Strange Bedfellows

The pair of ponies stood stock still, staring at Seth. They were both holding their breath, taking in the sight of him—the huge griffon stood still to observe them as well, though his gaze was more predatory and analytical. He was trying to decide whether they were even worth his time.

Rarity had known that Seth was large—the Shetlands hadn’t stopped talking about him since they’d arrived—but seeing him face-to-face was more intimidating than she’d expected. His golden eyes stopped on her for a moment, a wicked smile crossing the griffon’s face. Rarity shuddered.

“Excuse me—Seth, is it?—I was just wondering why you think it’s necessary to do all this. The Shetlands are peaceful! You have no right to go stomping around, acting like a king and trying to destroy them.”

Seth paused, cocking his head to the side quizzically. He took a few steps forward and stomped the ground angrily, baring razor-sharp teeth at them. Apparently he either wasn’t willing to talk, or wasn’t able.

Applejack turned to the unicorn. “Rarity,” she whispered, “how do you reckon we’re gonna beat this guy? He’s so big I think I could get lost in his shadow.”

Rarity gave Applejack a concerned look. “To be honest,” she said, “I have no idea. I do have the magic that Glow Star taught me in my back pocket, but there’s no telling how much good it will do if Seth manages to get a hold of either one of us.” She tried to smile confidently, but it was paper-thin. “But we’ve faced worse before and survived, haven’t we?”

Applejack swallowed hard. “Yeah, I guess that’s true,” she said, “but I always got the feeling they were just messing with us and we took advantage—I don’t see Seth being the type to mess around.”

As if to illustrate the point, Seth’s tail lashed out at them, splitting the air with a loud crack. His tongue darted across his murderous beak.

The sight terrified Rarity, but managed to jog something in the back of Applejack’s mind. “Rarity,” she said, “you still got that spell that can make a bright light, right?”

The unicorn raised an eyebrow. “I do, Applejack, but I don’t see how that’s going to help us.”

Seth was apparently tired of watching the two discuss and plan and roared, charging the pair with his talons outstretched.

“Just do it!” Applejack cried, darting off to the right.

Everything in Rarity’s mind was telling her to run, to turn around and get as far away as she could—she wasn’t sure she could even do magic under this kind of stress—but she tried.

She bent her head against the rushing griffon, horn fizzling and popping as she forced the spell out, a bright light steadily growing in front of her. Seth, so caught up in his blood-sport, didn’t seem to notice until it was too late.

The light flare exploded just as the griffon reached Rarity. He screeched and veered off to the side to escape the horrible, blinding light, smashing into the ground and tumbling along until he came to rest next to a tree. The beast stood, tears running from his eyes, and whipped out with his tail in all directions fruitlessly, only managing to scar the bark of the surrounding trees.

“What now, Applejack?” Rarity cried, not knowing where her friend had gone.

From high above, halfway up one of the impressive trees, Applejack called back. “Just run!” she cried. “But try to run over here! I got an idea!”

Just then, one of Seth’s eyes opened back up, still running and twitchy from the flare. The orb focused on Rarity, pupil narrowing to block out the surrounding light. He bellowed and charged her, wings carrying him just slightly off the ground.

It was funny, almost, how in the heat of a life-threatening situation, trying desperately to avoid losing one’s life, some of the most important senses could experience black-out. Hearing dimmed, sight blurred, heart raced and lactic acid screamed through the veins. Even the brain became addled, making any thought difficult. It was almost like, in the process of trying to survive, the body worked against itself.

These were the thoughts swimming in the back of Rarity’s adrenaline-drowned mind as she dodged to the side, falling on her stomach as the tree behind her exploded, the ferocious visage of Seth appearing on the other side, wings splayed and beak gleaming. His talons curled into balls and he let out a fearsome roar, screaming through the air at the unicorn, who scrambled to a standing position and dove out of the way, panting and trying to keep it together.

Applejack, meanwhile, had scaled the tree a little higher and was trying to look for an opportunity to strike from above—Seth, mercifully, seemed to have forgotten about her in his bid to obliterate Rarity. Sweat poured from the earth pony’s brow, and she tried to blink it away as she surveyed the battleground.

Seth had the advantage in this environment—for one, he knew it much better than they did; for two, he was extraordinarily big and strong, even for a griffon, so they couldn’t even hope to trade blows with him; and lastly, he could fly.

