Wind. Something Lyra hated even in large amounts, was wind. Now however, there was a lot of wind. It whipped her mane around and into her eyes. Oh sure, she could have her mane cut and trimmed, but that would defeat the purpose of it looking cute. She knew she was a cute mare, she even flaunted it from time to time, but right now her vanity was irritating her to no end.
"This sucks!" Lyra yelled at her friend, trying to speak over the torrent around them. She shifted her head to let her mane flip away from her eyes in the throws of the wind, "Why couldn't we wait till, oh, I don't know, next week?"
"I'm sorry!" Bonbon called back at her friend, "I needed these ingediants or I won't be able to make any of my Surprise Candy for Pinkie Pie! She needs them 'day after tomorrow and I can't put it off any longer!"
Bonbon's over filled saddlebags covered her three-candy cutiemark and almost half her creme-colored coat. Lyra watched as the winds whipped her friend's blue and pink curly mane and tail around, turning it into so many dreadful knots. Now, normally, Lyra didn't bother worrying about a few knots in her own mane and tail, it added to her cuteness factor. But in other ponies whose manes and tails were much more difficult to maintain... it bothered her. Knots suck, in the most painful way. Especially when she lived with a pony who cared about both their manes and how well it was kept A pony who also had no problems ripping knots out like filly with a badly wrapped present.
"I'm not helping you brush yourself when we get home if you don't hurry!" she yelled over the word-snatching winds.
"There. All done!" Bonbon said loudly, smiling back at Lyra.
"You sure? You don't want to spend the night out here, get horribly sick, and come back with a wagon's-load of weeds?" Lyra drawled sarcastically, shooting her friend a decidedly smug look.
Bonbon smiled and half rolled her eyes, "Why? Do you have a cart with you?"
Lyra's eyes widened and her rump hitting the ground weakly at the sarcastic --but quite possible-- remark. Lyra quickly shook her head and waved her hooves in front of her as if to dispel any inclination of spending the night this close to the Everfree.
"I didn't think so." Bonbon chuckled and began trotting homeward. Lyra following her warily, but glad to be heading home.
A powerful gust of wind nearly knocked Lyra over, she stepped aside to balance herself and looked up in time to see a thick stick being carried be the wind. It smacked her upside her muzzle and sent that oh so uncomfortably painful tingling sensation throughout her nose. She yelped, now her anger turned from annoyed at the wind to angry that she got hurt. She stomped her hoof in the dirt and then gently rubber her bruised snout.
"Couldn't you just give her bags of mixed candies and call it good?" Lyra said, still trying to yell over the howling winds. Her throat felt dried out from the winds like dust on a road. Bonbon turned to face her, her own annoyance started to show.
"Lyra," Bonbon scoffed at her, "You'd steal candy from a foal if it meant you didn't have to pay for it! Sometimes I wonder why I let you move in with me,"
"Because you're my friend?" Lyra offered, giving her friend a hopeful smile.
"Or because I need the rent!" Bonbon said coldly.
Lyra's hopeful smile faded and she looked down away from Bonbon, that had hurt more than she thought it should. Lyra suddenly felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked up to see Bonbon smiling apologetically.
"I'm sorry, Lyra. I didn't mean it like that," Bonbon tried nuzzling her, but Lyra shoved her away, "Lyra?"
"If you hate me so much, go give your apologies to somepony else!" Lyra yelled, more from anger that burned her throat and the hurt that little comment had stung her chest, than the winds that had been trying to topple her since she'd gone out to help her friend. Lyra dashed away and into the forest behind the treeline where she and Bonbon had been gathering herbs. She didn't look back. She kept running and running until she couldn't catch her breath. She flopped down next to a tree and heaved to fill her lungs.
Bonbon... You're suck a jerk! I mean, sure, it might be true that she only let me move in for the rent, and yeah, I know I'm a pain sometimes, but she doesn't have to remind me of it all the time. I don't want to be a bother. I like hanging out with her and living with her is great. But days like these, I wonder if I'm just a nuisance and she doesn't like me. Just put's up with me for cheaper rent. Would she kick me out if somepony else offered?
Lyra pulled away from her thoughts when she felt the first tear from from her nose. She'd been so close to crying several times today but had kept herself in check because she didn't want to bother Bonbon. If this kept up, Lyra was sure she'd just move out to save Bonbon the trouble of kicking her out.
Suddenly, she heard a faint yell carried through the trees around her. She perked her ears up to listen, trying to gauge where the shout had come from. "Maybe somepony's in trouble?" she thought, and slowly made her way further into the trees of the Everfree.
Lyra was known for her impulsiveness, which got her into more than a several screaming matches with various ponies, but even entering this particular forest was a stretch for her. In here though, the winds didn't batter her hide or howl around her ears. Her mane, thankfully, wasn't as knotted as she feared. Looking up, she saw the treetops swaying and heard the sound of loose branches cracking every few seconds. She kept a weary eye, and ear, out for any signs of a falling branch, which was difficult in the near darkness brought on my the clouds above and the overall thickness of the foliage.
Occasionally a gust of wind rushed through the natural pathways between the trees. The forest was remarkably calm apart from the raging wind storm overhead. Lyra markedly noticed how fast the clouds were moving now that she could look around without too much hassle. She silently sent a prayer to the princesses, she really didn't want to be crushed and alone in this place. Though if she had a choice, in this moment being crushed and alone in a dark forest was preferable to going back to Bonbon and feeling like she was a burden. It wasn't like she believed that the princesses were gods or anything so ridiculous, but at the moment she wasn't going to test that.
Another shout rang through the forest, much clearer without the winds to carry it away. Lyra picked out the shout's general direction and cautiously trotted towards it. She hoped it was all just her imagination playing tricks on her. A loose branch falling making that noise, or, maybe a manticore with a thorn in its paw. Anything that wouldn't eat her because her curiosity wouldn't let her turn and run was fine with her. Normally she would just turn back, but the desire to go home and face her roommate... yeah, not gonna happen.
"Please let it just be poison joke, please let it be poison joke, please..." she pleaded to nopony in particular.
