The Monster in the Mining Village
“Helps to know what I’m dealing with first, usually…but this’ll do.” Sapphire spoke to herself as she made her way into the mining town, her metal-clad hooves gently clicking and clacking against the stone road. Her eyes slowly scanned the area, taking in the houses. Claw marks covered some of the doors, while teeth marks littered the beams and window frames. Not many houses were free from these blemishes, yet ponies still milled around, as the sun was high in the sky. Sapphire looked around for any signs of injuries or fear, but saw only the basic signs of nervousness that a town with a monster problem would have.
She decided to start small, and approached a lone earth pony stallion hauling a pile of lumber behind him. As she approached, her black-clad form and swishing tail had him stop, a shiver running down his spine before he recognized the emblem on her chest – a simple blue sapphire medallion with a gold wreath around it. “Azure Star?” The stallion said, though his voice caught a bit in his throat.
“That’d be me. Town’s already expecting me?” Sapphire was perhaps a few inches shorter than the stallion, so she removed her hat while she talked to him. The sun hurt her sensitive eyes, but it was manageable.
“Got word they were sending someone to deal with it. Kinda surprised they didn’t wait longer.” The earth pony sighed, putting a hoof on his forehead. “Need directions, ma’am?”
“Actually I was hoping to ask some questions before sun goes down. First off…what’s your name?”
“Me? Oh, I’m Steel.” The stallion bowed his head respectfully. “And, feel free to ask me anything, ma’am. Don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I’ll try to answer.”
“From what I’ve heard, nighttime…that’s when the creatures come out, hmm?” Sapphire started making mental notes, also keeping an eye on the stallion’s expressions.
“You’d be right.” Steel nodded. “Every night, barring a storm or heavy rain. Start scratching at the doors and windows. First few nights, they broke into some houses, carried off the ponies inside…since they’re only out at night we don’t get much of a look at ‘em.”
“Any sounds? Roars, growls, anything?” Sapphire frowned. She was hoping for someone to have seen them, but the day was still young.
“Not that I could hear, nopony else mentioned ‘em either.”
“Hm.” Sapphire’s tail idly swished behind her. “Is that house vacant?” She asked, using her tail to point at one of the homes that looked empty. Steel looked visibly nervous as he saw the sharp blade attached to her tail, but nodded slowly.
“It is.” He said quietly. “Family got taken out just last week. Poor ponies.”
“I’m going to have a look around there.” Without waiting for a proper reply, Sapphire tipped her hat back down and strolled towards the house, the door currently wide open and not stopping her entry at all.
Stopping in the doorway, Sapphire tilted her head and glanced at the frame. The sides were bulged out, like something large had forced its way in, yet all of the signs on the outside had suggested smaller, more ravenous creatures. Tapping her tail twice on the frame, she found that the wood had been properly warped into shape, not just bent. “Hrmh…” She grumbled to herself, taking her hat off and placing it gently on a nearby hook so her vision was unobstructed as she made her way into the house.
It was dark, of course, and lacked any proper fixed lighting like one might find in the home of the Draconies or more industrialized pony cities. Sapphire brought her tail up to her face, detaching the sharpened blade from its tip and allowing it to float free. The enchanted weapon hovered around her head, runes carved into the sides glowing faintly and providing a bit of light to illuminate darker corners while the sunlight covered the rest.
With her makeshift magical light spinning around her head, Sapphire took a look around just to get an idea of what the main floor looked like. Furniture had been broken and ripped, an entire couch lying in shattered pieces of wood, metal springs and fluffy cushion stuffing. A table looked like it had something fired through it, based on the shattering in the middle, and the kitchen was a mess of strewn utensils and blood spatters on the floor and counters. The flies were present, but not numerous, and while the rooms showed signs of a scuffle in just about every one, valuable items were left in place. If the monsters were intelligent, let alone sapient, they clearly had no value for money or gold.
Sapphire bent down to examine the blood spatters on the kitchen floor. “Lacerated veins. Maybe arteries. Blood was plentiful but didn’t last long.” She nodded, mumbling the words she thought in her head out loud to help herself think. “Razor sharp claws. Something overpowered them easily. Maybe too easily.” She raised her head, eyes scanning around the room. Her sapphire eyes—her namesake—glowed in the dim light, her tail blade still revolving in slow circles around where her tail directed it. “Smells like…” She inhaled deeply through her nostrils. “Brimstone.”
