started to celebrate Nightmare Night together, and I’m already taking all the fun out of it, aren’t I?” Fluttershy dropped her gaze and started heading for the exit of Sugarcube Corner, her masquerade-ball-gown-without-the-mask dragging across the floor.
“You’re not taking out all the fun,” Pinkie spoke up from the counter in her 80’s roller skater outfit.
“Just, like, ninety per—,” Rainbow Dash started, but was cut off when Twilight threw a piece of candy against her costume’s astronaut helmet. “Some of it,” she mumbled.
”I really wanna do this,” Fluttershy said, standing in the doorway and turning back to her friends, “but…there’s just so many things that terrify me about tonight, I couldn’t possibly predict what might upset me.” Fluttershy closed her eyes and dropped her head in shame. There was a pause as her friends stared at her with concern.
“What if it didn’t matter?” said a new voice.
Everypony jumped at the sudden voice; Fluttershy folded to the floor.
“Who’s there?” said Twilight in her gold Royal Guard costume, looking around. Suddenly the curtains above the doorway rustled. Everypony turned to see something small hanging upside down from the doorframe: a dull yellow and black bat-like creature with a wide oval-shaped body, the entirety of which was taken up by its face. It was yellow on the outlines of its body, wings, and face, and had large, almost headlight teal eyes.
“No need for alarm,” it said with a lower jaw made of the lower edge of its body, letting go before flapping up on a pair of wings that made an odd, almost crunching sound. “Kivatte-nise, at your service, but just ‘Kivat’ will do.”
The ponies looked between each other.
Pinkie slid forward on her rollerskates. “Several questions come to mind,” she said to the new arrival, “starting with, ‘Huh?’ ”
Ignoring the others, Fluttershy mumbled something to herself, then shook her head. She looked up at the bat, slowly lifting herself from the floor. “What did you mean, ‘what if it didn’t matter’?” Kivat turned to her before starting to fly in a circle around her.
“I couldn’t help overhearing that you worry about your costume or festive activities interfering with your safety,” he said.
Rainbow Dash whispered to the others, “How many places would he have had to have followed us to—”
“But,” Kivat continued, “what if your costume was your safety? What if it could be your protective layer to keep the outside world out? Then you’d have no reason to fear being taken unawares, since you’d be protected from whatever might happen even without doing anything.” Fluttershy listened attentively, her gaze following Kivat as he circled. “Make your costume your armor, and there would be no need to be afraid, the world would be your stage. Instead of feeling trapped, you could break the chains of fate…”
“Ain’t that goin’ a bit far, ’specially for just Nightmare Night?” commented Applejack in her lion costume.
“Let’s just cut to the chase here,” Rainbow Dash cut in, flying over to Kivat. “You think you can pass yourself off as just some random magical creature looking to help? I’m…fairly sure we’ve heard that one befo—have we heard that one before, I lost track,” she diverted, turning to the others. Without waiting for a response, she turned back to Kivat. “For all we know—”
In her mermaid costume, Rarity cut in, “You could at least be civilized when accusing him of being shady, you realize.”
“Alright, so I’m offering help out of nowhere,” Kivat brushed off, turning to Rainbow Dash and the others. “It’s because I have a good reason.”
In the dark of the night, something was lurking. Scurrying, it made its way unnoticed through the underbrush.
“There is a danger running loose in this town,” Kivat said as the ponies stepped closer, “an evil demonic creature known as a Fangire.”
“Odd punchline to a lead-up like that,” mumbled Rainbow Dash.
“Imagine the monster of one of your campfire stories,” said Kivat, turning to Rainbow Dash specifically, “but real. They stalk the night, searching for ponies to drain their life energy for food.” Several of the Mane 6 shuddered, Rainbow Dash backed up and glanced around. “One of these foul beasts has made their way here to Ponyville, and only the power of Kiva can stop it.”
Passing through the bushes in shadow, the thing looked out across the road upon a pair of ponies in Nightmare Night costumes—a Sailor Scout and…Jem of the Holograms?—approaching a house and laughing to each other. It stared at them with heavy, scratchy breathing.
“The power of Kiva, however,” Kivat continued, “is poison to most.” He turned to Fluttershy. “Except for you.”
Fluttershy looked back and forth before pointing to herself. “Me?”
“Yes,” said Kivat. “Your previous imbuing with the essence of the vampire fruit bats has made you immune to its harmful effects.”
Fluttershy gasped, “H-how did you—”
“I’m a talking bat,” he added casually, “I can sense these things.” He flew in closer. “Please,” he said, switching to a serious voice. “This town needs you.”
One of the ponies knocked on the door. The creature leapt from its hiding spot and ran at them.
“Um, hello?” Rainbow Dash called to Kivat, waving. “We’re all still over here.” Kivat looked over at her. “Maybe you could ask the rest of us for help about this?”
“That,” said Rarity, “and this is all rather a lot to suddenly drop.”
“’Specially stuff we’ve never heard of before,” added Applejack, “right, Twilight?” Twilight looked up from thought and nodded.
“Trust me,” Kivat said gravely, turning to them, “you don’t want to wait until it makes itself known to start believing me.”
“I-if…” Everyone look in surprise at the source of the voice; Kivat smiled. “If there really is a danger like that…,” said Fluttershy.