Her pleas falling on deaf ears as she saw a hydra rise high over the trees. Her pupils shrank to pin pricks and she backed away as fast as her hooves would carry her. She tripped over a large root protruding from the ground, hitting her flank against the trunk of the tree, and flipped onto her back with a yelp. She pulled her head back up quickly to keep her gaze on the hydra, her ribs and hooves shuddering and her adrenaline spiked.
Oh, this was such a bad idea. Probably one of her worst. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out why she listened to every little impulse. Well, maybe not every impulse. She didn't fire out and clock every pony who'd ticked her off. But, like the time she was a filly and sniffed a crab, that left a lasting impression in her as she refused to go swimming at the beach from then on. Or the time she wanted to try Japonese cooking with a five-hundred degree stir-fry pan. Bonbon hadn't let her near the stove for months after that one --the fire department was very helpful though, they even gave her a direct line to the station in the form of an enchanted "Fire Emergency" gem.
Then she heard the shout again and saw a red flash between the heads of the enormous creature. One of the heads cried out in pain and a very visible line of blood trailed down its neck. Curiosity was getting the better of her, beating down her fear like so many spikes in a railroad. She stood up and crept nearer, using the trees as she did so. Another red flash and another head cried out in pain. It was being attacked by something, but whatever it was, Lyra couldn't see it from this far away.
"Maybe some ferocious dragon hunting pony is testing herself against it!" she whispered excitedly before realizing she was now very close to the hydra.
A crash, and a gray and black --something-- stood before Lyra, facing the hydra. He, for it most obviously was a he, was covered in blood and had an axe in his right claw. The five appendages wrapped around the handle as though he were afraid to loose it. She was fixated on that limb far longer than she realized because then he spoke.
"What the ever loving hell are you?" He said confused. He was looking over his shoulder at her and she, seeing his face and ice-blue eyes, froze. She felt that cold sweat crawling down her neck again. Would he hurt her? Would he eat her? She hoped for neither.
To say she was afraid of this creature wouldn't be accurate. At the moment, she was terrified. Under all the blood and gore, she saw dark gray skin accented by spots and a few stripes. He had a tail as thick as his thighs that tapered to a fine, rounded point. His wings were transparent almost as if they didn't exist, but she could still see them very clearly. She couldn't see what color his hair was through all the blood he was covered in but she could make out the black horns on either side of his head that reached from his forehead, along his skull, nearly back to where his neck started.
Her fear of the blood-covered being before her was also mixed with equal amounts of curiosity. That same Celestia-damned curiosity keeping her from running away screaming like a little filly and wetting herself.
His attention snapped back to the hydra as one of the four heads lunged at him. Before he could react, it closed its mouth around his entire body, dirt he'd been standing on and all, and swallowed him whole.
Lyra screamed. In fact, she'd screamed so loud she hurt her own ears. Her brain screaming at her to run away, that she'd be the next one to be chomped. She expected the hydra to turn on her next, but it didn't. She looked at it, each head was grimacing as though it were in immense pain. Only two heads roared and the hydra's claws began to try digging through its own hide. Two heads fell to either side of Lyra, blood a froth dripping and oozing from their mouths.
After a hoof full of seconds the entire creature collapsed to the ground in a colossal, thunderous heap. Lyra barely had time to move before she was nearly crushed beneath one of the massive necks crashing to the ground. Dust and debris flew into the air around her only to be carried away on the stormy winds. Her heart pounded in her chest and her legs trembling almost violently.
Lyra looked around herself. The body of the hydra twisting this way and that around where she stood. A ripping, cutting sound came from the hydra's warm corpse and Lyra looked back just in time to see a red glob of bloody flesh walk out from the folds of the eviscerated hydra. Blood poured from the opening like a popped water balloon. The creature that'd been swallowed stepped tiredly towards her, a giddy grin plastered on his face. Strips of meat and intestine slipped off his shoulders in sickly, slopping splashes around his feet.
Lyra's mind was so overloaded by the gore surrounding her that it seemed as though she was in a dream and that what she was looking at couldn't be real. He stared down at her. She stared back at him. Their tails flicking every so often. She noticed for the second time how much taller he was than her on his hind legs. He looked to be about half again, almost double, her size. He looked tired, yet happy like he'd just scored the winning goal in hoofball. The tall creature's eyes closed and he collapsed to the ground at her hooves.
Now the rain began to poor. It started lightly enough and soon the rain came down by the bucketful. Lyra's mind began to process everything she'd witnessed and her mouth hung open in a silent scream until the air was gone from her lungs.
* * *
The walk home wasn't pleasant by anypony's standards. The winds had softened only slightly and the chill rain soaked her through. She struggled to keep from slipping in the mud and dropping the creature she struggled to carry. Spilling her and her passenger wasn't an inconvenience she really needed or desired at the moment. His sheer size and weight pressed down on her, forcing her legs to work much harder just to walk home. Though she was soaked from the rain, Lyra was sure a good amount of the fluids matting her fur was her own sweat. The only upside to all the poring rain was that it was washing most of the blood and perspiration off her fur.
Lyra's golden magic twisted the doorknob to her and Bonbon's house, she pushed the door open with her horn and walked in. She closed the door behind herself and was now fully aware of how badly the rain had soaked her coat, mane, and tail. She felt the icy droplets rolling out of her coat and onto the doormat, her tail hanging heavily onto the floor. She glanced back beneath her and saw the thick layers of mud that covered the end of her tail and the creature's limp legs.
Oh great. Bonny's going to pitch a fit when I drag that across the floor. Lyra thought, huffing softly at her impending doom.
Turning her gaze up toward her passenger, she noticed something else . . . she smelled blood. The rain hadn't been enough to wash away the blood caked between her back and his chest. It formed a sticky layer between her and the strange thing she carried. The smell made her stomach turn and she reeled inwardly. Worse, she noticed how strong the smell was and realized that it must be drifting into the rest of the house.
"Lyra? Is that you?" Bonbon called from the kitchen just beyond the living room. Lyra heard the shuffling and banging sounds of Bonbon with a baking sheet and pot, "What's that smell? It reeks and... it smells wrong. Lyra, what is that?"
"Stay there! Stay back!" Lyra said loudly, she heard Bonbon take a few steps but stopped abruptly at her insistence. She stepped into the hallway and stairs on her right that lead to the second-floor rooms and washroom. Her tail drug the floor behind her and she could feel the mud pulling her passenger off her back. She quickly hefted him back over herself.