Her tail blade whipped towards her, latching onto the spade of her tail with expert precision and clasping firmly around its base. “Can’t be Tartarians. Not the greater kind. They value material goods…most of them anyway.” She glanced around the room again, now keeping her eyes on the floor. “Imps, maybe. But they’re still usually sentient…”
Sapphire sniffed the air again, then flicked her ears slightly. “Hmh. No signs of continued activity…better ask the locals some more questions.”
It turned out that asking the locals didn’t clear up nearly as much as Sapphire would have liked.
“It was massive!”
“Barely heard it, let alone saw it!”
“It had eyes like fire, teeth like razors!”
“A demon’s goat, it was!”
Sapphire heard it all. Ponies in a panic or simply confused about what they’d seen seemed to give all kinds of different accounts. A farmer claimed that he had seen a wolf the size of a bear—a worker at the local tavern said it looked like a bear in and of itself, and one housewife said she had seen a giant snake.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Sapphire bared her teeth slightly as the fifteenth villager she asked described an entirely different animal. “Are you sure you saw—”
“Me eyes don’t lie, lass.” The gruff, brown-furred stallion blinked, then bowed his head. “’Pologies. But I know what I saw. Beast as big as a barn, som’n like a lion even. But none of those ‘round here. Wasn’t a manticore neither, I’da known it if I saw it.”
Sapphire stared at the stallion for a moment, tipping her hat down slightly. “Thank you, then.” She turned herself away from him, and began muttering to herself—even in public, it was a habit she had trouble shaking. “Everypony’s seen something different. Or at least, enough have seen different things. There must me more than one…or…” She paused in the middle of the road, her eyes shifting to scan across the houses lining the dirt path. “…Hm.” Her head flicked back over her shoulder, gazing into the forest to the south of the town. “I need to talk to the mayor…”
Sapphire strolled into the town hall with minimal resistance. Ponies knew who she was; she had no intention of lauding it over them, but it was good that she didn’t have to put up with any hassle. Approaching the mayor’s office, she tapped her metal-clad tail against the door, she observed a plaque attached to it—Mayor Ashen Temper. “Yes?” A voice from inside answered her knock, and she opened the door to see a grizzled, older stallion sitting behind a wooden desk. His fur was an ashy grey, much like his namesake, and his mane was withered and silver. He was clearly quite old—likely a retired miner, she guessed.
“I’m here to see the mayor. I assume that’s you.” Sapphire said blankly.
“Indeed it is.” The mayor’s eyes slowly looked up from his desk, a pair of reading glasses adjusted on his nose to gaze over at Sapphire. “How can I hel-…oh.” Upon seeing Sapphire, his tone went from friendly to a bit more serious—not in the sense that he was upset, she could tell, but rather that he understood her presence was something to take more seriously. “I wasn’t expecting you so soon. Or…only one of you.”
“I don’t like to leave things for long. Trust me, one huntress is more than enough.”
“Mmm.” Ash removed his reading glasses, gently placing them on the desk in front of him. “I’ll take you word for it. Erm…would you like to sit?”
“I’ll stand.” Sapphire approached the desk, her hooves clinking softly against the wooden floor with each step until she stopped in front of him. “I’ve spoken to the townsfolk already. Seems like no one really agrees on what this creature is.”
“Afraid not.” The old stallion lifted a hoof and rubbed at his eyes. “Ugh…the thing’s been so active around here, but…never could pin down what it looked like.”
“And you’re sure it’s one creature?”
“Only ever is.” Ash shrugged tiredly. “One at a time, anyway. Maybe they’re swappin’ out each night, I dunno. All I know is it’s a menace. It doesn’t fill me with confidence that even you don’t know what it—”
“You’ve got an amalgam in the forest.” Sapphire interrupted, her eyes locked firmly on Ashen.
“An- a what?” The mayor blinked, clearly having no idea what that was.
