Chimera

Twilight Sparkle's mind was reeling. The woman that they had all been looking so forward to meeting had just transformed, before her very eyes, from some form of bird-creature. So many questions were flying through her head that she didn't even notice Doctor Signs struggling to his feet.

"What, in Celestis's name, just happened?" he managed to cough out, throat still sore from the creature's grip.

The same question could be seen in the eyes of all who were present, and for once Twilight was at a complete loss for answers.

"Chimera."

Turning to her teacher, Twilight cast Celestia a curious look.

"Princess, did you say something?" she asked.

"Twilight, listen to me carefully." Celestia's tone was one that could make even a dragon sit up and take note. "I need you and your herd to return to your library, and find any books that have any mention of chimeras in them."

"What do chimeras have to do with this?" Twilight asked, not sure what the connection could be.

"Now, Twilight, we don't have much time!"

Twilight knew better than to keep asking questions when Celestia raised her voice. "Come on, everypony, you heard the princess," Twilight commanded, as magic gathered in her horn. Despite the stunned looks, and sputtered protests, Twilight's spell went of without a hitch, and in a bright purple flash she and her herd were gone.

Celestia was impressed, she knew that Twilight's skill at teleportation had improved, since she first learned how to do it, but to transport four beings simultaneously. I'll have to remember to congratulate her, when she gets back. With her students herd gone, Celestia allowed herself to relax slightly. It was imperative that she be able to focus on the situation at hoof, without the distraction of constant questions. "Doctor, are you alright?" she asked, turning to Signs.

Signs made his way over to her, still rubbing his throat. "I'll live, now can you please tell me what has happened to my patient?" he asked, glancing at the woman still floating against the wall.

"Yes, Doctor, I can," Celestia explained, "however, I'm afraid that will have to wait, for the moment. Right now, I need you to make sure that nopony comes up to this floor, until I say otherwise. This patient may yet prove a danger to herself, or others."

"Then shouldn't we get a medical team up here? I mean I've never heard of a condition like this," said Signs, motioning at the pile of feathers underneath the woman.

"I assure you, Doctor, this is not something that your staff is prepared to handle." As Celestia spoke, magic began to flow through her horn, and out around the room. As Signs watched, the damage to the bed began to mend, and the torn remains of the hospital gown on the floor knitted back into one piece, before rising into the air and being resecured to the woman, who was then gently placed back into bed. "There is only one pony who can help me at the moment, and we will need privacy for the work that needs to be done."

Signs considered pressing the argument further, but, looking back at his patient, thought better of it. "Very well, Your Highness, but when this is over I expect some answers. I do not like being kept in the dark about my patients," he said with a huff.

"Do not worry, Doctor, I will explain everything, when we are not in the middle of a crisis," Celestia assured, as she watched Signs exit the room.

Once she was certain that she was alone, Celestia went to work. Reaching out with her magic, she cast her thoughts across land and sky so that they may be heard in the mind of another. Luna, please come to me, I am in desperate need of your assistance. Though she doubted that her sister would appreciate being awoken at this hour, she needed Luna's powers if they were to have any chance of saving this soul. As it turned out, Celestia didn't have to wait long.

As Celestia watched, the room was filled with a bright silvery glow that coalesced into the shape of an alicorn, before shattering into thousands of ethereal shards. Standing at the center of the little display was none other than her sister, Luna. As Celestia had expected, Luna looked like she had just crawled out of bed. The younger alicorn's constantly dancing mane seemed to be flowing at odd angles, her fur was unkempt, and she had not even bothered to don her regalia.

"Sister... it is early," said Luna, as she regarded her sister, with bloodshot eyes.

"I know, Luna, but this is an emergency," Celestia urged.

"What hath happened this time," Luna asked, with a yawn.

"Sister, they have done something terrible to this woman," said Celestia, glancing at the woman on the bed.

"Tis quite unfortunate, sister, we thought that medical malpractice was a thing of the past. Still, we fail to see why this news could not wait until-"

"The ones that she escaped from, Luna." Celestia's voice had gone as cold as a winter morning, and the effect was immediate. Her sister was snapped out of her half-asleep stupor, as her attention was suddenly focused completely upon Celestia. Scanning her features, hoping that it was all just some ill-conceived attempt at humor, and feeling the full weight of the situation upon realizing that it was not.