Turning to the source of the rustling in anticipation of perhaps somepony in a white sheet or with a jack-o-lantern on a fishing line, what the ponies saw instead made them scream in terror, turning and running back the way they came. As the creature reached after them and went to follow, the door of the house opened.
The pony inside had thought the screams sounded odd and wanted to check; what they saw made them wish they hadn’t. Standing about 15 feet from the doorway was a black bipedal figure with glass-like purple forearms and lower legs and an orange chest; greenish metal leaves ringed its neck under a silver-nosed rat-like head with large pointed hoop-outline ears, and pennants outlined by metal vines draped from its shoulders and hips. The Rat Fangire gave a grating moan as it turned towards the pony in the doorway.
The screams from outside echoed through Sugarcube Corner, and the ponies turned to look in surprise. It was a night of fright, but something was clearly off about them.
“Hurry!” called Kivat. “There isn’t time!” He swooped down and pushed Fluttershy’s right foreleg up, then spun back and lunged forward with open jaws, biting as its eyes gave a teal flash. “Gabu!” {Henshin!}
Fluttershy only managed a soft yelp and a flinch as a network of black branching veins spread from the bite and up her leg, across her neck, and to her face, a whooping whistle arising from nowhere as an array of chains shot out from behind her neck and circled it, tightening and flashing into a silver collar that faded to black. Before her friends could react, Kivat flew up and landed upside down on the bar over the oval at the front of the collar, clicking in and sending shockwave ripples radiating outward, covering Fluttershy in a silver coating. The silver form began to morph, her wings extending and the feathers blending into large bat wings, muscles appearing on her limbs and chest, and a wide collar ridge rising behind her head. Her ears flared into a pair of smaller bat wings and angled out as a set of tall pointed eye covers slid down over her face.
The silver coating shattered away, revealing the form of Fluttershy in a muscled black suit with a silver back cover that flared out behind her head, had a dull yellow chest plate, and that bore a yellow cutie mark imprint of a stylized bat symbol consisting of two very curved wings and a crescent moon for its head and ears. She had dull yellow front hoof covers, silver cuffs on her wrists and ankles, and silver knee pads. Her large now-bat wings, stemming from the silver back cover, were silver on the backs and dull yellow on the insides, and her mane and tail were a duller pink and mildly disheveled and spiky. The black collar Kivat clung to had a set of three slots on either side, each slot bearing a clear whistle with a colored design on the end, though the red-tipped whistle at the front right was smoky red instead of clear. She had a dull yellow face-forming helmet with bat-wing ears, a silver muzzle cover, and tall pointed eye covers forming the shape of the folded wings of another bat, a small U-shaped dull pink crest on her forehead forming this bat’s ears and bordering the front edge of her mane line. The blank, dark gray eye covers quickly flashed into turquoise.
The others stood dumbfounded at the transformation before them, and as another scream echoed through, Fluttershy turned and darted out the entrance, leaving them in the dust.
The pony quickly slammed their door shut as the Rat Fangire leapt at them, slamming into the door and sliding to the ground. It reached up and grabbed at the door.
A new arrival flew in and skidded to a stop in the street. Fluttershy saw the beast and gave a slight gasp. Wait, she thought to herself, am I already skipping over what just happened?
Before she could think further, Kivat jumped off of her collar and flew over to the Fangire, ramming into it once, twice.
“Oi!” he shouted. “Your opponent is me!” The Fangire looked up at Kivat. It gave a guttural hiss and slammed its hand onto the door, dragging long gashes in the wood with its long claws. It stood up and charged at Kivat as he flew back to Fluttershy, landing on her collar again. “Alright,” he said, “here it comes. Get ready!”
Yipe! Fluttershy thought. Deal with this first, deal with the other thing later! But how will I—
The monster was almost upon her, when suddenly she jumped up and spun, her tail smacking the Fangire tumbling away to the side. She landed, surprised not only at her own strength, but at her reflexes.
The Fangire jumped back up and ran over, swiping at her with its claws, but she just kept stepping back and sideways to avoid each swipe. What was this? It was like…a voice was telling her how to fight. This wasn't Fluttershy…this was Kivashy.
The Fangire swiped with its right claws again and Kivashy took another step back, but when it pulled its hand back, it was now holding a sword, the blade of which was covered in a pink, orange, green, and red stained glass pattern. It raised the sword above its head and swung it down. Fluttershy ducked. A burst of sparks flew as the sword hit the silver plate on her back…and stopped.
Fluttershy slowly looked up. She…that hadn’t hurt at all. Well of course not, that was the point, wasn’t it? She instinctively flapped her wings and propelled herself back and away from the Fangire, skidding to a stop. She took a deep breath. She was a bit shaken, but this “your costume is your defense” strategy was working quite well.
“Ehh, this’ll be tougher than I thought,” said Kivat. With the edge of his wing, he reached over and swatted the whistle at the front of the left side, with a blue, roughly triangular shape at the end, into the air, jumping off the collar and grabbing it in his mouth. “Hold him off,” he said, “I’ll get help.”
“Wait, huh?” Fluttershy let out as Kivat flew off down the street to the left. The Fangire turned and growled at Kivat, running after him. “Hey!” shouted Fluttershy, and she leapt forward and spun, her tail swatting its feet out from under it and sending it tumbling to the ground. As Kivat disappeared around a corner, the Fangire got to its feet again and turned back to her, hissing and holding out its sword. Fluttershy took a step back.
