For a reason she couldn't explain, Marble Pie awoke from her slumber. She yawned and lifted her head to look around. The sound of heavy rainfall echoed in her ears, accompanied by the roar of thunder. She looked beside her to see her big sister, Limestone, sleeping soundly. She continued to look around the room, a flash of lightning slightly startling her; everything was in place, nothing out of the ordinary. But despite this, Marble couldn’t help the feeling that something was wrong.
Try as she might, Marble couldn't find anything that could have been the cause for this odd feeling. Deciding it was nothing, Marble rest her head back down and closed her eyes, allowing the pitter patter of raindrops to start soothing her back to sleep.
Then came the noise.
It wasn’t lightning or thunder. It was a sort of screeching sound unlike anything Marble had ever heard before. Marble shot back up and looked to the window. Another flash of lightning illuminated the room, revealing the silhouette of… something. It passed before the flash could even end, but Marble knew for sure it had been there.
Marble's eyes widened like saucers. Whatever was outside, she could feel in her gut that it wasn't good. She shivered in fear before feeling something touch her shoulder. She let out a gasp before a hoof covered her mouth and turned her head, allowing her to see a familiar pair of yellow eyes staring back at her.
“I know.” Limestone said.
The screech came again, much louder than before. It felt… closer. This feeling was confirmed by a loud thud coming from above them, followed by the long forte of a scraping sound. It was tearing up the roof. The screeching sound again.
Marble, shivering as if she had been out naked in the cold, hugged her big sister and tightly shut her eyes.
Limestone put a foreleg around her little sister and glared daggers at the ceiling. After a moment filled with thuds and scraping, she heard what she assumed was the creature taking flight. She looked down at Marble and lifted her little sister’s chin up so she would look at her. “I’m gonna figure out what’s going on.” With that, she got up and walked out of the bedroom with Marble following close behind, practically sticking to her sister like a wet leaf.
When they got to the front door, they heard the screech again. Limestone looked back at her sister. Though she would never admit it, Limestone was scared. Something about this creature filled her with dread. But as scared as she was, seeing her baby sister so scared lit a fire in her. It reminded her of back when they were fillies. Whenever little Marble got hurt or scared, Limestone was always there for her. She remembered the promise she had made.
“I’ll never let anything happen to you. I’m your big sister and I’ll always protect you.”
Always.
Limestone kicked open the door and stood on the front porch, reading herself for whatever she might see. It only took a minute for the creature to show itself.
Flying through the rain-filled sky above the Rock Field was a giant bird. It’s dark feathers nearly hid it in the night sky save for it’s two red eyes that seemed to glow.
A roc.
Limestone watched wide-eyed as the winged beast circled the field, illuminated by a flash of lightning, before taking notice of it's audience. It let out another screech before soaring towards her, it's nightmarish talons aimed for the pony. She quickly fled inside and pressed herself against the door. There was another big thud and scraping sound as the roc tore up the roof once more. Limestone looked to the ceiling before looking down at Marble, who was still terrified.
There was no doubt now that this big bird meant them harm and the roof wasn’t going to hold it off much longer. The thought of the winged beast getting its talons on Marble made Limestone livid. She felt her fear evaporate into anger. “Marble, get my War Rocks.”
Marble obeyed and left to get Limestone’s warrior stash.
Soon, Limestone was decked out with sleeves and a saddle filled with her specially made War Rocks. She gave her little sister a light headbutt and charged out into the pouring rain. She saw the roc standing on top of Holder’s Boulder. Her eye twitched. “First, you terrorize my sister. Now, you stand on Holder’s Boulder? Now, I’m pissed!” With that, she charged right for the giant bird.
The roc's red eyes settled of the pony rushing towards it. It let out another screech and took flight from Holder’s Boulder, soaring right for Limestone.
Her fear dispatched and her eyes lit with fury, Limestone jumped and met the creature head on.
When Igneous Rock Pie and Cloudy Quartz got back home from their short business trip, they weren’t expecting to find the corpse of a giant bird in the field; the poor thing looked like it had been put through rock slide, as battered as it was. They also weren’t expecting to see Marble tending to Limestone, who was covered in several bandages and ointment, both all across her body. There were still some cuts and bruises visible.
The sisters smiled and waved to their parents.
“Hey, Ma! Hey, Pa!" The eldest daughter greeted. "Sorry about the mess. I didn’t have time to clean up. I was gonna get rid of the dumb bird’s carcass after Marble patched me up. Then we were gonna fix up the Field and the roof.”
“Mmhm.” Marble nodded.
Igneous and Cloudy just stared at their daughters for a while. Granted, after the incidents with the Hydra and the Chimera and the Timber Wolves, they shouldn’t have been so surprised. Finally, Igneous spoke up. “Why don’t you take the day off, Limestone?”
“No thanks. I gotta work these bones out anyway; especially the ones Marble had to pop back into place.”
“Mmhm.”