"Lyra? Is everything okay?"
"No. Probably not," Lyra said, her voice soft and tired, "Just... wait til I'm upstairs to come out. Please?"
After a short pause, Bonbon spoke, "Okay. Are you alright?"
"Yes. I promise. Just, let me get showered off," Lyra began her heavy climb up the stairs, step by step by step. The creature on her back becoming much more difficult to keep from slipping off on steep angle the stairs. Her magic could do very little to help her, every time her magic touched the creature it would waver and become less effective the longer it touched him.
Nearly at the top. "You'd better not be bringing home a new pet!" she heard her room mate call after her, Lyra cringed, her head drooped low, and her ears flattened against her head. The impending argument about what Lyra had brought home formed a bottomless pit in her stomach, her guts felt squashed inside her, and a pressure built in her mind. She was tired of fighting with Bonbon. The idea that Bonbon was going to yell at her again was enough to make Lyra's eyes misty.
I can't take much more of this.
Once in the bath room, Lyra carefully stepped into the tub and slid the bloody, naked creature off her back and onto the tub floor. The matted, sticky fur of her back clung to his skin, peeling apart like pieces of fly-paper. She made sure to keep his head from hitting anything, because let's face it, that hurt and above all she didn't want to wake him. Even more carefully, she turned on the water to a slight trickle and placed her hoof under the stream to make sure the temperature wasn't too hot before opening it up fully. She rinsed the blood off of herself, standing slightly over her "new pet" --she rolled eyes again-- and scrubbed herself vigorously.
Standing over the creature, Lyra found herself wishing the tub had been built bigger. This wasn't the first time she'd wished for a bigger tub, but standing over the large creature now, the cramped space seemed even more uncomfortable. To top it off, he could wake at any moment and get the wrong idea about what she was doing. It made sense that washing together would make the whole process quicker and possibly easier. They were both cold, grungy, and smelled terrible. So why not take a short-cut.
Seriously, Bonbon. I'm not THAT bad. So she brought home a pet once in a while. It's not like she collected them or anything. If anything, they all died soon after she brought them home. It's not like I killed them all on purpose, or at all. They just... die. she sighed sadly. Steeling herself from her own depressing thoughts, Lyra continued to wash herself.
The creature under her stirred but didn't wake, much to Lyra's relief, but now her muscles were tense and waiting for whatever he would do. In hind-sight, she realized just how stupid the idea to bathe with this unknown creature was. She'd seen how dangerous he could be, but bathing together was a normal thing for ponies.
Maybe all the lonely showers I'm taking lately are affecting me. she thought. A soft, long sigh escaped her. The cold sensation of absence clung to her shoulders. She missed the companionship Bonbon and she had shared for so long. When she thought about it, Lyra couldn't figure out when she'd started feeling this way. She missed bathing with her roommate, but she just couldn't stand the thought of being that close to Bonbon anymore. After all, Lyra felt like an inconvenient convenience, a rent discount, when she was around Bonbon for too long.
Lyra pulled herself from her thoughts again and, slowly, relaxed. "Well, time to see what happens . . ." she said to herself and pulled the shower-head loose with her golden magic.
She levitated the hosed shower-head between herself and the semi-bloody creature, backing away to the far end of the tub. She started off rinsing the caked dirt and blood from his feet. She stared, waiting for him to stir or --she swallowed the lump in her throat-- attack. She felt foalish for remaining in the tub with such a dangerous creature she knew nothing about. She wanted to kick herself and would have if not for fear of waking him.
With my luck he'll wake up just from me moving around or trying to get out.
He let out a soft moan as Lyra continued to rinse all the filth off it's legs. Having worked her way further up, Lyra felt, if only bit by bit, more comfortable and unafraid of this creature suddenly waking. She tested running the water over his head and face, but still he didn't wake. She lathered up her loufa again and used it on his skin, still, he didn't wake. She worked her hooves and magic under his arms to turn him over and around to wash his back. He didn't once do more than moan slightly, which made Lyra halt each time. But, she continued to clean him, despite her fear, despite every piece of logic and warning her brain threw at her to stop and leave him, she continued washing.
Lyra waited for the water to drain after shutting the shower off, then took a towel in her magic to dry herself. After she finished, she turned a fresh towel on the no-longer-bloody, sleeping creature. He began stirring more than before. Lyra knew that he would wake now. She could stop drying him, but she didn't want him to catch a cold so she continued to dry him. She magically pushed the towel over his back and over his thick tail. She moved the towel back up to his rear and lifted his tail, pulling the towel under it as she did so, to dry the under side.
* * *
Bonbon sat at the kitchen table, resting her head on her hooves and staring at the empty tea cup she'd just finished drinking from. Worry etched on her face, with a hint of annoyance, at whatever it was Lyra didn't want her to see just yet. The smell that had come though the house just moments earlier had nauseated her. It disappeared as soon as Lyra had closed the bathroom door, where she was taking an unusually long shower and probably bathing the thing she brought in with her.
Maybe something happened to her? But what would she not want me to see so badly? Bonbon though as her gaze drifted toward the entrance to the living room. Maybe it really was just another pet and she doesn't want me to know what it is. A baby Manticor, or a Luna-damned hydra...
Bonbon looked across the table where a steaming, fresh cup of hot cocoa sat for Lyra. Bonbon had set it out for Lyra after she'd gone up stairs. The mud trail leading to the hall stairs had made her scowl, but, she was happy to have her friend back safe at home. Several times she'd wanted to --and very nearly did-- go back out and search for Lyra. However, past experiences had told Bonbon that looking for Lyra in these situations usually got whoever was looking for her more lost than Lyra herself might be.
Bonbon glanced down at the floor next to her, leading into the living room, and focused on a worn spot in the hardwood floor between the kitchen and living room. To most, she thought, it might look like there'd been a lot of traffic between the two rooms, truthfully though, Bonbon had been the one to make that trail. She always worried about her friend and it was during these times she worried so much for the green unicorn that the floor got to suffer along with her. Bonbon had managed to stop her pacing long enough to prepare a little something nice for Lyra, a few sugar cookies and hot cocoa for when she cam back. Now though, the drink had cooled and the lonely pile of cookies sat huddled on a plate between Bonbon and Lyra's usual seats at the table.