“S-so,” she stuttered, the spotlight now on her and her alone, “you think you can just start causing terror around here? Well, even though this is Nightmare Night, where terror is the whole point—b-but harmless scary terror…e-even though it is still rather sca—yipe!” She ducked as the Fangire’s sword swung over her head. It swung the sword back, but Kivashy held up her wing, and the silver-shelled back surface deflected it with another spray of sparks.
As a group of ponies walked along, dressed as a green dragon, an owl griffon, a changeling, and a Timberwolf, something stared at them from the bushes along the path. One of them heard a rustling and looked over, and the thing leapt out at them.
The Fangire swung again, but Kivashy leapt up and over it, disappearing over its head. It spun around to attack again, but found nothing behind it. Confused, the Fangire turned back around, and behind it Kivashy hung down from a tree branch with her tail and punched it several times in the back; it tried turning back but only got hit in the face and knocked backwards.
Kivashy let go of the branch and opened her wings, launching forward and slamming into the Fangire as it tried getting up, knocking it over again. She turned and swooped past again, hitting it as it tried raising its sword.
She came by for another pass, but the Fangire ducked and swung, catching Kivashy in midair with a burst of sparks and knocking her tumbling from the air. Rolling to a stop and staggering to her hooves, Fluttershy tried catching her breath. The Fangire clutched its sword and began approaching. Fluttershy sighed. No good. The voice telling her how to fight was fading away, her sharpened senses already dulling. She began to start feeling more and more distant from the suit around her, as if it had been a part of her but was now becoming just a costume. At this rate…
“Garulu Saber!” called Kivat from the sidelines, followed by a whistling screech. {Wild Blue}
Fluttershy looked over to see Kivat flying back, a glowing blue sphere following him. He zipped over and dropped the blue-tipped whistle back into its slot, landing on his perch. As the blue sphere flew at her, she reflexively held out her left hoof, a horseshoe on the base she hadn’t before noticed flipping up from a point on the top as if to form a grasping claw. The sphere faded to reveal a blue object with a black handle and curved gold hook; the object turned and its handle clicked into the horseshoe.
The front of the object folded up into the shape of a blue wolf head as the gold hook flipped over the top and grew, spinning and extending into a wavy golden blade. Silver chains began snaking around her hoof, up her arm, and to her shoulder. A blue glow came from inside and the chains shattered off, revealing her left arm and shoulder cover to now be blue. More chain shot across her yellow chest plate, glowing blue and shattering off as a pair of blue and silver plates slid in from the sides to become her new chest armor. Kivat’s teal eyes flashed to a brilliant ocean blue, and within Fluttershy’s own turquoise eye covers, blue flames erupted from the bottom and filled them up, turning them full blue as well.
Kivashy sprawled down and held the new saber straight out to the left, then tilted it up and back to rest its tip on her shoulder, looking down. What’s this? though Fluttershy. Another instinct? No, something… more than that…
The Fangire had cautiously held back at this new development, but now took a step forward. Kivashy did not move. The Fangire raised its sword and charged; Kivashy tilted her head up and growled. The Fangire brought its sword down, but in a single action, Kivashy swung her saber around and with its tip deflected the sword to the right, then caught it in one of the saber blade’s curves and carried it back over to the left, leaving the Fangire wide open for a rightward slash right across its front, spraying sparks feet away with a resounding ring. Kivashy quickly swung back left, right, and left again in successive ringing slashes of showing sparks, thrusting the saber forward and ramming the Fangire back with its tip with another spark burst.
As the Fangire struggled to balance itself after the flurry of hits, Kivashy held the saber upright in front of her, turning the wolf head-decorated crossguard towards it. She put her right hoof against the back of the wolf’s head and pushed, its eyes flashing as its mouth unleashed a howling burst of blue shockwaves that swept over the Fangire, knocking it over and propelling it back across the ground, arcs of blue electricity jumping across it as it slid.
“Hah,” muttered Kivat after Kivashy had lowered the saber. “Now…”
Over a nearby rooftop, a pegasus in an astronaut costume flew into view. “They’re over here!” Rainbow Dash called down behind her. Kivashy looked over to see the other four of Fluttershy’s friends rounding the corner and stopping short upon seeing the scene.
In Kivashy’s brief moment of distraction, the bruised and battered Fangire turned and scampered away. Kivashy quickly turned back to see the rat monster leaping up to a rooftop. “Hey—,” Kivat tried shouting, but the Fangire’s image wavered and it faded right out of sight. “Tsk,” Kivat mumbled as the other ponies ran over. “There’s no way to track them when they disappear like that.” Kivashy rested the saber over her shoulder and it turned into a cloud of red smoke that drifted down and was sucked into the blue-tipped whistle, turning its main body from clear to a smoky red. Her blue arm and chest glowed before chains shattered off, reverting them to their original appearance as her eye covers flashed back to turquoise.
The other ponies ran up to Kivashy and stopped. They clearly were either thinking too many things to know what to say, or were too shocked to talk.
“Whoa,” Rainbow Dash broke the silence. “Okay, so maybe there was something to what you were saying after all, but you could’ve been a bit more frank with it.”
“Yeah,” Pinkie added, “cutting to the chase sooner to avoid confusion is important. It could take a whole half hour to get that across, sometimes.”
Twilight looked the Kivashy armor up and down. “So this is the power of Kiva, then,” she commented to herself.
“How’s Fluttershy doing with all of this?” asked Rarity, stepping forward. “I know she agreed, but she can get a little overwhelmed at times.”