"What has happened, sister?" Luna asked, her composure now reclaimed.

"I'm afraid that we are not dealing with an ordinary human here, sister, she is a chimera." Celestia paused, letting the word hang in the air. As she watched, Luna's eyes widened.

"Doth thou mean to suggest, one of the ancient variety?" Luna asked, concern growing in her voice.

"Indeed, sister, a fusion of two creatures. Not born, but made using the dark arts," Celestia replied.

"What other creature did they use?"

"It looked like one of the great snowy owls, from the north."

"We see none of the features of such a creature." Luna paused to examine the woman more closely. "Dose that mean she-"

"Yes, Luna, I believe that, despite the amount of time that has passed, she is still in the formative phase. That is why I summoned you here." Celestia looked to her sister, hopefully. "Please, Luna, look inside her. Help her, if you can."

Luna looked at her sister's pleading face with growing concern. "Sister, thou know the dangers of tampering with a mind in flux."

"I know, Luna, but please try. If she should fall, like so many others did, then they win," Celestia pleaded.

With a long sigh, Luna looked at the woman on the bed, then back to her sister. "We will try Celestia, but we make no promises as to the outcome." As Celestia watched, Luna crossed the short distance to the bedside, and took a seat. Closing her eyes, Luna allowed her mind to drift outwards until she felt it collide with the wall of an unconscious mind. With a quick push, Luna found the entrance that only she knew where to look for, and found herself falling.

****

The sounds of falling books, and frantic hooves, filled the air of the main reading room of Golden Oaks Library. Purple and gold auras of magic seized books by the dozen, and brought them to the faces of their respective owners. Twilight and Lyra scanned the cover of each book before either dropping them into one of the ever-growing piles strewn around the area, or tossing them to the center of the room, to be hastily caught by Lero, and added to the stack on the center table. All the while Spike watched from halfway up the stairs, doing his best to fight back tears as the library, which he had spent most of the morning reorganizing, was torn apart in front of him.

"Lero, think fast," Twilight called out.

Lero got his hands up just in time to keep from getting smacked by a particularly thick tome entitled 'Rare Beasts of Equestria'. "Carful, Twi, you almost got me with that one," Lero called back.

"Sorry, Lero, but we need to hurry. You're sure this isn't some kind of condition from your world right?"

"For the last time, Twilight, I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as birditis where I come from. How about here though?"

"Not that I'm aware of. The closest thing I can think of is the griffin-flu, but all that dose is cause a pegasus' feathers to turn brown," said Twilight, tossing another book Lero's way.

Lero caught 'Natural Disasters' and gave Twilight a quizzical look. "Twilight, we're not dealing with an earthquake here," he said.

"Not that kind of disaster," Twilight called.

Lero quickly turned to a random page in the book. "Is that alligator made of rock!?" Lero asked, upon seeing the picture on the page.

"Oh yeah, a cragodile," Lyra answered. "Mean things; no pressure points, as far as anypony can tell."

Lero put the book on the table with the others. The pile that they had built up was beginning to get pretty tall. "Twilight, how much more do we have to go?" he asked.

"Well, that should be the last of the natural history section, now we just have to get through literature and folklore," Twilight replied, dropping another trio of books.

"Folklore?" asked Lero. "I thought these were real creatures here."

"They are, but some of the more fantastic residents of equestria tent to pop up in legends, as much as they do in non-fiction," Twilight explained.

As the trio continued to scour the library for anything they cold find on the creatures Celestia had asked for, the front door was suddenly kicked open.

"Hey, guys, I finally found her." Rainbow Dash burst into the building, pulling a rather agitated looking Applejack by the tail behind her.

"What in tarnation is goin' on here?" Applejack barked, yanking her tail from Rainbow's mouth.

"I'd like to know as well." Everyone's attention was drawn back to the door to find Rarity, Pinky Pie, and Fluttershy standing there, all with confused looks on their faces.

"Yeah," said Pinky. "We just finished hitting the market, when all of a sudden, whoosh, Rainbow Dash swooped in, nabbed Applejack by the tail and, zoom, took off for the library."