Bonbon sighed and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of hooves in the tub upstairs and running water through the pipes in the walls. Could this day get any worse? She wondered. Things between Lyra and her had gotten so tense. Bonbon tried to fix things by letting Lyra help with the store, wrapping candies and running the register, she even asked Lyra if she would like to help collect and buy ingredients, but nothing worked. Everything Bonbon tried seemed to drive her friend away.
She looked back at her worry lines in the floor under the doorway. I'm going to have to have that fixed soon, aren't I?
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"
Bonbon was ripped from her thoughts, she jumped and nearly kicked the tea cup off the table. She bolted up and ran to the bathroom. Through the doorway, around the corner and up the hall-stairs, and through the bathroom door she charged. Her mind raced along with her hooves to find a reason for why she heard a distinctly male voice yelling at Lyra, in their house, in the upstairs bathroom. She skid to a stop upon seeing Lyra backed against the far side of the bath tub, an angry looking creature with grey skin, black spots and stripes, white and black hair, black swept-back horns, and ice blue cat-like eyes baring its bloody fangs at her friend. If looks could destroy, Bonbon imagined, Lyra would shatter any second.
Bonbon took a step forward and he snapped his head to look at her. His icy, furious gaze froze her mid-step. He turned back to Lyra, "What do you think you're doing to me?" he said much more quietly than before, never looking away from the scared unicorn before him.
Lyra shook her head slowly left to right. Her breathing was slow and ragged, she was shivering.
"What are you?" Bonbon asked the creature, opting to draw attention away from her friend. The creature didn't even blink. He kept his eyes on Lyra. She slowly tried to climb out of the tub, but his claw shot out beside her and sunk into the wall to block her. "Don't hurt her!" Bonbon yelped.
Now, he looked over to her. "She should be so lucky," then back to Lyra, "Now answer me! What is wrong with you!? Do you like taking advantage of people while they sleep!?" he glanced at Bonbon then back to Lyra.
The question caught both mares by surprise. Bonbon nearly tripped on nothing, catching herself by stepping her left hoof out to the side. Lyra, her fear some-what abated, smiled nervously, "No. You were dirty? And covered in hydra?" she offered, gesturing to the tub they were in. Bonbon didn't catch on at first but her mind soon caught up and how anypony could physically be "covered in hydra" made her stomach churn.
"I like sitting in blood," he growled sarcastically.
"Ew. . ." Bonbon and Lyra said in unison, each scrunching their nose in disgust.
"Why?" Bonbon said.
He looked over to Bonbon, "It makes me stronger." he looked back at Lyra, "And SHE washed it off too soon!" she shrank under his gaze, her ears flat against her head as she slid a short way down the tub on her back
"Oh," Lyra cheered up some, a nervous smile played at her lips, "It's been over an hour since I carried you from the forest. Is that long enough? The rain washed most of the blood off except what was stuck between you and my back."
He sighed and moved back to sit against the wall of the tub opposite Lyra, his claw withdrawing from the now punctured wall, "Great. I get saved from the cold by not one, but two animals with no sense of humor."
Bonbon stood there blinking, looking back forth between Lyra and her new pet. If not for the strange creature just being there, she was sure she should be offended by that comment. When Lyra looked at her, Bonbon rolled her hoof in the air signalling Lyra for some explanation. "Oh, yeah. I heard him yelling in the Everfree and went check it out. He killed a hydra and then stepped out of it..." Lyra turned a little greener than usual and leaned over to the toilet, half hanging between the two porcelain-covered bathroom fixtures. She gagged but held it in, trying not to retch at the thought.
""Out of it"? You mean "away from" don't you?" Bonbon asked, feeling a little queezy herself.
Lyra shook her head slowly, eyes growing wider at the memory, she threw her head into the toilet bowl and hurled til nothing but dry heaves and little choking coughs resounded from the bowl. Bonbon turned a little pale as she felt the blood drain from her face.
"Wimp." the creature said softly, mocking Lyra. Bonbon shot him a disapproving glare. He only shrugged. Lyra balanced herself on her hips and jaw, letting her hooves droop to the floor as she tried to catch her breath, draped between the tub and toilet.
"Do you have a name?" Bonbon asked, irritation laced her words. She stepped forward and reached over, flushing Lyra's disgust.
"Yes."
Bonbon didn't like this thing's attitude. He was rude and seemingly uncaring, "Well?"
"Well, what?"
"Ugh. What is your name? And, what are you?"
"Raje"
Bonbon waited for him to continue, but when he didn't she pressed the tip of her hoof to her forehead, "You can't expect me to believe that you are 'Rage' incarnate or something."
"That is my name. I'm not 'Rage'," he said exaggeratedly, "I am Raje."
"That still doesn't tell me what you are." Bonbon said, looking over to check on her friend, who had decided to lay her head on the cool floor while limply draping her body from the tub.
"I don't have to explain myself to you. I am a little surprised we speak the same language though," he lulled his head over to look at Bonbon more directly, "I guess you could say I'm a monster," he gestured to Lyra, indicating her reaction to what she'd seen. Now Bonbon got a good look at his claws. The black nails that stuck out of each appendage were short and thick.
"Why shouldn't I just turn you in?" Bonbon asked.
"'Cause your friend here thinks I'm sexy enough to feel me up while I'm asleep?" Raje laughed, a joyous, twisted laugh that allowed Bonbon to see his fangs. She took note of the shear number of sharper teeth he had.
Where most animals with similar forms a design had canines and then slightly sharper premolars, Raje's first set of premolars were longer and sharper than his canines, and behind that, the second set of premolars only slightly as long as his canines and nearly as sharp, giving him four rows of pointed, saw-like teeth. Bonbon could only imagine how much a bite from him would hurt.
"You really think there's anyone here that could actually stop me? You? You soft, candy-coated things?" he erupted into another short bought of laughter.
"Ponies" Bonbon corrected him, "And yes. There are worse things than a hydra in the Everfree and only a few ponies who can handle those creatures. You don't even rank up to them."