Kivashy stood in silence, breathing steadily.
“She’s a little winded,” Kivat put in, “but I’d say she’s getting the hang of it.”
“Uh, think we’d rather hear that from her,” Applejack said.
Rainbow Dash hovered over and looked at the assortment of colored whistles holstered on Kivashy’s collar. Blue triangle, green circle, and purple block down the left side, and on the right were a red crescent, a slightly orangish red box with a head sticking out of it, and… “What’s this rainbow one for?” she asked, pointing to the one in the back covered in speckled colors and shaped like a sharp fa—
Suddenly another scream rang out from nearby.
“There!” shouted Kivat, and Kivashy spread her wings and shot into the sky, again leaving the others in a cloud of dust.
Flying above the town, Kivashy looked down and saw the Rat Fangire approaching a trio of foals without obvious costumes two streets over. Kivat reached over with his wing and flipped the blue-tipped smoky red whistle up and into his mouth. “Garulu Saber!” (whistling screech)
A cloud of red smoke vented from the whistle leaving it clear again, the cloud condensing into the folded saber. Kivashy’s horseshoe flipped out from her hoof and latched onto its handle, the saber unfolding as she folded her wings and began dropping. Chains wrapped up her left arm and across her chest, shattering as the armor underneath and her eye covers flashed to blue.
Kivashy held the saber with both hooves as the Fangire looked up—Kivashy dragged the saber’s blade down the Fangire’s front with a ringing slash as she sailed to the ground, releasing a long spray of sparks. Kivashy pulled back and slashed across the Fangire, the blade swinging over the foals’ heads as she swung it back for another slash, and another slash, and slash—slash—slash—slash—slash—slash—slash—
The Fangire dove and rolled across the ground, sprawled and panting, its body smoking from the sword blows, and looked back to Kivashy, clutching the handle of its sword tighter. The cowering plastic-fanged foals took their chance to escape the pair of monsters as Twilight and the others caught up again.
“Now you’re mine,” Kivat whispered. Kivashy extended her right wing and grabbed the tip of her saber, moving the blade horizontally to Kivat’s open mouth. “Garulu Bite!” he called, biting his fangs onto it, a wave of blue sweeping over the weapon.
Kivashy held the saber up sideways in front of her, then twisted it to point forward. With the howl of a wolf, the air around her took on a red hue and condensed in towards her in a cloud, fading only to leave the once purple night sky an ominously empty dusty gray, a larger-than-possible yellow full moon hanging behind Kivashy. The Fangire and ponies both looked around in surprise at the sudden change.
A zigzag outline glowed on Kivashy’s silver muzzle cover, and it retracted open to form a set of fanged jaws. She latched the handle of her saber into them and crouched down, staring up at the Fangire with a low growl. As the Fangire stood up and readied its sword, Kivashy dashed forward, opening her wings and leaping into the air. She rose up and hovered, a silhouette in front of full moon, before beginning to drop and spin to her left, the saber swinging around and back up and over to again chop down—
The Fangire held up its own sword for defense, but the saber hit, cleaving the sword in half with a burst of blue flames and slicing a glowing line down the Fangire’s body, Kivashy landing on all fours in a crouch. The Fangire froze in place, its body crusting over into a rainbow patchwork before shattering explosively into a rain of multicolored glass shards. A glowing rainbow ball of energy floated where the Fangire had stood, and began drifting upwards.
Wary of the layer of glass dust now covering the ground, Twilight and the other ponies slowly stepped forward to Kivashy again as the night sky faded back to normal. Kivashy took the saber back in her horseshoe grasper, her muzzle cover snapping closed, and she looked over at them.
“N—,” Twilight raised a hoof and opened her mouth to speak, but another pair of Rat Fangires identical to the first leapt out from an alley across the street, hissing and charging at Kivashy.
“Oh no, it’s started multiplying!” Kivat exclaimed. “This thing can multiply out to infinitely many copies. Quick, stop them all before it gets out of control!”
One of the Fangires leapt forward at Kivashy, but she swiftly slashed it aside with a ring of her saber.
“Hey,” Rainbow Dash said, jumping forward, “we can help—”
The other Fangire threw out its arm, now suddenly holding a black blunderbuss pistol with a stained glass pattern along the sides, and fired. Kivashy held her blade flat to block the shots as she dove to the side, rolling over in front of the ponies before it stopped shooting.
“Just leave this to us!” said Kivat before Kivashy charged back into the battle.
She drew back her sword and leapt for a strike, but the gun-wielding Fangire fired and hit her chest armor, the blast deflecting her off to the side with a burst of sparks, where the other Fangire swiped at her with its claws. Kivashy punched with her right hoof, hitting the Fangire in the gut before grabbing and tossing it back towards the gunslinger. She held the saber over her shoulder, where it turned into a cloud of red smoke and drifted back into the blue-tipped whistle, her blue armor parts again shattering off as she flared her wings open in front of her for defense.
As this happened, a trio of panicked ponies dressed as a green dragon, an owl griffon, and a changeling turned the corner before seeing Twilight, racing over to the town’s resident princess.
“Princess Twilight!” cried the magenta earth pony with the green dragon outfit. “You have to help us! This monster, it just came out of nowhere and attacked us. It took our friend!”
“Don’t worry,” Twilight told them, “the monsters are being dealt with.” She pointed over to the two Fangires. The ponies looked over.