As Pinky finished her explanation, with a few wild flails of her hooves, Fluttershy slowly poked her head through the door. "I-is everything ok?" she asked, her voice barley above a whisper.

"No, Fluttershy, I'm afraid everything's not ok," Twilight replied. "There has been a serious change in the new human's condition."

"Oh dear, the poor thing hasn't gotten worse, has she?" Fluttershy asked, suddenly pushing her way into the building, eyes wide with worry.

"Depends on if you think turning into a giant bird-thing is worse," Rainbow answered.

"Uh, pardon?" Applejack asked.

"You heard me, giant feakin' bird," Dash said, holding her forelegs wide for emphasis.

"Darling," Rarity began, "are you sure it's not simply a condition from-"

"No, it's not a condition from my world!" Lero snapped, slamming the book he was holding down on its pile. All the ponies looked at him with wide eyes. Most of them had never heard him raise his voice before, and the few who had could count the number of times on the hooves of one pony. Lero stood there, eyes to the floor, hand still gripping the book he had just slammed down. His breathing was long and harsh, and it looked like moisture was forming in his eyes."We don't know what's wrong, and we don't know how to fix it," Lero said, the strain evident in the even tone of his voice. "All we know is that Celestia wants every book on chimeras, for some reason. I don’t know why, maybe it will help, but Twilight asked Rainbow to bring Applejack here because she's seen the things firsthand."

As he finished, Lero felt a soft tug at his hand. Looking down, he saw Rainbow there, his right pinky finger clutched in her lips and worry written across her face. As he gazed into her eyes, Lero felt himself fall to his knees, before wrapping his arms around her neck and pulling her into a tight embrace. They sat like that far a moment before Lero felt a weight upon his other shoulder. Turning to get a better look, he saw that Twilight had come up behind him to rest her chin there. They were soon joined by Lyra, who did her best to wrap her forelegs around all three of them.

"I'm sorry," Lero said, softly. "I just wasn't expecting things to turn out like this."

"Lero, you couldn't have expected something like this to happen," Twilight comforted.

"Yeah, big guy, and don't worry , we've gotten through weirder stuff than this," Rainbow said.

"I'm sure Princess Celestia asked this of us for a reason," Lyra added. "Lets finish sorting through these books and then maybe we can get some answers." As she finished Lyra pulled her herd in even tighter.

"Aww."

The herd all looked up to see their friends looking at them. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinky Pie all had the same love-struck expression on their face, while Applejack was doing her best to avert her eyes while a deep blush spread across her cheeks.

"Isn't it romantic?" Rarity asked. "The distraught stallion lovingly comforted by his mares. Why, it's something right out of a romance novel."

"Uh-huh," said Pinky and Fluttershy, in unison.

"It's down right mushy, if y'all ask me," Applejack complained. "So let me get this strait. Princess Celestia asked y'all to gather up every book ya could find on them chimathingies, and you sent Rainbow to get me instead?

"Yes, Applejack, as the only pony in Ponyville with firsthoof knowledge of these creatures, I'd hoped that you could tell us anything that the books couldn't," Twilight explained, while disentangling herself from her herd.

"Well shucks, Twi, aside from living in Fire Geyser Swamp, and being perpetually-ornery, I don't know what I can tell ya."

"Still, I'd feel a lot better if you were there when we go back to the hospital," Twilight said, while giving Applejack her best pleading look.

Applejack was hesitant for a moment, but relented in the wake of Lero's little outburst. Figuring that this whole mess was probably hitting him hardest, the least she could do was tag along. "Fine, lets get this over with," she said, with her best fake huff.

"Great," Twilight exclaimed. "Now, we still have two whole sections of library to sort, so I was kind of hoping that you girls might..." Twilight trailed of, looking at her friends sheepishly.

"Darling, of course we'll help," Rarity offered.

"Yeah, I've been waiting forever to throw that welcome to Ponyville party, and that cake won't keep forever," chimed in Pinky.