Raje now looked at her, not speaking, his eyes brightened and almost sparkled as though she'd just told him he could open presents early at Heath's Warming Eve. His lips curled into a dark grin that spread across his face like ripping fabric.
Lyra righted herself off the floor, she looked at Raje and flinched.
"Getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren't you?" Bonbon cut his thoughts off. "You passed out after fighting a little hydra." she smiled a cocky, teasing little smile at him.
"Little?" Lyra looked at her friend in disbelief. She sat up slowly.
"Details, details." Raje waved her off, seemingly unperturbed.
"So. . . how will you get back home? I mean, when you go back home?" Lyra asked.
"No idea," he looked away and towards the ceiling, "Especially since I wanted to come here." his nonchalant smile turning a bit menacing.
"You-- what?" Bonbon said, a look of shock that turned to protective fear crossing her features. She stiffened, and she was sure that if ponies had hackles, hers would be up.
"Oh mare..." Lyra backed away from their exchange, slipping past Bonbon and keeping a wary eye on her. Bonbon felt Lyra brush by her, she could feel the tension in her friend, making her that much more aware of her own tension.
"I wanted to come here. Well... to be fair, not here exactly. I wanted to leave my world. Too much bullshit and politics and idiots taking over. I never imagined I'd be sent to such a soft world." he said, then looked away and then back to the two mares, "Do you think others like me might come here to?"
"You're not scaring me, if that's what you're trying to do." Bonbon shot back, it was obvious to her that he was trying to scare her.
"Aren't I?" Raje pointed at her, more specifically, her legs.
Bonbon looked down at her knees, which she now saw were shaking. She was afraid, not just on edge and ready to fight like watch dog staring down an intruder, but genuinely frightened too.
Huh. That's new, she though. She looked back at him, his half lidded smile smugly plastered to his dark features. He might even be mildly attractive if he wasn't threatening. And that smile, does he like making ponies uncomfortable? He had now become her top priority. She could only guess at how dangerous he truly was, but she had a hunch he might go so far as to attack the princesses if he thought killing them would be fun.
"Um, Bonbon?" Lyra called behind her.
Bonbon ignored her friend and focused on the proverbial bugbear in the bathtub.
"I'm not going to fight you." he said suddenly, standing in the tub.
This took Bonbon by surprise, both his statement and the fact that he stood on only his hind legs, "You don't need to rear up to tell me that." she took a more defensive stance, shifting onto her rear hooves while only lightly touching the tile floor with her front hooves.
"I'm not. This is how I stand. I don't 'rear up'. I don't need to."
Bonbon thought he might have been compensating for something by standing above her, but she could see clearly that his endowment needed no such compensation. He must be telling her at least some truth. He stood nearly twice her height, but since she was used to measuring a pony's height --front hooves to the top of the head-- she re-evalutaed that assumption. If she were to stand like he was, her head would reach his collarbone.
"Huh. . . that's kinda cool!" Lyra piped up.
"Lyra!" Bonbon chided.
"Oh come on, Bonnie! That is so freakin' cool! I wish I could stand on my hind legs for everything!" she reared up only shortly, emphasizing her point before prattling on, "I could get stuff out of the cupboards without using my magic! Or, climb a tree! -gasp- I could easily climb a mountain! No, no! A cliff!" she gasped and -squee-d, "If I had claws like those I could play my harp without using my magic at all! Then I could use my magic to play another instrument and sing. . ."
Bonbon rolled her eyes at the seemingly clueless, ranting, mare before turning back to Raje. "So what do we do?"
"Whatever you want. Personally, I'd like to meet these, oh so powerful, beings you seem to think so highly of." he shrugged.
"That. . . might just be in order." Bonbon said, a grin of her own crossing her lips, "But you have to be bound and secured before you can meet them."
Raje raised a brow at her, giving her the look of 'you're kidding, right?', "You actually think I'm going to let you do that?"
"No. But I didn't say it was optional either."
Author's Note
Let me know what you think. I'm trying my hand at this HiE story and figured I throw an interesting twist on it. I've got a couple of ideas for scenes in future events which I think would be hilarious.
Gdoc link: Prelude: From the Everfree
Ch 02: Hide 'n Seek's Over
Author's Note
This chapter is still very much in the editing phase and may change.
Ch 02: Hide 'n Seek's Over
"This is bad! This is so, so bad!" Bonbon chided, her hooves tapped the ground in quick little in-place steps. Her head snapped left and right looking for something, or more specifically, someONE. "I can't believe you lost it!"
"Hey," Lyra trotted up next to her panicking friend, "I didn't loose him, he escaped. And just because you don't like him that doesn't give you a right to keep him locked in our basement."
"He's dangerous!" Bonbon nearly yelled, her head whipped around to to glare at her friend.
Around them ponies of the small town were trotting blissfully to work or some engagement, while vedors were setting up shop and fillies and colts trotted to school. None were paying attention to the arguing pair as it was not uncommon to see them bickering, Lyra had done something and Bonbon was freaking out over whatever it was.
"Yeah, so?"
Bonbon looked at Lyra incredulously, "Are you freaking serious!?" she yelled.
"Why are you freaking out?" Lyra retorted, "He hasn't hurt anypony. He never once tried to hurt me when I gave him food or talked to him... Keeping him locked and tied up in our basement is still creepy, Bonbon. I mean, I know you're into that stuff but you-"
A sharp thwack resounded as Bonbon clipped the mint unicorn's fetlock with the tip of her hoof. Her cheeks burned ever so slightly at the mention of her secret fetish.
Lyra's eyes went wide for a second as an intense pain shot through her leg, "Ow! Geez, Bonnie!"
"Listen," Bonbon said darkly, "If he does hurt somepony, even by accident, it'll be our fault. We were supposed to keep him safely away from everypony until the princesses could pick him up and evaluate him. Now he's loose, the princesses and an entire platoon of guards from the day and night watch are coming here to find a creature that we lost! And-" she stopped suddenly, realizing how loud she had become and glanced around. Nopony seemed to have bothered to pay any attention to her rant, "And if you ever mention what I do with my 'spare time' in public again, I won't let you join me. Ever. Again." she said more calmly --well, less loudly, at least-- and poked her hoof at her friend's chest with those last words, driving her point home.