“Huh—what the!” let out the blue pegasus in the owl griffon costume.
“Th-those aren’t what attacked us,” said the sea foam unicorn dressed as a changeling.
“No,” continued the earth pony, “it was smaller, and flying, and…” Her eyes were drawn to the small flying figure that leapt from Kivashy’s collar and rammed into the gun-toting Fangire’s face once, then twice. The pony pointed, “That!”
“Huh?” said Twilight, looking where the pony was pointing. “But that’s just…,” she thought for a reason as to why that claim was just plain ridiculous, “…it’s…,” a reason that didn’t come… {When you see the eyes…}
Kivat turned and glanced at the new arrivals, then took a double take. “Great…,” he muttered, turning and flying back to Kivashy. He clipped the green-tipped whistle on Kivashy’s collar into the air and grabbed it in his mouth, turning and flying over to the ponies. Rarity in her mermaid costume looked up as she saw he was coming to her specifically.
“Basshaa Magnum!” he called as he blew through the whistle with a short trumpet tune. The whistle emitted circular green waves that wrapped around Rarity, forming and encasing her in a green bubble. She looked around in shock as the bubble slowly shrank and glowed brighter, a pair of chains flying in and collapsing the bubble into the green-glowing silhouette of a small object.
Everypony took a half-step forward with a gasp. Kivat turned and flew back to Kivashy, towing the green and gold object as it lost its glow.
“Fluttershy,” Applejack called out, “didn’t you see tha—”
Kivashy reached out with her right hoof as another horseshoe gripper flipped out and caught the object’s handle without flinching; the main body of it flipped up into a gun barrel and a ring of three green fronds fanned open around it. She slowly turned her head to look silently at the ponies. Kivat landed on her collar, and the fronds around the magnum’s barrel began spinning.
A gaggle of chains wrapped and snaked their way up Kivashy’s right arm from the magnum’s grip. The chains around her lower arm glowed green and shattered off as those around her upper arm continued to snake, a second later shattering off themselves to reveal her right arm’s armor was now shining green and finned. Chains crossed her chest plate before a new pair of green plates slid in from the sides and shattered the chains off with a gush of water. Kivat’s eyes flashed to emerald as a rush of green water filled Kivashy’s eye covers, turning them green as well.
“Th-this is madness!” shouted Rainbow Dash, jumping into the air, ready to—Kivashy flinched the magnum in her direction and fired as its fronds began spinning around the barrel, a series of rock-hard water bursts flying and pelting the ground in a line in front of the ponies and kicking up a wall of dust, Dash ducking back down to the ground for cover.
Not missing a beat, Kivashy turned again to the Fangires and opened fire. The monsters leapt to the side, only the first water shot clipping the gun wielder’s shoulder before the rest flew past open air and instead struck the wall of the house behind them, punching deep craters into the wood. The weaponless Fangire pushed up to its feet and took its chance to dash for it. The magnum’s fronds started spinning as it tracked its target.
“What does Fluttershy think she’s doing now!?” exclaimed Applejack as the ponies watched the friend who had just shot at them.
Kivashy unleashed an untempered storm of water bolts at the Fangire, but as it dashed down the street, the hailstorm pelted the houses behind it as the line of shots continued to miss its target, one smashing through a window with a pony skeleton display hanging in it.
“I’m probably not alone in this,” spoke up Twilight, “but I don’t think Fluttershy’s the one in control anymore.” She heard something behind her and turned to see a small purple dragon in a conjoined twin purple dragon costume carrying a book. “Spike, you’re just in time!”
“Here’s what you asked fo—what in Celestia’s name?!” Spike let out as he saw what was happening.
Meanwhile, seconds into the Fangire’s run, the barrage of water shots had caught up to it and slammed into its back, turning it around to face the blitz of hits in a shower of sparks and knocking it down.
The other Fangire took the opening and fired its own weapon at Kivashy, but her arm swung around and the magnum fired, its water shot bursting into a shower of mist halfway between them. The Fangire shuffled sideways and continued to fire, Kivashy shooting its bullets out of the air. The Fangire leapt away sideways and twisted back to aim at Kivashy, but the magnum unleashed a salvo, hitting it in midair before it could fire and sending it falling to the ground beside the first Fangire.
Kivashy held the magnum pointed out and tilted sideways in front of her collar. “Basshaa Bite!” called Kivat, biting onto the gun’s hammer, a wave of green sweeping across the magnum.
Kivashy thrust the weapon forward before bringing her arm back, holding the magnum aimed up and twisted sideways. With a twist of her wrist to turn it forward again, a sharp humming rang out as the air around her again faded red and condensed in toward her, the purple sky becoming a dusty gray. A flash of green came from beneath her hooves, and she threw her right arm and wings out sideways and her head up and back as a green shockwave spread from her hooves out across the ground, summoning a watery surface that covered the street. She stood in this serene new environment, the gently rippling pool reflecting the oversized half moon hanging low in the sky. As the fronds of the magnum began spinning, she slowly raised it to point skyward, a swirling column of water then rising up around her. She slowly looked down towards the Fangires as she brought the magnum with her gaze, a ball of glowing blue water growing at the end of the barrel.