“I’d call it a chimera, but those already exist, albeit in small numbers. Amalgams are far more dangerous.” Sapphire lifted her tail, dragging a piece of paper from under her cloak and placing it on the desk. On it was an image of a creature that was difficult to put into words; limbs of various shapes and sizes were jutting out at odd angles, multiple heads and tails were visible, and multiple of those heads seemed to be contorted and even crying out. “They’re creatures of Tartarus. Least they used to be. Incredibly rare up here, and usually dormant. If they ever get near living creatures though…” Her tail tapped at the image. “They absorb them.”
Ashen looked visibly horrified, and stared at the picture with growing worry. “Are those…” He pointed at a few spots on the creature.
“Ponies, too.” She nodded. “Anything it gets its claws, talons, hooves and paws on. Its only purpose is to assimilate and eventually split into two, and repeat the process. Based on the fact it can still get in through doors, it hasn’t gotten that big yet.”
“Can you even kill that?” He looked up at Sapphire, incredulous. “I mean- no offense but…”
“I’ve killed worse.” Sapphire clicked her tail blade against the desk. “And something like this can’t be left alive. Any semblance of intelligence it might have is overshadowed by the pure devastating consequences of letting it split and reproduce. It dies tonight.”
“I- well- right. Right, of course.” Ash looked back down at the image. “This…this isn’t it, right?”
“No. This is from our books. I’m imagining the one you have is smaller…and weaker. I’ll hope so, anyway.”
“And- well…right. Okay…I’m—” Ashen took in a deep breath and nodded. “What do we need to do?”
“Nothing.” Sapphire picked up the picture, rolled it up and tucked it back under her cloak. “I only need you to tell every resident to stay in their homes, lock their doors and if they can, hide in the basement or the cellar. As long as I catch it, it won’t get into anyone’s houses—but just in case, no one should come outside, regardless of what they hear. Even voices.”
“…Voices?” Ash audibly swallowed. Given his rather large stature, one would assume it took a lot to worry him.
“Amalgams can use the sounds and even voices of the things they absorb. Make no mistake; you cannot bring them back. Any familiar voices anyone hears should be ignored. Got it?” Sapphire raised an eyebrow.
“I’m- right. Of course. I’m sorry, this is just a lot…no traps, no preparation?”
“I don’t work with traps and sneak attacks.” Sapphire shook her head. “The more you plan, the greater the chance you get killed if something goes wrong. You don’t need to do anything except keep to your homes and keep quiet. And…” She paused, tapping her tail against the floor. “I’ll need access to any potion-making materials or herbs your town has. If you have any.”
“We don’t have much, but anything we do have is open to you.” Ashen nodded firmly.
“So, this…Order, is it something anyone can join?”
It was the first time Sapphire could recall the store owner actually speaking to her. As she sat in the middle of the town’s general store, the owner remained behind the counter, watching her work—Sapphire had an assortment of herbs around her, working on grinding several into paste and mixing them with jars of water to make crude potions. No magic went into these; simply herbal effects. Luckily, she didn’t plan on drinking them.
Sapphire looked back at the owner, a young mare with light pink fur and a blonde mane. She was petite compared to the stallions of the town, and still an earth pony. “Not anyone.” She shook her head. “It’s centered in Aurax. You’d have to either be a Dracony or incredibly skilled to get in.” She shook a vial of liquid in front of her, then poured it into another and mixed the two together, forming a vaguely purplish sludge, which she then poured into a small, capsule-sized canister attached to her hoof gauntlets.
“Oh. Right.” The mare went quiet for nearly a full minute before she spoke again. “…Have there ever been ponies in it?”
“A few.” Sapphire nodded. “Not many, but it’s not exceedingly rare.”
A few more moments of silence. “Do they…train you, or do you have to come with training?”
“If you’re asking because you want to join, trust me. You don’t.” Sapphire tapped her tail against a vial of almost neon-green liquid and shook her head. “Only about half of us make it past our first year alone. Granted, if you do, you’re basically set…but I wouldn’t risk it. It’s not the kind of lifestyle you want.”
“Well- I mean, not for me, but- okay…fine, maybe I’m curious. I’m no good at fighting though…” The mare traced her hoof in circles around the countertop with a slight sigh. “I just…really do admire the work you do.”
“Hmh.” Sapphire grunted. Her lack of proper response seemed to mostly end the conversation.