Lyra's head tilted backwards, her neck bent at an uncomfortable angle over her back to escape the volume and intesity of her somewhat frightening friend. "I'm sorry," she said meekly.
"Good. Now, you check by the library and inform Twilight what's going on. I'm going to see if I can't get Pinkie Pie to help. Celestia knows, she could find a palm tree next to a beach towel in an arctic tundra." Bonbon turned to walk into Sugar Cube Corner, but stopped and sighed. She looked over her shoulder and looked calmly at Lyra, "I'm sorry for yelling, Lyra. I know I can get pretty intense sometimes, but this isn't something to not get intense about. He's too much of a risk." she smiled softly and continued, "I promise I'll make this all up to you later."
Lyra smiled and nodded in understanding before turning around and trotting off to the library. Bonbon, on the other hand felt a slight pang of guilt in her stomach in a form of a small knot. She was going to have to make this up to her, like, really make up for all the yelling she'd done up till this point. She hated getting into these things with her best friend. She couldn't understand how Lyra could always be so nonchalant about so much, especially this. Bonbon loved her friend. Enough so that she thought about asking the mint colored mare out on a date many times before but just couldn't bring herself to do it.
Heh. Some Agent you are Sweetie Drops. You can fight horrible monsters and tyranical ponies... but can you handle love? Buck no! she laughed softly at herself.
"WHAT?!?!?!" a loud shriek rang through the air from the direction of the library. Bonbon hadn't even noticed she'd gotten lost in her thoughts.
Bonbon gave a short little chuckle at the sound, "I guess Lyra didn't waste any time." And with that she went into the Cake's shop to recruit Pinkie Pie.
* * *
"Now, Y'all know what to do? Ah'll draw 'em out, you two trip 'em up, then we wrassle 'em into the net and get out cutiemarks!" Apple Bloom said excitedly.
"Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle spoke up, her voice sounding shaky and uncertain, "This isn't the best idea you've ever had. Scootaloo I can believe, but not from you,"
"Hey! What's that s'ppose'ta mean!" Scootaloo scowled at her friend.
"I'm just saying. Getting out cutiemarks in bounty hunting and animal trapping has got to start simpler than this. Why did we grab the most dangerous one off the board in town hall? We could have gotten a safer one from Rarity!"
"Wer not catchin' rats an' mice in your sister's backyard just b'cause her cat's as stuffy as she is." Apple Bloom got a little scowl before continuing, "B'sides. We already tried 'cutiemark rat catcher's' and Ah never wanna see another rat trap if Ah can help it,"
The trio shivered at the memory and rubbed their hooves at some phantom pain that seemed to come from it.
"How big could a lizard be? What did the flier say again?" Scootaloo asked.
Apple Blood pulled the wanted poster from her small saddle bag sitting on the ground next to her. "A lizard looking thing almost as big as a pony, walks on four legs, dark green scales and bright green eyes, moves quick, and has been eatin' pony's small livestock from all over the edge of town." she summarized, "Ah'll bet we get our marks for sure this time! Applejack and Big Mac almost got 'im last night. It came in and stole two chickens and a duck. Kinda sad, really, I'm gonna miss Quackers... a little."
"You're sad about a duck?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Apple Bloom nodded, "Ah hatched 'im with the rest of the ducks. Quackers was somethin' else. He used to get up with roosters an' crow. He sometimes got to mah window an' quack 'till I shewed him away." she hung her head sadly, her chest tightening as she remembered everything the strange bird used to do and sat heavily in her haunches. "Wow... I didn't think I'd mis 'im this much. Even if her did get on mah nerves." she gave a sad chuckle, "You shoulda seen what he used to do to Applejack. Ticked her right off every time too."
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other then sadly at their saddening friend. They slowly hugged their friend and nuzzled her cheeks.
"It's going to be okay Apple Bloom," Sweetie soothed, "I'm sure Quackers was happy while you had him."
"Yeah," Scootaloo chimed in, "Besides, I'm sure Applejack would'a got to him first if that thing hadn't -Ow!"
Sweetie jabbed an elbow into Scootaloo's ribs.
Apple Bloom sniffled a big and forced herself back up. An increasingly determined smile on her face, "Yeah. Let's get this theivin' crock b'fore Ah hav'ta get mad."
They looked toward the dense line of trees than separated Ponyville from Sweet Apple Acres. Somewhere in there an unknown lizard was stalking and poaching chickens and if this trio had anything to say about it, it wouldn't be for much longer.
* * *
Another day, another boring eight hours behind an empty shop counter. Lilly Valley twirled her hoof around a lock of her golden mane, lightly brushing against the pink fur of her neck in the process. If boredom could kill, she was sure it wouldn't be this bad. Her flank was falling asleep sitting at the front desk of her shop. Working in a flower shop in Ponyville was like working at a restaurant. They sold flowers and other flora to eat, but Lily's little shop also handled decorations and arrangements. When a day this slow happened, normally she would be ecstatic to have some down time, but the recent rain storm left much of Ponyville covered in detritus for everypony to clean and had been that way for three days. She couldn't afford to close shop a risk loosing a sale for that long. But, oh, how dull these last few days had been.
"Lily," a voice called out from the back room, "Lily? Lily, could you come help me?"
Lily stood, her numb flank began tingling before long as she stepped into the back of the shop. Her muscles felt tight and a little hard. "What do you need?" she asked her sister.
Her sister, Rose, stood precariously between the edge of a chair and a cupboard. The chair had slid back and was threatening to send her toppling town. "Help..." Rose visibly shook.
Lily rolled her eyes and stepped behind the chair. She was about to push the chair forward to help Rose, but a devious idea crept into her mind and took hold like a drug. She grinned widely and quietly slid a heavy pot behind the leg of the chair.
"Lily, I can't stand like this forever." Rose said impatiently.
Lily walked over to her side and, still grinning, sat next to her sister. "No. You can't."
Rose looked to her sister, eyes wide. She scowled, "Lily. Don't."
Lily gave her a faux innocent pout and, reaching a hoof forward, gently slid the edge of her hoof along a particularly sensitive rib on Rose's side.
Rose cringed, contracting the muscles on her side and sucking in a breath. "Lily!" The chair shifted slightly and Rose straightened out again.