The Fangires propped themselves up to look, shrieking at the sight. Inside the waterspout, Kivashy fired the glowing water ball, sending it bursting out of the column and flying at blinding speeds directly at the monsters. The first Fangire jumped up and dove away, but the gun wielder only had time to reach its feet before the water ball crashed into it, bursting water everywhere as the Fangire froze, crusting over into a rainbow patchwork and shattering, raining glass shards everywhere. A glowing rainbow ball floated in its former place, beginning to slowly drift up.
The giant moon and gray sky again faded back into the original purple night. Kivashy turned to the last remaining Fangire, who had fallen back to the ground in its escape. She held the magnum over her left shoulder, the weapon turning into a red cloud and filtered into the green-tipped whistle, turning its body a smoky red, her green armor glowing and shattering away to normal. The Fangire got back to its feet and turned to her, struggling to stand and hissing sharply.
“Now,” said Kivat, “before it multiplies again!” He reached out his left wing and tipped the smoky red whistle with the red crescent tip out of its holster, catching it in his mouth. “Wake Up!” he called, flying up off of the collar accompanied by a flute’s whistling. {Whh-w-w-wh-w-whh!}
Kivashy stepped a hoof forward and leaned down as she flared her wings out, Kivat circling her. She slowly reached her wings forward as the air again faded red and condensed towards her, graying out the sky and summoning a giant full moon that quickly waned into a slim crescent. Her wings shot up and then beat down, launching her into the sky. She slowed to hover silhouetted against what remained of the glowing yellow crescent, wings spread open.
Her long pink tail rose up and snaked around her legs, a pair of chains flying in and, in a silver flash, turning the wrapped tail into a silver casing. The circling Kivat looped around the chained casing once, twice, and smash, the chains broke away as the casing flared open into another set of dark yellow leathery bat wings. Kivashy looked down at the Rat Fangire as it looked back up at her, swaying on its feet.
Kivashy slowly began drifting down before tilting her wings and plummeting feet-first, kicking her legs forward to aim her rapid descent directly at the Fangire. She smashed her hooves into it as a small shower of rainbow glass shards flew, pushing it skidding backwards on its feet along the ground and ramming it into the house behind it, stamping an imprint of her stylized bat cutie mark onto the wall roof-high and from edge to edge, shattering a window from the impact.
Jammed into a crater in the wall, the Fangire moaned, crusting over with a rainbow patchwork. Kivashy pushed off and flipped backwards, a pair of chains flying in and resealing the wings on her legs, in a silver flash reverting it back into her tail, which unwound itself as the Fangire shattered into a rain of glass shards, Kivashy landing crouched back on the ground. A glowing rainbow ball floated in front of the impact point, slowly drifting off to the side.
Kivashy stood back up as Kivat flew in and landed back on his perch on the collar. Twilight and the others stepped forward, Twilight in particular staring coldly at Kivat. Kivashy turned to them.
“I don’t know how I should react to this,” Twilight said in a voice restraining some strong emotion. “First you capture Rarity and turn her into a gun, but then you use it to defeat a monster attacking Ponyville. I can’t tell what side you’re on, and that might make you more dangerous than those rats could ever be.”
“Never mind that,” brushed off Kivat, “we need a vessel to seal those Fangire souls away in.” He motioned at the floating rainbow ball that had just been released; the other two, earlier aimlessly hovering nearby, now seemed to be slowly approaching it. “If they’re left free long enough, they could merge, and that would unleash a gigantic Sabbat! Imagine a five-story chandelier with claws that shoots fireballs!”
“Are you kiddin’ me?” Applejack interjected with a stomp of her hoof. “All’a that’s just crazy talk, and I don’t believe a word of it!”
“Oh,” Kivat snapped, jumping up off the collar, “and I suppose you’re an expert on the thirteen Demon Races?” He snatched up the orange/red-tipped box-and-head whistle from the middle of the right side of Kivashy’s collar in his mouth and flew over to Spike. The dragon in his dragon costume stepped back as Twilight tried to lean in front of him. “Castle Dora—”
smash!
Kivat crashed into the ground and tumbled back, the whistle clattering away. Spike and Twilight looked up to see a brown figure floating in the air where he’d been: Owlowiscious.
“Thanks for the save, bud!” Spike called out with a wave.
The owl turned to him. “Hoo?”
Spike crossed his arms. “Not starting this.”
As soon as Kivat had hit the ground, Kivashy’s eye covers had faded from turquoise back to their original empty gray, and she started swaying, taking a step to steady herself. She moaned.
“Uhhn…guys, there…,” she said in a soft voice, “there’s something more going on than…”
“Fluttershy!” Pinkie skated over followed closely by Applejack.
“Are you okay?” Applejack asked.
“Did you see anything you were doing?” questioned Pinkie, helping Fluttershy steady herself.
“I-I…,” Fluttershy mumbled. “Keep him…away…”
“Um, Applejack,” said Rainbow Dash. “How certain were you that he was lying about those?”
The ponies followed Dash’s pointing to see that the glowing Fangire souls were now only feet apart and drifting closer. Twilight quickly grabbed them in separate magic bubbles, but they simply floated right through her grasp. With a look of shock, Twilight took a step back. The souls collided and started glowing brighter.
“Brace yourselves!” Twilight shouted, crouching down, and the others followed suit. Kivat pulled himself back up to see, muttering a curse under his breath.
The souls merged into a single brightly glowing silhouette and morphed, beginning to take shape. However, it was a rather small shape that then floated back to the ground. The glow faded, to reveal a cowering yellow unicorn with fake gray mouse ears and snout. She opened her eyes and lifted her head. Brushing the fake ears and snout off, she looked down at her hooves.