As the ponies all cringed at the idea of just how long Pinky had been saving that cake, Lero paused to look at one of the books that they had collected. 'Chimeras, a Reference Guide' had been one of the first books that they had found. Opening to the front page, Lero was greeted with a picture that looked exactly like what he had expected to see. The illustration showed a large animal with the forequarters of a lion, the hindquarters of a goat, the heads of both, and a long serpent for a tail. Twilight had given him a brief rundown on the creatures. Apparently, being composed of two parts carnivore and one part herbivore meant that the things didn't get along well with most other residents of Equestria, and they seemed to prefer living more like animals than people.

Looking up from the book, Lero saw that the others were already hard at work again. Taking his position at the center of the room once more, Lero readied himself for the task at hand. As the books started flying at him again, Lero couldn't help but wonder, for the hundredth time, just what these bizarre creatures could have to do with helping the woman back at the hospital.

****

The sound of hoof-falls upon tile echoed down the long hallway that Princess Luna currently found herself in. Pushing past a dream, to enter directly into an unconscious mind was always a gamble. Given the makeup of some dreams, seeing the minds that actually created them could be far more disturbing than any nightmare. Luna had been surprised by this one, however, there were no half-conceived ideas running around, nor were there the whispered voices of a thousand thoughts bombarding her ears, at least not yet. Instead, she found herself in a, seemingly endless, well-lit white hallway, not unlike the ones at the hospital.

Each side of the hallway was lined with nondescript white doors, and as Luna walked by them she saw that most were labeled. Memories, hopes, dreams, fears, and regrets made up most of the doors that she passed. She was tempted to look into some, if only to learn something about the mare whose mind she was currently inside, but quickly dismissed the foalish thought.

One door, however, did give her pause. Luna stopped, as she passed, to regard the thing. Unlike the other doors, which were merely closed, this one had been secured shut. Thick boards had been nailed across it, and chains crisscrossed its length before being driven deep into the wall by large bolts.

"It would seem that our guest hath gone to considerable length to repress something," Luna thought, aloud.Giving the door one last look, Luna continued down the hallway. She had a job to do, and could hardly afford delays. Despite the mare's surprisingly collected thoughts, this place was not where Luna needed to be. As she picked up the pace, Luna began scanning the walls and floor. She did not have to wait long, before finding what she was searching for... a hole. Gouged into the floor, and stretching from wall to wall, Luna could not see the bottom of it, but knew where it lead. "Finally, perhaps it is not too late to help this mare." As Luna finished the last word, she held her breath and took the final step over the edge.

For a moment, all was darkness and the whistling of the air as it rushed past her ears. But, as she fell, Luna could make out a dark glow beneath her, and as she continued her decent the glow crept up to meet her. Finally, the barrier that concealed the source of the light was pierced, and Luna found herself plummeting through the air toward a vast plain of barren ground.

Instinctively, Luna's wings unfurled to catch the wind and bring herself back under control. Surveying her surroundings, Luna found herself in a very different part of the mind than the one she had just left. Above her, a thick blanket of dark clouds roiled across the entire sky, the only light penetrating them being an oppressive red glow. Below her, the lifeless earth was crisscrossed by jagged canyons that ran from one end of the horizon to the other, creating a vast labyrinth. To call the place desolate was a brutal understatement, yet she was not surprised by the appearance of the place.

Luna knew this part of a mind very well. It was the primal part that most ponies tried to keep bottled up, or hidden. A place where instinct, and violent impulse held sway. This was the id, and it was a dangerous place to linger. Luna knew, however, that what she had come to stop would be here, if she could find it.

The sudden crash of crumbling rock caught her attention. Turning her gaze in the direction of the sound, Luna spotted a large cloud of dust rising from one of the canyons. Figuring that it was as good a place as any to begin, Luna banked right and made for the canyon.

The chasms turned out to be much larger than she anticipated. The one she had landed in was easily fifty body lengths from one wall to the other, and over a hundred in height. The source of the dust cloud turned out to be a large pillar of rock, near the center of a slightly narrow section of the canyon, that had toppled over. Luna was about to take fight again when something caught her eye. Four, very large, furrows had been dug into the floor of the chasm near what had been the base of the pillar.

Before Luna could contemplate their meaning, the ground beneath her shook for a moment. Luna was still as a stone, eyes fixed on the ground, waiting to see if any more tremors would come. Sure enough, a few moments later, the ground shook again. This tremor was stronger than the last, but was gone just as quickly. It was followed by another, and another, each one a little stronger than the last, until Luna realized that they were not earthquakes, but footfalls.