"Aw. You're so helpless," Lily teased, "Too bad you're not ticklish. I'd hate to see you fall," her words dripped with so much sarcasm it would be bottled and sold at any Prancer's Gifts shops. She reached forward with her other hoof and, after a little adjusting, placed it on the other side of her sister's barrel, tickling another sensitive rib.
"Luna damnit, Lily! Stop!" Rose quivered, trying, and failing, to stop her giggles, "I'm gonna fall!"
"Oh that would be a shame. It's too bad I can't find any way to save. You will be missed dear sister! My only regret is that I never got to tell you how much I loved you," she vibrated her hooves against Rose's sides, sarcasm still oozing from her like sap on a tree.
"Cut it out!" Rose screamed, barely containing her laughter long enough to take a swing at Lily before nearly toppling over. She caught herself shakily, placing her hoof back on the shelf of the cupboard.
Lily didn't let up, she tickled harder and faster. Rose was screaming and laughing. Her body quivering and contorting, pushing the chair further and further back, stretched up like a plank between two sawhorses. Finally, Rose slipped and fell from her supports and tumbled down onto Lily. Lily caught her and, still giggling at her fun, carefully landed on her back. She held Rose in her hooves and started laughing heartily.
Rose pushed herself off Lily, "You bitch!" she said, glaring angrily, "I could have got hurt!" she waved a hoof around.
"N-no. I had you." Lily said through giggles and held up her hooves in mock defense. She pointed a hoof to the heavy flower pot behind the chair.
Rose looked at it then back at Lily and sighed, "You suck," she said insincerely.
"I was board. I saw an opportunity and took it," Lily said in a mock huff. She heard Rose sigh and looked back at her, "Don't tell me you wouldn't do the same," she continued and smiled knowingly.
"Heheh, yeah. I would have. Still, I'm going to get you back for this."
"Please do! I'm going to loose my mind if nothing happens soon!" Lily placed a hoof over her forehead, over dramatically mimicking a faint.
Rose smirked and caught a laugh in her throat before it could escape, "Why don't you just go out and find something fun to do? I can handle the shop for today."
"Because if I go out there I'll be expected to help clean up everyponies' street or the park or something."
"You know, for as hard as you work here you sure are lazy everywhere else. You'll never get a date if you keep hiding in here." Rose gestured to their quaint little shop.
"Puh-lease! The stallions here are so unexciting I could gag."
"Why not a mare?" Rose sighed, "It's not like there's any shortage of good mares anywhere."
"Not interested. Why would I want to go after something I already have? I don't need another one." She vaguely gestured to her plot.
"Suit yourself."
Suddenly, a loud shrieking sound came from the streets followed by yelling and a stampede. Ponies surged away from the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Lily and Rose quickly ran to the front door and poked their heads out. Upon seeing what had scared everypony else their both yelped and ducked their heads back inside, slamming the door shut and peaking though the glass window beside it.
There, in the middle of the street, a strange grey and black creature stood on its back legs and covered in blood. It its claws it dragged an alligator and it the other it dragged the bodies of three young fillies. Lily gasped as she recognized the three as the Cutiemark Crusaders. She watched in horror as the creature looked around. Its ice-blue eyes caught site of her through the crack in the side-swept curtains and made its way over to her shop. Her heard suddenly started thundering in her chest. Her hooves felt like a vice held them and refused to move. It kept eye contact with her.
Beside her, Lily heard Rose gasp and then a thud. She had passed out. Lily didn't need to look to know what happened. She felt like she should be doing the same but her entire being refused to do anything. This was it. She was going to die and become some grotesque rag doll for that thing's pleasure. Would it eat her? Would it just kill her? She didn't know but she did know that, as it came closer, he life was no longer her own. This thing had her and her body was too scared to move. He vision started to quake. She might have thought the earth was shaking, except that when she focused on the feeling she found that it was her hooves that were shaking in fear for her life.
It moved to the door and with a swift kick, knocked the door in. Lily's head jerked over to see the creature step up to her. It looked over her with, what she assumed was contempt, and then knelt down.
"P-p-plea-ese. Don't k-kill me," she heard her voice tremble and she gasped for a breath she hadn't realized she lost.
It leaned in close to her ear and whispered softly and slowly. Even at this volume she heard a deep rumbling sound that she imagined could conjure up demons, just barely able to decipher what it said. It stood up and loomed over here again,. She looked at it, her wide eyes and constricted pupils tried to make sense of what it had asked. It stomped once and she gave a shill eep! Her hoof snapped into the air and pointed to the Ponyville hospital. It nodded its thanks and left.
The eerie silence left in the creature's wake was replaced by a light breeze that pushed the front door on its hinges, creaking and groaning. Lily's mind slowly came back to her. She felt cold sweat all over her body. She smelled the reeking stench of adrenaline that had accompanied the fluids of her body on their way out. She looked down to see that, not surprisingly, she had wet herself and was now sitting in a small puddle.
She let out a shaky, quivering breath and tried to stand. Her hooves shook violently as she stumbled over to her sister. She shook Rose in an attempt to wake her. Rose didn't wake. Oh how Lily wished she could have passed out too. Nothing made sense to her at the moment, she thought. Until, that is, her mind stated putting a few things together.
"Maybe..." she whispered as a few ideas came her way. Maybe it wasn't... and they weren't...
* * *
"You lost him?" Celestia asked, the contingent of her guard standing ready behind her.
Bonbon nodded, "Yes, Princess Celestia," the calm over Celestia's voice was even more frightening to Bonbon than any anger she's seen on the Princess before. She'd failed. Bonbon had failed possibly the single most important charge of her life, and now, Celestia was voicing her disappointment.
"To be fair sister," Luna said, standing next to Celestia with her contingent of guards, "Nothing is really known about this creature. It could have just as easily freed itself sooner. Could it be as Discord is? Could it possess a power our little ponies were not prepared to handle?"
"With all due respect, Princess Luna," Lyra spoke up, "It's rude to keep calling him 'it'. And, I've talked to him. His name is--"
"Rage. Yes I am aware, young Lyra Heartstrings. It was not my intention to sound calous or uncaring. You must forgive our speach and mannerisms. They are from a time so very long since passed." Luna smiled warmly at the mint unicorn.