After a few more minutes of preparation, Sapphire stood up from her place on the floor, sweeping the empty vials into her tail and placing them gently on the counter. The neon-green vial she kept on her, nodding to the shopkeep. “Thanks for this. And remember to stay inside, no matter what.”
“I got it!” The mare nodded. “Uh, and- well, good luck. I know this is like, nothing for you, but…”
“Thanks.” Sapphire nodded, stepping away from the counter without another word. She exited the store, shut the door behind her, and waited for the click of the lock before stepping out onto the road. Ponies were hurrying to their homes, making last-minute preparations themselves before locking their doors and, as instructed, turning out their lights. One by one, homes went dark, leaving only a few dimly lit lanterns hanging along the main road to light up the area.
“Hmh. Nothing…” She grimaced. Truth be told, it was certainly not nothing to her. An amalgam was absurdly dangerous—all it took was an unknown venomous snake or even a poisonous insect and she could be killed right away. Amalgams, by their very nature, were mysterious. No two could ever be the same, and she had only fought a single one in her life.
Still, it would have been an overstatement to say she was nervous. Cautious was the right word. Even so, she sat herself down square in the middle of the road, her tail curled around her as she placed the vial in front of her and opened it. The contents sizzled faintly, bubbling with a potent chemical reaction that she promptly dipped the tip of her tail blade directly into. When she pulled it back, it glowed a faint green colour, and dripped with a liquid that hit the ground with a faint fsssh sound.
And then, she closed her eyes, and waited.
Sapphire shut out everything. Everything but the sounds, the vibrations in the ground, and the scents in the air. She ignored the creaking of wood, the wind whistling through her mane, and the idle sounds of nighttime creatures; she sensed only what she had to, and lapsed into a state of concentration.
She heard crickets. Owls. Creatures moving through bushes in the forest.
She smelled dust, metal, wood and a bit of the remnants from whatever foods ponies had been cooking that night.
She felt the ground shifting beneath her, dust and dirt moving with any small twitch her body made.
And then…
Thump thump. Thump. Thump thump thump.
It was a sound that would be imperceptible to one not actively listening for it. The steps were much heavier than a pony’s, and misshapen. One could tell it was a creature walking on more limbs than four, and even those multiple limbs failed to walk in proper unison. Sapphire’s ear twitched, but she didn’t move. Not yet.
“Grrh…rrrrhnn…nnnrrrr…ooourrhhh…”
Her ear twitched again. That was closer than she expected. A hundred metres behind me…her tail shifted slightly, uncurling to straighten out behind her.
“Mmmhhhnnnn…help…meeee…”
Sapphire felt a slight shiver, despite herself. The voice was distinct—it cut through the animalistic grunts and mimicked the voice of what she could only imagine was a resident of the town; a mare, it sounded like. But she knew it wasn’t the mare speaking. The creature itself was the only thing here—anything that was part of it belonged to it, and it alone.
Thump. Thump. Thump thump thump. Thump.
Sapphire lifted her head and looked over her shoulder, finally. Her eyes glinted in the darkness around her, allowing her to see her foe.
The amalgam was all that she expected, and more. She was surprised, ironically, of its uniformity; it appeared far less misshapen than she thought it would be, but this was more of a curse than a blessing. It shuffled down the street on at least six legs belonging to a variety of species, from reptilian to equine, and sported many heads and several tails. One was notably not in fact a tail, but a snake’s head and body—that one, she noted, would be especially problematic if she wasn’t careful.
Sapphire stood upright and turned to face it. She wasn’t often one for sneak attacks and overly complicated strategy. Besides, it had clearly already seen her. Stopping in its tracks, the beast’s ‘main’ head—which appeared to be that of a mutilated hellhound—glared directly at her with piercing, almost fiery orange eyes. From her limited experience with amalgams, she knew that was her target. As robust and defensive as they could be, they still required a central ‘brain’, and it was almost always the most in-control. From the look of it, the other heads were in varying states of pain or frailty, while the hound’s remained expressive and focused.
“Help…mmeeeee…” The creature moaned, this time in a more chilling combination of multiple voices. Sapphire’s eyes narrowed, and she cemented her hooves in the dirt, making it clear she had no intention of falling for it.