“I…I’m back?” stuttered Lemon Hearts.
Everyone’s looks of fear turned to shock, before Twilight’s faded to anger. She stood back up, turning to Kivat. “Alright, that’s it, now you’d better start explaini—hey!”
But Kivat had already leapt into the air and was zooming towards Fluttershy. Applejack jumped up at him, but he looped left and arced over her, swinging back down and ramming Pinkie rolling away on her skates. Fluttershy had no time to react as he flipped around and grabbed the bar on her collar in his feet, making eye contact with a smirk, before swinging down and latching into place. Kivashy’s eye covers flashed back to turquoise with the sound of a bat’s screeching hiss. She looked up at the others, then shot her wings open and launched straight up into the air. {The Play is starting.}
Twilight and Rainbow Dash exchanged a glance and nodded, both of them taking off after Kivashy.
“Not so fast,” Kivat said, looking down at them. The green tipped whistle jumped out of its slot and flew over into his mouth. “Basshaa Magnum!” (trumpet tune) The red smoke filtered out and formed into the green and gold magnum, floating next to Kivashy’s right hoof. “And also,” he said as the green whistle flew back and the blue one took its place, “Garulu Saber!” (whistling screech) The red smoke formed the blue and gold saber, floating next to Kivashy’s left hoof.
Kivashy’s horseshoe graspers flipped up on her hooves and she grabbed both weapons at once, the saber’s blade flipping up from the back and spinning into position, and the magnum’s barrel flipping up and its fronds splaying open. Chains swarmed from the weapons’ handles, snaking up Kivashy’s arms. The chains on her right forearm shattered off, followed by those on her left and upper right arms, to reveal a blue left arm with a spiky shoulder and a shiny green right arm with a finned shoulder. Lines of chains crossed her chest plate, being shattered off by the clamping in of a silver and blue plate from the left and a shiny green plate from the right. The upside down Kivat’s eyes flashed to ocean blue on his right and emerald on his left. Kivashy’s eye covers filled up with blue flames on the left and green water on the right, each cover taking its respective color.
“He just…,” Lemon Hearts told Applejack, Spike, and Pinkie, “came out of nowhere.”
Lemon Hearts was walking down a path alone in her mouse costume, when Kivat flew out in front of her with a rainbow-speckled whistle in his mouth, pointed at the end and shaped like a sharp fang.
“Fangire!” he shouted, blowing through it and emitting a series of shockwave rings that swept over Lemon Hearts. The unicorn staggered back in shock, her body becoming covered in a stained glass pattern, and a new shape quickly faded in around her and solidified, that of the Rat Fangire.
“And no, he wasn’t monologing his evil plans while doing it,” Lemon Hearts said. Pinkie swiped her hoof.
However, as Kivat approached with a grin, the Fangire began struggling and swiping, diving forward as two identical copies suddenly leapt out from behind it. Kivat dove in surprise to avoid them, the three Rat Fangires scattering in different directions. He looked after them before flying off.
“I was confused,” she continued. “Lost. I didn’t know what had happened to me and didn’t know what to do. I was only trying to find help…”
The Fangire’s gaze looked out upon a pair of ponies across the street. It made its way over to them, struggling to stay standing, but they screamed and ran.
“I didn’t know how to talk when I was like that, I couldn’t explain myself. I was only trying to reach out…”
It reached up and grasped uselessly at the closed door.
“I was seeing through three pairs of eyes at once, of course it was confusing,” she explained. “And on top of that, there was this…instinct. At first I tried to ignore it, I didn’t like what it was telling me to do, but…”
Something slammed into the Fangire once, twice.
“Oi!” shouted Kivat. “Your opponent is me!”
“…as soon as I saw him again, that savage instinct just…took over.” Lemon Hearts sighed. “I could only watch until just now.”
Twilight and Rainbow Dash continued their pursuit straight up.
“This power of Kiva sure is fast, huh?” said an already-winded Twilight.
“But I’m faster!” Rainbow said before giving another burst of speed.
Kivashy looked down at her pursuers as Dash began to draw closer. She pointed the Basshaa Magnum down at them. “This time I won’t miss,” said Kivat.
The magnum’s fronds started spinning as it began raining down water bolts. The two wove out of the way, but Kivashy singled in on Rainbow, and as she closed in, there was no room left to—a shot collided with Dash, shattering her astronaut helmet and stopping her ascent like a wall.
“Rainbow!” Twilight called as she flew past, but the pegasus waved her on.
“Keep going!” Rainbow Dash called back.
Twilight looked up at Kivashy, judging the distance. Kivashy aimed the magnum at Twilight, but she disappeared in a purple burst, appearing just across from Kivashy a second later.
“Why did you do this, huh!” Twilight shouted, her horn still glowing. “What was it all for!”
“Hmph,” Kivat said as the two continued to climb higher. “Ponies’ souls are tied too strongly to their bodies, they cannot be extracted while remaining intact. Fangire souls, however, have a far looser connection, so I simply converted a pony into a Fangire.”
“What? But why are you even after a soul?” pressed Twilight.
Kivat gave a glare. “Why not come closer for a listen!” Kivashy held up her saber and pointed its wolf head at Twilight, slamming the back of it with her right wrist. The wolf head’s eyes flashed and its mouth unleashed a howling burst of blue shockwaves that swept over Twilight, knocking her back in a surge of blue electricity. Kivashy darted forward, swooping down and slashing her saber at the stunned Twilight with a burst of sparks.