Applejack couldn’t see any way for Rarity to make a move on Seth—she was already getting exhausted just trying to run away from the beast. She had to try and give Rarity a little breathing room, even if it meant ruining their plan—hopefully the unicorn had something else up her sleeve.

“Hey, big guy!” Applejack called, waving a hoof in the air from atop a thick branch, “I’m all alone up here! Come and get me!”

The griffon stopped, hearing Applejack’s voice, and looked up at her—this gave Rarity enough time to duck into the undergrowth to take a break from the fight and try to think. As Seth looked back down, trying to find her and coming up empty, Applejack snapped off a piece of bark and chunked it down at him.

The thick wood hit Seth cleanly in the beak, prompting him to screech to the heavens and make for Applejack without delay. The earth pony panted as Seth moved toward her, waiting until the very last second, as his beak cleaved the air where she’d been, to jump from one branch to another, only managing to hang on by her front hooves.

Meanwhile, Rarity had finished catching her breath and emerged from the undergrowth, only to find Applejack desperately clinging to a branch high above, her back legs kicking at the air—if she fell, she wasn’t going to make it.

“Applejack!” Rarity cried, seeing Seth spin around in midair, a wide smirk crossing his face at the sight of the helpless earth pony.

Applejack turned her head. “Rarity!” she called back, “Ain’t lookin’ too good for me! Help me out!” She shot a glance at Seth, adding, “Quick!”

The unicorn looked around, trying to find anything that could cushion Applejack’s fall—or prevent her from falling in the first place. Not finding anything, and with Seth closing in fast, Rarity did the only thing she could think of.

Her horn lit up brightly, sparks fizzing out of it as she strained to produce the effect she’d practiced so hard with Glow Star. She grit her teeth and dug her hooves into the ground—even for an intermediate spell, she was having considerable trouble.

Applejack, still trying to find purchase on the branch, looked down at Rarity with fear in her eyes. What was she doing?

“Rarity!” she called, “Get over here and help me already! I can’t hang on much longer!”

Rarity was too focused to answer—Seth was mere feet away from Applejack. As she felt the magical energy transfer from her horn into Applejack, she flicked her head up and screamed instructions.

“Let go, Applejack!” she cried. “Aim for Seth!” Her magic came to a fever pitch, horn letting off a blinding light.

Applejack, with only a second or two to think, and feeling the warm glow of Rarity’s magic inside her, did the only thing she could: She let go.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion—Applejack’s hooves left the branch as she aimed for Seth, trying to twist her body around in midair to catch the griffon on his back. Meanwhile, Seth’s grin changed to a look of shock, and he tried to veer off course. Finally, on the ground, Rarity’s horn sparkled and glowed as the spell completed, a bolt infused with magical energy zipping through the air to infuse Applejack.

The results were explosive.

As Seth tried to shift course, Applejack’s outstretched hoof wrapped around his neck—his velocity caused Applejack to be yanked through the air with him, and for her hoof to jam into his windpipe with much greater strength than she’d had just moments ago. He let out a strangled caw and went into a spin, heading straight for the ground with Applejack in tow. Rarity galloped after the entangled pair, hoping that her new spell would help Applejack.

As Seth smashed into the ground, plowing up a ton of dirt and debris, Applejack flew from his neck, colliding with a tree several feet away—she slid to the ground headfirst, dazed and bruised but otherwise okay.

Rarity ran over to Applejack as fast as she could, helping the Earth pony into a standing position.

“Applejack,” she said, smiling widely, “I’m so glad you’re alright!”

Applejack rolled her neck and shoulders, groaning. “Yeah, me too,” she said, “but I don’t think I’m ‘alright’ just yet.” She coughed, holding a hoof to her head. “Consarnit, this hurts,” she complained.

Rarity giggled. “I’m sure you’ll be fine once we get you back to the village,” she said, “and as for Seth, I do believe they’re going to need to look for a new leader.” She turned around and grinned triumphantly at a twitching wing sticking up from the impact site. “Seth’s history.”

Applejack looked up into the canopy of trees with a relieved sigh. “I was worried something was gonna go seriously wrong.”

Rarity nodded. “I know how you feel, Applejack, but there’s nothing to worry about, now. Come on, let’s get going—they’re going to be expecting us back at—agh!”

Applejack’s eyes went wide, as a massive talon swept through the air, catching Rarity cleanly in the ribs—she hung for a moment on the murderous points of those claws, an expression of agony on her face, and then sailed through the air for an eternity. Finally, she landed with a soft thud in the undergrowth a considerable distance away, buried beneath the foliage.