"Oh! N-no! I didn't mean it like that. Well, maybe I did... I'm sorry." Lyra looked at her hooves.
"Thou art quite forgiven," Lune chuckled lightly, amused by Lyra's stuttering and blunt honesty, "But this is quite serious. Thou hast seen this alien creature the most and conversed with him. Prey-tel, is her Dangerous? Does he have a power great enough to be a threat?"
All eyes were on her now. Lyra didn't want to tell. She liked Rage. He was pleasant enough to talk to once you got past his obsceanaties. She sighed heavily, "Yes. Yes he is dangerous and powerful. When I first saw him he was fighting with a Hydra."
Everypony in attendance did a double take, all except the Princesses, at Lyra's tale.
"You mean he was defending himself from a hydra?" one of the guard captains asked from beside Celestia.
"No. I mean he was fighting it. He killed it on purpose. If anything, the hydra was the one running away from him," she gave a quick shiver at the memory.
Even Bonbon looked on in surprise. Lyra had only given her the barest details of what she had seen, "Lyra,"
"Do I have to tell you how he did it?" Lyra looked up at Celestia, the Alicorn Princess looked back at her with a sad, motherly smile. It was comforting.
"I'm sorry to say, but yes. The more we know about this 'Rage' the better it will be for everypony when we see him." Celestia said comfortingly.
Lyra sighed, her heart sank, "Just, please. He's not really all that bad."
Bonbon placed a warm hoof on Lyra's shoulder, "It's okay, Lyra. I may not like him much, but he didn't hurt you... not that he could,"
"Bonnie? Rage slipped out of his cuffs all the time. Half the time I went downstairs to feed and talk to him he was just lounging around freely. He could have left at any time."
Bonbon's face contorted several different times. First shock, then anger, then fear, then anger again. It continued for a while until she spoke, "And you didn't tell me?!"
"What was I supposed to say! 'Hey Bonbon, Rage thinks your knot-tying is a joke. He's going to get out of your love dungeon when he finally gets board.'" Lyra caught her little slip and watched as her friend's face turned red enough to glow.
"Ah'hem" Luna cleared her throat. Lyra looked up to see a slight blush on several faces standing around them, "Perhaps thou should tell us more about thy meeting?" Luna said, steering the conversation back on course.
Lyra blushed and gave a half-hearted chuckle, "Sorry. Anyway. I heard screaming and roaring from the everfree and I thought maybe somepony was in trouble so I went to help," Lyra regaled them with everything she had seen before and after meeting Raje. She told of how, when she saw him, he had a weapon but must have lost it inside the hydra. She told them of how she had seen him tear the hydra apart from the inside out. A few of the unseasoned guards lost their lunches while many, many more turned green in he face, "Yeah, I lost my oats too. Though, to play my own harp, I lasted a few hours before loosing it." she giggled weakly.
After her tale was over, much to everyponies' relief, Celestia spoke again, "Thank you, Lyra. I'm sorry I made you relive those memories. If you ever need to talk to someone, I can refer you to a pleasant psychiatrist." she offered.
"Thanks, but I think I'll be okay." Lyra said.
Celestia nodded, "Alright," she then turned to the platoon and, in a commanding voice that even Lyra found herself unable to resist, began giving out orders to find Raje. Lyra imagined Celestia commanding a mountain to move a few inches as if it weren't where it should be, and the mountain moved.
"Princess Celestia!" came a voice behind Lyra, she recognized it as the voice of Twilight Sparkle, "Princess, we have a problem!"
"I'm well aware Twilight, we have brought the necessary force to deal with it." Celestia gestured her hers and Luna's guards.
"It's not that. Three fillies are missing and several ponies claim to have seen that creature dragging three dead fillies through town along with an Alligator!"
Lyra couldn't believe what she was hearing. Raje had never even made a move to harm her. He'd made plenty of hollow threats, but he never even tried.
"Are you sure, Twilight?" Luna asked darkly. If there's one thing that most ponies knew, it's that Luna was highly protective of younger ponies and foals. She watched their dreams and played with them in those dreams. She was the Night Mother many ponies had come to love. Now she was pissed. Very pissed She kept pretty good control of herself despite the seething anger steaming from her, Lyra noticed.
"Twilight," Celestia interrupted, "You're sure? These fillies weren't mistaken as such? Could they have been something else?"
"No princess. Several ponies I've talked to swear that they saw these fillies. They even recognized them. I.. I-I know them. Their names are Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. I tried to find out more about what might have happened, but all I got was ponies telling me they only saw three bloody fillies and a monster before they hid or ran."
"This isn't going to end well." Bonbon muttered into Lyra's ear.
"He didn't hurt them!" Lyra shouted, "I know him well enough to know he wouldn't have hurt any pony."
"Lyra..." Bonbon tried to reason with her, but Lyra swatted her hoof away.
"No! He wouldn't! He's a really nice stallion!"
"Lyra, he's vulgar and barbaric! How do you know he just didn't hurt you because you're an adult? He have killed them just because they annoyed him." Bonbon said.
"You edged him on! If anyone annoyed him it was you every time you blew up in his face!"
"He called me a slut!"
"And you called him a dick!"
"To which he implied I wanted!"
"You gave him ammunition! If you would ever shut up long enough to listen to him he wouldn't have teased you."
Bonbon groaned and slapped a hoof over her face.
"U-um... excuse me?" everypony looked up to see another new face interrupt their arguing. A white earth pony with a pink mane and red cross cutiemark trotted up to them, "Princess Celestia? I think you should come to the hospital. Three fillies were brought in not long ago for emergency care by a grey skinned creature with black markings, horns, and white hair.
"Is he still there?" Celestia asked,
"Yes. He's just sitting on the roof..." she said hesitantly,
"That's all he's doing?"
"No. He's screaming... and singing... it sounds like a song of sorts but without music and a discernible structure." she said looking away towards the the hospital in thought.
"Very well," she said a turned to her guards and revised her previous orders.
Before long, they were all headed back to the hospital to see the alien creature screaming on the roof.
"I told you her wouldn't hurt anypony," Lyra said smugly to Bonbon, who was trotting next to her.
"We won't know that till we talk to the three fillies." Bonbon reminded her.
"Whatever." Lyra pulled out ahead of Bonbon.
* * *