Strange Bedfellows

Applejack stood alone, in a consuming and cramped blackness. She wasn’t sure why, just yet, but there she was, dust rising up under her hooves, getting in her eyes as she tried to assess her surroundings. Dimly, in the background, she heard the sound of pounding drums with a militaristic bent.

Nervous, Applejack reached up to fondle the brim of her hat—of course, it wasn’t there, considering she’d lost it at the start of all this madness. As she felt around the walls, the drums swelled in volume, becoming deafening.

Desperate to escape the horrible tattoo, Applejack turned and pounded on the inky walls around her, only managing to scuff up her hooves in the process. The drums continued getting louder, accompanied now by the noise of a crowd cheering, the sounds invading every bit of Applejack they could reach.

Just as Applejack began to think she was going to go crazy, the darkness lifted, exposing her to a painful burst of sunshine from overhead. Now the crowd was going into a frenzy—she could see that the majority of the onlookers were griffons, pumping their talons in the air with bloodthirsty fervor and chanting a name:

Seth. Seth. Seth.

Applejack looked all around her, but couldn’t locate the aforementioned griffon—all she could see were long, high walls of white marble, stretching on forever, with a never-ending sea of chanting monsters. Then, from behind, Applejack heard an earsplitting roar which silenced the crowd entirely. Applejack’s eyes widened as she finally got a good look at Seth.

He was three times as big as a normal griffon with a massive, murderous beak and a set of gleaming talons as large as Applejack. He looked down at her, standing mere feet away from her, and narrowed his eyes, grinning widely.

He laughed. The sound was unlike anything Applejack had ever heard, foreboding, like a breath from deep within the earth. Before she could react, he rushed forward and lashed out with his beak—a wash of blood splattered the dirt.

As Applejack tried to steady herself, pressing her hooves up against the gash in her side, Seth’s tongue darted across his beak. He spoke, but the words made no sense when they reached Applejack’s ears, sounding terrible and foreign. He chuckled softly and floated forward, taking Applejack’s chin in his claws. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t move a muscle in response. The more he spoke, the more Applejack wanted to run, to escape the unearthly noise emanating from his beak. His eyes were glowing hot coals, burning right through the pony in his grip. He tossed her back like a ragdoll, the crowd swelling as he took to the air, pointing down at Applejack with harsh judgment in his eyes. Seth roared, the crowd breaking into a psychotic rumble around him.

Applejack tried to scramble away, calling for any help she could think of, and each name that left her lips was met with a limp body falling from the sky, crashing into the dirt and raising the volume of the crowd. No matter how fast she ran, Seth was always just a foot behind her, a toying smirk on his face, knowing that any time he wanted, he could snuff her out.

The walls around Applejack shrunk, and her pace slowed more and more as the arena narrowed. Eventually, the marble encased her on either side, nearly pinning her at the shoulders.

With nowhere else to turn, Applejack whirled around and put her hooves up, driving the crowd into screeches, feathers flying into the air and settling around them as Seth pulled back and rocketed with a flourish towards her, his beak aimed right for her belly…

It was an extreme pain in her belly that finally managed to wake Applejack up.

Bringing her hooves up to her face, Applejack panted as she tried to recover from the horrible nightmare. She was drenched in sweat from tip to tail—not to mention she was shaking. Beside her, Rarity stirred slowly, roused by her jerky movements. The unicorn rolled over to face Applejack with bleary eyes and a slightly tangled mane.

“Applejack,” she said, “whatever is the matter? You were tossing and turning all night.”

Applejack considered that for a moment. “I was?” she asked. “Well, I did have kind of a nightmare.”

Rarity blinked, staring at Applejack for a few moments, before she reached over and hugged her.

“Don’t worry, Applejack—I’m sure everything’s going to be alright.” She pulled back. “Trust me. We won’t let anything happen to each other. We promised.”

Applejack smiled and nodded. The flap at the front of their hut flew up, revealing Blink. He looked distressed.

“Rarity, Applejack! Thank goodness you’re awake. C’mon, we need to get moving, now. Glow Star’s just about to leave, and Trixie’s going with her.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Blink, what on earth are you talking about?”