“Twilight!” called Rainbow Dash from below.
“Hehe…,” Kivat mumbled, before taking a closer look. “Eh—What?” The saber had somehow been stopped harmlessly just an inch or so above the armor of Twilight’s golden Royal Guard costume. A few sparks jumped from the empty space where the blade was stopped. She smirked.
“Make your costume your armor?” Twilight repeated Kivat’s words from earlier. Kivashy pressed her right hoof against the back of the saber’s blade to try pushing it further, but to no avail. “If that idea was good enough for you, then it’s good enough for me!” {Stand up right now!}
Twilight held out her left arm and the gold wristband she wore, slamming her right hoof onto the small pale disk on the band. The golden images of armor plates unfolded down her arms and legs from her main costume, also extending onto the backs of her wings, up her ears and horn, and over her muzzle, in a flash sending out a burst of heat that knocked Kivashy back. As the light faded, Twilight floated there in her gleaming golden full armor suit, a red mane fin rising from her helmet and a shining sun insignia on her chest plate, with only her wings and eyes showing through. Spike had brought that spellbook just in time for her to find how to enchant a transformation like this. “You’ve been bringing out the moon all night,” she said, trying desperately to think of something that could capitalize on how awesome she had to look right now, “but now it’s time for the sun to Rise Up!”
“H-how did you—,” Kivat stammered.
“It’s magic, bat!” Twilight shouted as she pressed her wristband’s disk again and twisted it. Her sun insignia flashed and shot out a glowing projection that grew and started spinning, sliding backwards over her before erupting into a blazing sun behind her. The golden cover on her horn began shimmering with a buildup of heat.
“Ha!” said Kivat as Kivashy held her weapons aside, leaving herself wide open. “Would you really dare harm your friend to stop me?”
He was right, thought Twilight, this would be a dilemma, except…
“Have you already lost sight of it?” she said with a smirk. Oh, this was elementary, my dear, she’d seen this solution a mile away and was already prepared. “Fluttershy’s protected by that suit.” She left a dramatic pause, but not so long he would realize that—“But you’re on the outside!”
Kivat stuttered a gasp, glancing left and right to look for a—Twilight threw her head forward and an orange energy wave burst out of her horn. Kivashy tried pulling her weapons back in to block the attack, but the wave washed over her, a cascade of sparks erupting from her collar as Kivat was torn off and sent spinning away, falling towards the ground. The black collar Kivashy was wearing disintegrated in a burst, sending the whistles it held flying out before glowing and shattering. But the wave Twilight had sent was only a wavefront, and passed as quickly as it had hit.
Kivashy was knocked back by the force of the wave, dropping her weapons as her entire suit became silver again and shattered off to reveal Fluttershy. The blue saber and green magnum glowed their respective colors before growing back out into equine shapes, the magnum reverting to Rarity in her mermaid costume and the saber reverting to a pale yellow earth pony in a Timberwolf costume. Twilight flew closer and grabbed the two ponies in her magic as Rainbow Dash flew up from below and caught Fluttershy.
Back on the ground, the three rescued ponies were recovering, Applejack helping the Timberwolf pony over to her dragon, griffon, and changeling-costumed friends. Lemon Hearts ran over to Twilight and Fluttershy.
“Twilight!” she said. “I’m so sor…wow, cool outfit. But I’m sorry that—”
“Lemon Hearts, calm down,” Twilight replied with a smile, “none of this was your fault, whatever happened.”
Suddenly the ponies heard a sound off to the side, turning to see Kivat slowly stepping towards them. Lemon Hearts and Fluttershy jumped back as Twilight stood in front of them and flared her wings.
“…he…,” Kivat muttered, “…rise…” Trails of steam were wisping off of him as the outer layer on his wings peeled back from the heat of Twilight’s attack, revealing silver metal underneath. “…King of…Demon…Castle…” Kivat’s faceplate suddenly popped off, clattering to the ground. In its place was a silver panel with pistons and circuits surrounding a pair of teal lights and a lower jaw mechanism. “…Legen…dor…” A spit of sparks and smoke burst from the circuitry, and Kivat stopped moving, collapsing backwards.
The ponies stood on edge for a second before easing up. Spike walked over and poked the metal bat with a stick, turning back and shaking his head. Twilight sighed.
“I should’ve known better,” Fluttershy spoke up.
“It’s okay, Fluttershy,” said Twilight.
“No, I could’ve seen this coming from the moment he introduced himself if I’d just brought it up,” Fluttershy insisted. “Do you remember his name, ‘Kivatte-nise’? ‘Nise’ is Nipponyese for ‘fake’!”
“Well, he certainly fooled all of us,” said Rarity.
“Didn’t really give us a chance to think about it, though,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “Probably should’ve tried stopping him sooner.”
Twilight picked up the inactive robot with magic and started walking back to her castle as the others followed her. Celestia would want to know what had happened, and Twilight wanted to know more about where Kivat had come from.
“So…,” Fluttershy said, “I don’t suppose it’s too late to back out of Nightmare Night this year after all, is it?”
As the group walked away, one thing still lay on the ground, resting off up against the side of a house. A small, clear whistle, on its end a reddish orange box with a head sticking out… (echoing dragon’s roar)