Luna looked up just as their source became apparent.Rounding a bend in the canyon, easily ten body lengths in height, was the unmistakable form of an owl. Immense wings were folded at its sides, talons the size of swords dug into the ground with each step it took, and from beak to toe the creature was covered in striking white feathers. Luna's attention was drawn to its face, where two huge yellow eyes sat above a midnight black beak, eyes that were now focused directly upon her.

This was the reason Luna had come into the human mare's mind. This second persona, which had been forced into her when she and the owl had been made one, now attempted to exert its bestial will upon the mind. A will that, if left unchecked, could very well extinguish the human's mind, and replace it with its own. While Luna disliked the thought of ending a creature that had done nothing to deserve it, the thought of what they would likely have to do to the woman's body ,if this second persona were successful, was enough to steel her resolve.

Squaring her shoulders, and spreading her wings, Luna called upon all of her considerable might for the test to come. "Forgive us, noble creature, but we cannot let thee usurp this mind!" Luna bellowed. In response to her display, titanic wings unfurled as the owl's head lowered and let loose a deep rumbling growl, that might have been a hiss if the creature were the correct size.

With the challenge made, Luna wasted no time. Gathering power into her horn, Luna unleashed a cascading beam of energy, the likes of which was usually reserved for combating dragons. The blast struck the owl squarely in the face, and washed over half of its body, leaving a thick cloud of smoke behind. A sly smile crossed Luna's face as the smoke cloud billowed into the air. "Well, that proved remarkably easy to-" Luna's words caught in her throat, as the smoke dissipated. There, standing not a foot from where it had been, was the owl. Some of the creatures feathers had been singed, but beyond that, it appeared unharmed.

How? We hit it, full force, and it barely flinched. With that thought, fear began to creep into Luna, and she realized her mistake; she had regretted having to do it. Despite her considerable power in the real world, in this place of emotion and instinct made manifest a troubled mind would be at a severe disadvantage against a being unburdened by sentience or morality.

As if sensing weakness in its prey, the owls head drew back as its wings were raised and in one fluid motion came down with enough force to blast the air out from under it. Luna was caught in the sudden gale and thrown from her hooves, landing hard on her side, the air was knocked from her lungs. Struggling to get her bearings, Luna managed to turn her head skyward just in time for her vision to be darkened by a massive shadow. Realizing what was coming, before her eyes even finished focusing, Luna hauled herself upright and threw herself in the direction that the owl had been. She barely cleared the blast radius, as ten tones of raptor impacted the ground behind her.

Luna, once more, found herself airborne against her will. Doing her best to roll with the impact, she hit the ground tumbling, and managed to regain her footing behind her opponent. To her relief the owl seemed to have lost her, it was short lived, however, as the mighty bird's head suddenly spun around backwards to fix its gaze upon her once again. Realizing how slim her chances were of stopping this entity, Luna turned and bolted. As she ran, Luna prepared to take flight, only to feel stabbing pain in the base of her wing. Trying again, only to get the same result, it quickly became apparent that something had been pulled when she had hit the ground.

Barely a moment after learning this, Luna suddenly felt the ground shaking underneath her. Sparing a glance behind her, she saw that the owl had given chase, and its massive legs were rapidly closing the gap between them. With a single flap of its great wings, the owl closed the rest of the distance, its talons coming down just behind her as it swung its head in sideways, and Luna felt the side of the creatures massive head slam into her. The impact had her seeing stars as she was thrown through the air, only to feel something break inside of her when she collided with the canyon wall.

Momentum carried the owl further down the canyon, but it quickly slowed and reoriented itself. Seeing that its prey was no longer moving, it stalked towards Luna with mouth agape, that low rumbling growl emanating from within. For her part, pain lanced up and down Luna's right foreleg, her vision was beginning to blur as well, and she could no longer raise her wings. With each passing moment the ground rumbled as the owl continued its relentless march toward her. It would seem that this cause is lost. Forgive us, sister, it would seem that you, and Lero won't have the new friend that you were looking forward to. As the owl closed the last few steps between them and lowered its head to strike, Luna began gathering what little energy she had in preparation of abandoning the human mare's mind.