Blink shook his head. “If I had to guess, Glow Star is probably so tired of being around Trixie—the second you finished your lessons, they started arguing and never stopped—that she just went ahead and mobilized.”

Applejack scrambled to her hooves, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “Just tell us what we need to do and where we need to go, Blink.” She gave him her best determined smile. “We’re gonna be right there with you.”

Blink nodded, waving a hoof out the door. “We’re going to be taking a side path through the forest to get around behind the griffon village—shouldn’t take more than an hour or so. I’ll wait for you at my house—don’t be long.”

With that, the stallion let the flap fall shut, leaving Rarity and Applejack alone. The pair looked at each other, the obvious questions going unspoken. Instead, Applejack simply gave Rarity a confident grin.

“Are you ready for this, Rarity? Ain’t gonna be easy, that’s for sure—but after we beat that hydra, I’m thinking we take on anything.” Sureness shined in the earth pony’s eyes.

The unicorn nodded. “Of course, Applejack.” A small blush tinted her cheeks as she smiled. “I have you by my side, after all.” She rose to a standing position. “And you’re right, of course. Whether it was hydras, Changelings, Discord or Nightmare Moon, we’ve triumphed over it all. This will be no different, I imagine.” With that, they got on their way.

“Let’s not waste any more time,” Blink said, pointing a hoof at a small trail. “Glow Star and Trixie have already gotten on their way, and Earthfruit’s diversion is going to be sprung soon.”

Their plan was simple enough—while Glow Star, Trixie, and the main force moved toward the village, Earthfruit and his hoof-picked group of stallions, having already left, would charge for the left side of the village as a distraction. While that was going on, Blink, Rarity and Applejack would sneak around to the back of the village so they could remove the proverbial head of the snake—Seth.

Of course, while Glow Star didn’t know about any of this, she was getting ever more suspicious that Earthfruit wasn’t around, and it was likely going to hit her soon that Rarity, Applejack, and Blink were nowhere to be found in the ranks. There wasn’t any time to waste.

The group decided to remain as silent as necessary—stepping over branches, not speaking unless it was needed.

Though it was imperative to keep silent, the quiet was overwhelming and uncomfortable to Rarity. Sensing the upcoming strife, all the smaller animals and birds had flown from the area, leaving it soundless.

And it wasn’t just the silence that was unnerving Rarity—even if she’d said that she was at peace with everything they were facing, that should anything happen, she knew Applejack would protect her, in her heart she knew that they were up against a monster that lacked remorse entirely. Things could easily go wrong.

Perhaps sensing her discomfort, Blink turned to look at the pair, his eyes searching them for chinks in the armor. Finally, they settled on Rarity, one of Blink’s eyebrows raising analytically as he studied her. Without a word, his expression changed to a thin smile—it wasn’t very reassuring.

The forest around them had been oppressive and scary when they’d first arrived here, but now, having spent what seemed like weeks in it, Rarity found herself tentatively relaxing at the sounds of rustling leaves and the wind blowing through the branches overhead. If she could have, Rarity would likely have stopped right there and enjoyed the peace of nature around her for as long as she wanted. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

The deeper they went, however, the more nervous Rarity became—everything was too silent, without animals or birds to fill the quiet.

The minutes seemed to pass like hours as they walked, the air thick with tension and fear. Every now and then, a patch of bushes to the sides of the trail would rustle, and all heads would snap in the direction of the noise, adrenaline pumping through their veins, only to find that it was just a breeze.

It was swiftly becoming too much to bear for Rarity—she was starting to think that if something didn’t happen soon, she was going to suffer a heart attack.

Thankfully for her, something did happen.

Blink suddenly dropped to his stomach, waving his hoof back at the pair to do the same. They slid up beside him as he parted a thick cluster of brush, revealing a massive hut. A trail ran from the entrance of the hut, past dozens of other, smaller structures.

“This is it,” Blink whispered. “I didn’t expect us to get here as quickly as we did.” He chuckled. “You two kept up a better pace than I’d hoped.” He moved forward, ducking his head through the brush; Rarity and Applejack followed suit.