In front of Applejack stood Seth, a thick line of blood trailing down and through one of his eyes—if it bothered him, he didn’t show it. One of his wings was mangled terribly, the fragile bones shattered inside it. Several of his talons were snapped off, leaving sharp, ragged stubs in their place. His breathing was heavy and erratic, and as his golden eyes focused on Applejack, her skin started to crawl.

His tail lashed out at her, trying to wrap her up in its deadly embrace, but she hopped over it and took off running toward Rarity, Seth following close behind.

As she ran, the forest around her grew darker—wherever he’d slapped Rarity, the plants got thicker in that area, and it grew harder and harder for Applejack to see anything. She panted and stumbled through the high grass, the exertion of holding onto the branch and Seth’s neck starting to catch up with her.

As her energy flagged and threatened to run out, the whole scenario seeming more and more familiar, and Applejack started to realize there was only one thing she could do—she had to stand and face Seth, had to try and protect Rarity like she’d promised, even if she had no idea where the unicorn was.

She whirled around, hooves skidding through the dirt briefly, and snorted, blowing steam from her nostrils. Seth, seeing that his prey was stopping, raised his talons and brought them down on her with overwhelming force, just as Applejack raised her hooves to meet him, a look of pure determination on her face.

A boom echoed through the forest as Applejack’s hooves slammed into Seth’s talons, locking with them. The earth pony grunted and shoved against the much larger griffon.

Seth was the first to break contact, swiping at Applejack’s belly with his sharp claws—the earth pony dodged back and lashed out with a hoof, which Seth sidestepped. The griffon’s shadow loomed over Applejack as he came up onto his back legs, threatening to crush her as he came down—Applejack leapt to the side as a shower of dirt and loose rocks exploded around her.

She cried out and stuck Seth cleanly across the beak, the huge monster cawing loudly and thrashing with his beak—Applejack grunted as a section of her cheek split open, blood trickling from the open wound. She dodged behind a tree to regain her breath, reaching up to wipe the blood away.

Seconds passed like hours as Seth searched for her, his labored breath filling Applejack’s ears. After what seemed like an eternity, Applejack leaned out from behind the tree, trying to see if she could catch a glimpse of Seth, perhaps even ambush him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Applejack, figuring that he’d gone to look for Rarity, grew nervous and turned back, bracing herself to sprint out and search for Rarity.

She didn’t have time to react as a thick fist slammed into her stomach.

All the breath left Applejack in an instant as Seth’s fist retracted, leaving her to slump back against the tree, stars exploding in her eyes as she tried to focus on Seth—his beak was curved in an evil grin.

The monster leaned down to inspect Applejack briefly, his unbroken wing flexing. The earth pony was in a world of pain—it felt like her stomach had popped, her lungs were barely working, and as she opened and closed her mouth like a struggling fish, she found the coppery taste of blood.

As Seth leaned back with a roar of triumph, his claws extended, prepared to finally end her, Applejack did the only thing she could think of—she ran a hoof through the dirt and ducked to the side, hurling a cloud of dirt up into Seth’s eyes.

The griffon screeched in pain and anger, reeling back clumsily from Applejack, who began to desperately scramble away, hoping that the high bushes would cover her escape—unfortunately, as Seth swiped at the air, his talons closed around her tail.

Cords of muscle stood out on Seth’s neck as he wrenched Applejack completely off the ground and hurled her through the air—the earth pony sailed past the trees, bounced once or twice, and landed with a soft thud in the undergrowth, plowing up the dirt. Fortunately, since the bushes were tall enough to conceal a pony, Seth lost track of her almost immediately. As Applejack struggled to a standing position, she heard Rarity’s voice behind her.

“Applejack,” she said, her voice ragged, “I’m hurt quite badly.”

The earth pony turned to face Rarity, who seemed to be doing her best not to be seen by Seth—she’d covered herself almost completely in thick leaves, though not enough to disguise the blood seeping through.

“By Celestia, Rarity,” Applejack said, “how bad did he get you?”

Rarity coughed and tried to roll over, exposing a huge gash in her side—the white hair around her ribs was parted where the flesh was torn, and most of it was stained red.

Applejack’s blood froze. “Are you gonna make it, Rarity?” she asked, kneeling down to inspect the wound. “Please tell me you’re gonna make it—we came this far together, and it wouldn’t be right losin’ you now.”