Aside from the amalgam’s laboured, rattling breaths, all was quiet. Sapphire didn’t dare move yet. Making the first move against an unpredictable opponent was a death sentence, she knew.
Seconds passed. The amalgam’s head tilted at her, almost as if it was curious. She knew it had no proper intelligence—just a base desire to consume, and the instincts to be able to mimic the sounds of its victims to lure in more. Speaking with it was pointless, so she didn’t waste her breath. Instead, she decided to make a move to distract it without attacking.
With a whip of her tail, Sapphire flung her blade free of its spaded holster and sent it flying through the air. The blade curved to slice through the rope holding the nearby lantern up, knocking it to the ground and shattering it—snuffing out the light in the process. She had no doubt that this beast had some sort of night vision, but the sudden switch from light to dark would give her a precious few seconds to move before it adjusted. As her blade curved back to return to her tail, she heard a great, bellowing roar; one that sent chills down even her spine, echoing with the cries of a dozen different animal species and multiple ponies all at once. It shook the homes around her, and she heard the pounding of limbs against the dirt, charging at her.
Sapphire grimaced. Show time.
As the beast approached, she leapt into the air, her wings flaring out beneath her cloak. She tossed the black garment off in the process, flapping her wings once to throw herself higher and whip her tail out to catch her blade. Instantly it caught her and clasped around the tip, her body rolling once in the air to swing her body around and bring her tail down at the same time.
Her tail hit something, but she wasn’t sure exactly what. Blood spurted out of the creature’s back, and she instantly catapulted herself off of it to keep out of reach when its snake-tail lunged at her, narrowly missing her leg with its fangs. She quickly flipped herself around and propelled herself through the air with her wings, landing on a nearby house and balancing on the top of the roof. Yet even in the seconds she took to stabilize, the amalgam had turned to attack again. As it leapt towards her, she lifted her right foreleg and a small, hidden ‘crossbow’ unlatched, firing out a single small dart that struck the beast in one of its many heads—the affected head bleated out in rage and pain, thrashing about wildly while the beast itself continued its attack.
Sapphire leapt over a swipe of a clawed paw, slashing her tail downwards in one smooth motion to slice the appendage nearly clean off. This was not to be a pretty fight, this much she expected. After jumping back once again, she flipped herself off of the building and dashed back down the road, towards the amalgam before it could move to hit her again.
Sweeping one of its hooved appendages towards her, it failed to connect; Sapphire ducked beneath it, sliding on the ground and stabbing her tail up in the process. She sank it deep into the beast’s flesh, ripping a grand gash down its underbelly but failing to hit anything vital, evidently. Even so, this amalgam was nothing immense; it was much larger than her, but not as large as it could be. She could handle this.
The poison in her blade, mixed with the paralyzing agent in the dart she had fired, was beginning to sink in. An amalgam, she knew, was far more susceptible to these kinds of poisons than many creatures—with so many sections and body parts, it also required multiple of each organ. As a result, poison spread through its body far faster, and already she could see it beginning to slow down. Even so, as she leapt out from under its many tails, she felt it slam two of them down to try and crush her.
It failed. She moved aside and swung her tail up, slicing through the base of the snake’s head—severing it from the amalgam and earning a pained, awful roar. “You think that’s bad?!” Sapphire snarled through clenched teeth. “Your head’s next!”
“RROOAAAAUURRGGHHH!” The amalgam howled, sweeping its whole body low to try and catch Sapphire while the snake’s head flailed and spasmed on the ground. Sapphire tossed herself back, swinging her blade through the air and detaching it from her tail at the apex of her swing. The blade whipped through the air at lightning speed, careening towards the amalgam’s central hellhound-head as Sapphire cried out in turn—in the process of throwing her blade, she had lost balance, and the beast had caught her with one of its talons, stabbing her through the right side.
But her aim was as true as her word—her blade sliced through air like a fish through water, and straight through the hellhound’s skull in a similarly effortless fashion. It cut clean through the amalgam’s central head, the creature’s whole body suddenly seizing up in a violent spasm that rocked through its whole body. Sapphire yanked herself off of its talon, her teeth clenched as a cry of pain hissed through them. It had done its job, though; the amalgam stumbled, staggered, and its legs gave out from under it. It toppled to the side, falling with a heavy THOOM, kicking up clouds of dust and shaking the surrounding houses.