All of Luna's focus was torn from her by a massive impact in the ground behind her, and the feeling of wind upon her back as something big sped through the air above her. Luna's ears popped as a sudden thunder like clap tore through the air, and before she new what was happening the owl was on its back and sliding away from her.

"What was tha- huh?" Wiping the dust from her eyes, Luna could scarcely believe them. Looming over her, a full twelve body lengths in height, was the unmistakable form of a human mare. It stood on legs as thick as tree trunks, its towering frame was covered in corded muscle, not an inch of it given over to fat. Its long arms ended in fists the size of boulders, one of which was smeared with blood and white feathers. Despite all of this, Luna found its most frightening aspect was its face, for while it looked like that of the human mare, it was twisted in an obvious state of fury.

As Luna was taking this in the owl managed to get back to its feet, now with a deep red river flowing from it's left nostril. Seeing the new challenger, it spread its wings and let loose a piercing cry that was more roar than screech. In response, the human behemoth's lips curled back before issuing forth a bellow that caused the small stones around Luna to rattle. As she watched, Luna didn't know if she should be grateful or terrified by this sudden manifestation. While she had expected to see some form of representation of the human's survival instinct, she had thought that it would be trying to get as far from danger as possible, not seeking it out. Then Luna remembered something that Celestia had told her shortly after Lero's arrival in Equestria, human beings were descended from hunters, not prey.

With a another great howl the human charged, her legs pushing her forward with the force of a locomotive, she slammed into the owl's chest with enough force to level a building. Giant talons carved rifts in the stone floor as the owl did its best to resist the push, but to no avail. The titanic combatants continued down the canyon, until they could go no further. Slamming into the rock wall at a bend in the chasm, the contest began in earnest. As boulders fell all around them, the bird lunged forward, its beak closing around the woman's arm, only to be knocked away by the other fist. The woman raised both arms and brought them down with all her strength, but the momentum was lost as the bird threw all its weight into her torso, pushing her back. Instead of striking, the woman's arms wrapped around the owl and pulled as she spun on her heels, lifting the great bird fully of the ground and swinging it back into the cliff face.

As the massive contest of wills unfolded in front of her, Luna managed, with great effort, to pull herself to her feet. Taking a moment to make certain that she wouldn't topple, she began making her way toward the colossal battle. Luna knew that she would not be of much help to the human directly, but she had noticed something that had apparently been missed by the two engaged in battle. As they fought, the cliff face above them was becoming less and less stable. Gathering what remained of her power, Luna stepped forth with conviction. Now, she just had to hope that an opportunity would present itself.

Two-hundred pound fists connected on either side of the owl's neck. Throwing its head back in pain, the bird let out a shriek, only to push forward and bring its beak down on the woman's shoulder. As the bird's jaws clamped shut, the woman roared in pain, bringing her hands up to seize the bird by the neck. Before she could pry the beak off, pain exploded through her abdomen as the owl's leg reached up and grasped her belly, talons taking hold just below the ribs. With its back against the stone wall, the owl pushed with its leg as it released its hold on the woman's shoulder. The sudden force sent the woman flying off her feet.

As Luna hobbled down the canyon, doing her best to keep to the side and out of sight, she was nearly thrown from her feet as the human mare hit the ground not a dozen paces from her. The giant form of the human lay before her, battered and bloody, but unbroken as it began getting to its feet. Before either of them could make it very far, they were both cast in shadow. From above, with wings spread and talons outstretched, the owl descended upon the woman, who had barely enough time to roll before the talons connected. Though it missed with its first strike, the giant raptor quickly raised and brought its foot down on the woman's chest.

With the human pinned in front of her, Luna began to despair. She had little energy left, and could not fly, but if the tables didn't turn again soon she feared that the human's will might be extinguished. With the combatants now too far away from the canyon wall for her original plan, Luna deciding to gamble her hopes on the human, as she refocused the energy in her horn for a different kind of effect. As the human shielded her face from the beak that was poised to descend, Luna unleashed her spell.Aiming her horn at the owl once more, a bead of pure silver light the size of a grape sped from its tip towards the creature.