“It doesn’t look like the griffons are here,” he said, an edge of worry in his voice. “That might mean Earthfruit’s already out there fighting them, or it might mean they went right over his head to destroy the village.” He chuckled nervously. “Let’s hope for the former. C’mon.” He stood slowly and crept out from the forest, moving silently toward the huge structure. Nervous as they were, Rarity and Applejack followed, eyes darting around for any signs of life.

Entering the structure through a window in the back, the ponies found themselves in what could only be described as a primitive mansion—the smell of rot filled the air. Woven furniture was present all throughout, alongside bowls of fruit.

Along the walls was a collection of ornate, patterned masks depicting a variety of faces, from angry to happy to expressions that defied description. Accompanying them were ten or so paintings of Seth performing inexcusable deeds, all of them made using an unidentified substance. To top everything off, at the foot of Seth’s bed (which was just as large and exquisite as the other items in the room) sat a massive chest, presumably filled with trophies of conquest.

All in all, the place produced a deep sense of dread in all three ponies.

“This is horrible,” Blink said. “I recognize some of these masks and paintings, too—they come from a zebra tribe that the Shetlands traded with for some years before the griffons wiped them out. I guess this is what became of them.” The room was silent for a moment. Blink shook his head.

“I guess Seth isn’t here. He must have already gone out to engage Earthfruit, along with his other griffons.”

Applejack nodded. “We better get out there after ‘em, if we wanna catch Seth.”

“I agree,” Rarity said. “We must keep moving, and try to find him before he can find Trixie or Glow Star.”

Blink nodded and looked around for a moment. “True enough,” he said, “Alright, let’s take a look around, then we’ve gotta leave. No telling how long Seth will be out there.”

Unfortunately, it seemed that no matter how hard they searched, Seth hadn’t drawn up any plans, prepared any kind of defenses should the griffons be forced onto their heels, even thought about making any notes about especially powerful or notable griffons in his group. Though she didn’t want to think about it, Applejack couldn’t help but recall her nightmare, where Seth wasn’t even capable of speech. All the group managed to find was a collection of extremely gruesome trophies, up to and including a few mangled bits scattered around.

“Can we leave now?” Applejack said, nauseated. “I think if I’ve gotta look at one more thing in this psycho’s house I’m gonna throw up.” With a silent nod, Blink agreed, and they stepped outside, walking down the dirt road between the huts. The going was slow, as the group was trying to avoid making any noise.

The terrain grew rougher as they pressed forward, with numerous claw-marks and gouges in the ground, some of them bigger quite large. Those, of course, had to be Seth’s, which brought to mind a question—if he was that huge, how were they going to fight him?

Trying to shake that feeling, the group began ducking into several of the huts, checking for any important clues about the griffons’ plans. Each time, they found nothing more than scuffed-up dirt and mutilated animals. This place was making them all sicker by the second.

With their grisly discoveries piling up, the silence around them exerted a kind of pressure, sapping the words from their mouths before they could even manage to speak them. The only sound as they walked was the quiet rustling of dirt beneath their hooves.

After what seemed like forever, the group came to a naturally-created arch, with a thick cluster of ropey vines hanging down over the entrance. Trying to look through them yielded nothing and so, tentatively, Applejack reached forward to move them aside.

Nothing.

All three ponies breathed a collective sigh of relief and walked through the vines—ahead lay another path, this one claw-worn rather than constructed. As they continued on, however, it became clear that if they were to get in a fight here, it likely wouldn’t go well for them. Not only was the forest getting darker and darker as they pressed on, but the worn-in path was getting harder to traverse as it wound over logs and up small hills—soon enough they’d have no idea where they were going.

With Blink leading the group, and Applejack right behind him, Rarity felt somewhat exposed—being in the back in those tales of horror always meant that you were the first one to get picked off.