Rarity smiled wanly, nodding. “I believe so,” she said, “but for now, we must defeat Seth, and I have an idea.” She waved a hoof, beckoning Applejack closer. “I think I can fix this wound, albeit temporarily, and I’ll still be in a considerable amount of pain.

“With the wound no longer hampering me, I should be able to scale one of the trees fairly high up and get Seth’s attention.” She smirked. “I’ve yet to debut the other spell Glow Star taught me, and I believe now would be the perfect time to. Just lay low as I climb and, when I say so, run out from the bushes and brace yourself—I’m going to try and bring Seth down right on top of you. Your extra strength should allow you to catch him with little effort.”

Applejack paused, staring slack-jawed at Rarity, whose horn was already glowing, her wounds closing up. Applejack had known that Rarity had hidden depths, but she was putting her life on the line here.

“Rarity, beg pardon,” the earth pony said, “but don’t you think that’s just a little crazy? What if it doesn’t work? What if he kills you? And besides, that plan didn’t work last time—we just made him angrier.”

Rarity, with her wounds mostly healed, wrenched herself to a standing position, giving Applejack a wide smile through her disheveled hair. “I understand your concerns, Applejack,” she said, “but before, I hadn’t had time to think—the trees are the only way we can really beat him.” She smiled. “I need you to trust me. I have faith in you, Applejack. You helped get me this far. Have faith in me.”

Before Applejack could protest further, Rarity had run off, leaving her crouched in the bushes, hoping that Rarity would make it.

The unicorn’s mind raced as she galloped out toward a tree, knowing her idea was pretty much terrible. But if she didn’t take action and try to finish this, he was eventually going to wear the both of them down.

It was rough going, trying to climb up the side of one of the monolithic trees around them, and finding hoofholds in the tough bark wasn’t easy, but fortunately Seth seemed to be distracted—he was searching for them in the opposite direction. As Rarity pulled herself onto a branch several dozen feet off the ground, she paused for breath, trying to brace herself for what she was about to do.

“I’m right here, you ruffian!” she cried, waving a hoof above her head—she swayed a little on the branch, trying to keep her balance.

The griffon’s head snapped in her direction, his golden eyes tightening as he focused on her. Seth let out an earth-shaking roar, the pain in his mangled wing apparently not bothering him as he screamed up toward her, his beak curled back in a vicious smile.

Rarity strained and struggled as she tried to cast the spell Glow Star had taught her, her voice coming out high-pitched and desperate as she hollered at Applejack to start running. Seth’s pace didn’t slow as he neared her, his cawing reaching fever pitch.

And just as he reached her, Rarity opened her hooves wide and caught on fire.

As Seth slammed into her, Rarity felt the breath leave her suddenly, her vision blacking out for a moment as the two whirled through the air, Applejack trying her hardest to keep up from below.

Rarity’s coat had become a raging inferno, her mane a whipping flame that constantly lashed Seth during their descent, both of them trying to stay on top of the other.

Rarity’s mind was filled with dozens of thoughts—Twilight and the others laughing, happy, Sweetie Belle’s amazing singing, Rainbow Dash’s constant attempts to get into the Wonderbolts. She had to come home and see them again, no matter what.

Perhaps most importantly, her last thought in that swirl of confusion was of Applejack. They’d come through a lot together—a greater hydra attack, grave injuries, hunger, sadness, the swamp, the Shetlands, countless disasters and world-threatening attacks…even fighting themselves hadn’t been enough to stop them during the Changeling attack. And no matter what, Applejack had been there, always confident when she could be, always trying to help everypony out, always knowing that, with her place as an Element, any day could be her last. But that hadn’t stopped her—hadn’t stopped them. She would have died before letting Seth stop them now.

As they neared the ground, their speed reaching fatal velocity, Rarity let out a piercing battle cry and brought her hoof up, jamming it deep into Seth’s eye—the flames surrounding it burned through the watery orb, prompting a squawk of agony as Seth relinquished control of their descent, allowing Rarity to flip him over, rear up on her back hooves, point down as his eyes went wide, and triumphantly bellow at him,

“When you reach the Ever, make sure you tell them who sent you, dear!”

And with that, Seth crashed into Applejack, caught between the force of landing spine-first on the empowered pony’s hooves, and having Rarity’s flaming form smashed into his stomach—his beak shot open in a silent cry as his eyes blanked out, a sonic wave resonating through the otherwise silent forest around them.