Within seconds, the spell reached its destination in front of the owl's head. With a ear-splitting bang, the bead detonated in a blinding flash of silver light that brightened the entire canyon. The owl's pupils were reduced to pinpoints, before its eyes snapped shut. Rearing back it let out a shriek of rage and pain as it took a step back. Feeling the weight lift from her chest, the woman peered out from behind her arms to see the enemy above her distracted. Rolling to her left side, the woman drew her right leg back as far as she could before letting it snap strait again. Her foot connected squarely with the owls chest like a battering ram, lifting the bird off its feet and sending it hurtling through the air.

Luna watched as the mighty bird was propelled through the air, and impacted on the canyon wall with the force of ten wrecking balls. Her eyes widened as the rocks, which hung so precariously on the upper cliffs, finally lost their grip and began tumbling down. The owl had just gotten to its feet, much to Luna's amazement, when the first boulders hit. Stones the size of bowling balls peppered the creature, causing it to look up just as the avalanche hit. Luna heard one last shriek of protest, before the creature disappeared under a billowing cloud of rock and dust. Before she could celebrate, Luna realized that the dust cloud was not stopping. Throwing herself against the canyon wall, she braced herself as the cloud enveloped her. Her entire body stung as she was bombarded by tiny rocks and biting sand, and it was all she could do to keep her mouth and nose covered as she weathered the storm.

As the dust finally began to settle, Luna did her best to clear the stuff from her eyes. Peering out into the thick brown cloud, Luna could barely see ten paces in front of her; all was quiet. As Luna tried to survey the area, the ground suddenly shook. Not daring to move, Luna waited to see if perhaps a second rockslide was forthcoming. The ground shook, again only for a moment, then shook again. With growing realization, Luna looked up to see a shadow moving in the dust. As the cloud began to settle, the shadow became more defined. Two long legs supported a tall bipedal body whose arms hung at the sides, yet remained tensed. As the dust finally settled, the towering form of the human came fully into view.

Though she bled from many wounds, she still stood tall before the destruction that had been wrought. Almost half of the canyon side had crumbled down into the chasm she now stood in. Where the owl had stood, there was now nothing but a small mountain of loose rock. With the challenger gone she voiced her triumph in a cry that shook the remaining walls of the canyon.

Luna watched the scene unfold with a mixture of relief and awe. The few times she had met the human, Lero, she had never imagined that something so primal could lurk within his kind. That creatures with such savage potential could come as far as his kind had was both inspiring and terrifying. She was suddenly very interested to see just what fate had in store for these strange creatures, that had come to her world.

Deciding not to risk overstaying her welcome, Luna quickly gathered the energy needed to sever her connection with the human mare's mind. As she began to fade from the human's mind and back into her own, Luna looked up to see the towering form of the woman looming over her. With curious eyes, the giant regarded her, before reaching out with one massive hand only to fade into nothingness.

****

Celestia sat by the lone window in the intensive care unit, looking out over the town of Ponyville. As always, it never ceased to amaze her that such a unassuming town could be the focal point of so many great events and still retain its pleasant nature. Though, with the elements of harmony watching over it, she figured that if any place could manage it, it would be this one. A sudden gasp caught her attention. Turning around she saw that Luna had finally come to.

"Luna, you're finally awake. I was beginning to worry."

Luna was sweating and her breathing was heavy, but otherwise appeared fine. "Fear not, sister, though the task may have been arduous, we were successful none the less."

Clelestia's features grew serious. "So, the animal persona?"

"Buried, deep in her subconscious. With any luck it shall remain there for the rest of her days, or at least until we can find a way to undo what has been done to her."

"Thank you, Luna, for everything you have done," said Celestia, her features softening once again.

"Do not thank me, sister, she did most of the work," said Luna, gesturing to the woman on the bed. "If not for this human's will to survive, we doubt that we could have done much to stop the encroachment of the animal's mind."

Joining her sister by the bed, Celestia looked at the sleeping human once more with worried eyes. "I hope that Equestria can offer her a happy life," she said, a hint of melancholy creeping into her voice.

"Do not fear for her, sister, this one is strong indeed. We have a feeling that she is going to be just fine."