Thankfully, if nothing else, the group’s light breathing was something of a comfort in the darkness. In fact, Rarity could almost feel herself relaxing a bit with every breath she let out, now that they were in a steady rhythm, and of course, hearing Applejack’s breathing helped her calm down as well. The breathing behind her was perhaps the most comforting of all—it provided all-around sound to help take her mind off the terrible blackness and the tangled plants.

A cold shiver ran down Rarity’s spine. Why was she hearing breathing behind her? She listened hard, her ears flicking back and forth, trying to locate the source of the sound—by the direction the noise was coming from, the one doing the breathing was above them.

There wasn’t a pony alive aside from Blink who could’ve climbed those high trees—Rarity knew exactly what it meant. She leaned forward to whisper at Blink.

“Er, Blink, dear,” she whispered, “we may have a bit of a problem.”

Blink turned around, halting progress and raising an eyebrow. “What’s the matter, Rarity?” he asked. “Did you hear some…thing…?” He froze, his slow, measured breathing immediately quickening to a pant as his eyes roved upward. As Applejack turned, her breathing mirrored the change.

Everything in Rarity’s brain told her not to turn around—so she didn’t. She just grabbed Applejack’s hoof and yanked her from her stupor as she bolted off, Blink following right behind them.

The group crashed through the undergrowth in flight, desperately trying to escape the monstrosity that was following them—the sound of tree bark being raked and brush being uprooted followed them closely, never more than a few feet behind.

Their speed was making Rarity’s eyes water, and her legs were burning, begging her to stop. Her lungs tried their hardest to supply her with enough oxygen, her throat ached, her brain shorting out from the fear.

And yet, in the midst of all this terror, despite the rent trees and the destroyed scrub, a thought crept into her mind.

This was exactly what they’d done when the hydra showed up, and it hadn’t worked then—why would it work now? They’d had to stand and fight the hydra to finally be rid of it.

No, in this situation, there was only one thing they could do.

They had to try and fight Seth.

“Applejack!” Rarity screamed. “We can’t run! We have to fight!”

The earth pony looked back at Rarity, trepidation in her eyes, but as they locked with Rarity’s, a fire seemed to light behind the green. She knew Rarity was right—it was time to stop running and stand up for themselves.

The pair skidded to a halt and dove to either side, a razor-sharp wind passing between them as they did so, the sound of dirt being upturned filling their ears. Up ahead, Blink stopped and turned, a look of horror on his face.

“What are you doing?” he yelled. “Run! Now!” Brushing themselves off, Rarity and Applejack shook their heads.

“Sorry Blink,” Applejack said, “but I don’t think that’s gonna do the trick. ‘Sides, if we ran now, we’d lose the chance to do what we came here for in the first place.” She winked at him. “I ain’t one to leave things unfinished.”

Rarity nodded. “She’s right, Blink. If we ever want this to be over, we have to make our stand here.” She smiled. “You are welcome to go on ahead—if you can find Earthfruit, Glow Star, or Trixie, bring them back here.”

Blink stood still for a few moments, visibly shaking as he stared at the slowly unfolding, feathery form to his left. He closed his eyes, making a sound of frustration, and took off through the undergrowth.

Rarity and Applejack watched as the massive griffon, half again as big as Celestia herself, rose from his curled-up position on the ground, revealing golden eyes filled with murderous intent. The black pupils narrowed as they caught sight of the pair.

This was Seth, the griffon they’d heard so much about.

Truly, he was massive. They’d all thought Gilda was big, but he was triple her size, with a wingspan bigger than any normal pony. His plumage stuck straight back, forming several small spikes of clumped feathers—the tips were colored red, though both ponies got the feeling it wasn’t dyed.

His powerful chest heaved as he stared them down, lethal beak curling back into a sick smile, one that seemed just a smidge too wide for his face. His talons scraped excitedly at the ground, gouging out the dirt beneath him—the hooked ends of those were red as well.

His tail shot through the air like a python, cracking like a whip with each stroke. Every inch of the griffon chief was muscle, pulsing with anticipation.

He didn’t speak—a roar that shook the heavens was more than enough to tell Rarity and Applejack know that, without a doubt, this was the most powerful griffon they’d ever encounter.

And now, all alone, they had to defeat him.