“Easy. Easy…” Sapphire murmured, her hoof reaching down to clutch at the wound in her side. When she brought it back, the metal gauntlet was coated completely in blood—her own, she could safely say. “O…kay…not so…easy…” Her eyes fluttered, vision blurring. “Fuck…”
Her vision went black before she even hit the ground.
When Sapphire awoke, she was in bed.
Not her bed. She wasn’t even wholly sure this was a bedroom. Her eyes fluttered open to see a blank white ceiling, a fan above spinning at an extremely slow speed, but just enough to allow her to refocus her eyesight on it. She could feel fabric rubbing against her side—not to mention a great deal of pain in that region as well. Looking down slowly, she saw her torso was wrapped in bandages, secured around her right foreleg’s shoulder.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
Sapphire’s head turned to the pony beside her. It was Ashen—the mayor himself, apparently, had decided to come visit, which made her think perhaps it hadn’t been very long since the fight. “Mmh.” She grunted softly in response, squinting slightly.
“Apparently you Draconies heal fast, but…that was a nasty gash you got. Kinda surprised that’s all you came outta that with, though.” Ashen rubbed at the back of his neck with a slight chuckle. “You really are something.”
“Don’t need flattery.” Sapphire groaned, pressing her head back against the pillows. “More like elephant tranquilizers…”
“Yeah, the doc said you’d be hurting a while. Almost pierced right through you apparently…he patched you up, though.”
“Tell him thanks.” Sapphire hissed. “Mind if- gods, that hurts.” She shook her head to try and clear the blurriness in her eyes. “Mind if I ask…if that thing’s proper dead…?”
“Hasn’t moved since last night. Unless it’s playin’ the long con, pretty sure you got it. And uh…if you don’t mind me saying, that is…impressive as anything, really.” Ashen reached over to the table beside him, offering Sapphire a glass of water.
She took it, happily, and balanced it on her tail while she took a long, desperate sip. “Good…then that’s taken care of.” She placed the glass down, then returned to staring at the ceiling. “You won’t have to worry about it anymore. Unfortunately…I doubt you’ll be able to recover any remains.”
“I…kinda figured. Still…” Ashen reached behind himself, unhooking a pouch from his hip and holding it in his teeth, muffling his speech slightly. “We owe you. This…we pooled the town’s money together to pay you. Even put in some extra from—”
“Keep it.” Sapphire coughed.
“I’m- wait, what?” Ashen dropped the pouch on the bed next to her. “You sure you ain’t got brain damage too?”
“I said keep it.” She repeated, her eyes darting to lock onto his. “Your payment’s fixing me up. Don’t need any more than that. It’ll be hard enough for you all to clean up the mess, I’m not taking your money.”
“Well that- uh.” The mayor looked flabbergasted. “Are- are you sure? That’s uh…it’s awful kind of you, but you saved us. Seriously, I’d rather you take it…”
“And I’d rather you use it to fix up the town.” Sapphire’s eyes remained fixated entirely on his. “So do that.”
“…Well I uh…” The mayor picked up the pouch and tucked it away again, uncertainly. “If you say so. That’s…very kind of you. But if there’s anything you need, you just let us know, ‘kay? The doc says you ain’t gonna be going anywhere for a few days, minimum.”
“Been through worse.” Sapphire snorted, looking back up at the ceiling. “Don’t owe me a thing. Except maybe some rest.” She sighed.
“Oh, right.” The stallion stood up from his chair, nodding slowly. “I…really do appreciate this though, ma’am. You’ve done more for us than we could ever repay. I just hope you have a good ‘n speedy recovery, and seriously, anything you need, let us know.”
“I’ll take you up on that at some point.” Sapphire groaned. “For now…you just focus on helping the town.” She nodded back at Ashen.
Ashen tipped his head to her, his hooffalls telling her exactly how far he was from her bed, until she heard a door close and his hooves leaving the hallway outside.
Sapphire sighed heavily, laying herself back in the bed completely and shaking her head. “You’re too nice, Sapphire.” She grumbled to herself, shutting her eyes to try and relax.
