That was weird, they just stared at me for a full minute until they decided to invite me in which was weird since I noticed the trick they did jumping over the wall and now they open me up like nothing happened

"Follow me here please and I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave your... escort outside" It seemed difficult for him to find a way to refer to my wolves, obviously he distrusted them, although it didn't matter, I prepared my plan B for that

"Of course, no problem, although don't you think it would be better to accompany me in my carriage to our meeting place?" I tried to sound as elegant and respectful as I could, hoping they wouldn't notice the trap.

Aspen seemed to think about it for a second and then nodded "It will be a pleasure to accompany you" Then she turned to her escort "Brother we will see you at the mansion" Her apparent brother just nodded while giving me a wary look

I moved with a slight bow to let Aspen into the carriage moments when neither her brother nor I broke eye contact I'm not sure what's wrong with her, but I know you're not allowed to show weakness right now, we continue like this until I finally got in and was able to close the car door

The trip was awkward, obviously we both had things to talk about, but nobody knew how to start so I decided to take a chance "I apologize it seems that I forgot to introduce myself I am -"

"It's okay, I know who you are" Although it was rude to interrupt me, I didn't feel aggression, in fact, he always showed me respect for what I didn't think was related to the deaths he caused "It's a pleasure to finally meet you after so long Forest Heart"

I don't understand… Is it custom here or just my luck? first Zecora gives me a name for reasons that when I asked I didn't understand him and now he does the same and I had an incredible one prepared "Of course, I say the same king Aspen" Somehow I didn't let it show

"But I must ask, why did you decide to visit us now?" Suddenly he seemed to tense he didn't even blink

Well here it goes “I… I have come more than anything to apologize” That seemed to take him by surprise, I decided to give him a few seconds to compose himself and continued “I recently came to this earth and when I did I was so disoriented and lost that I did many things. things without really knowing what I was doing, that's why I came to apologize and if it's possible to compensate you for the losses I've caused you"

He froze again, opened and closed his mouth once and kept a thoughtful expression until he composed himself again and adopted a serious pose "I understand" I feel like I came to a conclusion one that was undoubtedly wrong, but for the sake of coexistence I decided to keep silent “There is also something you could help us with”

"For me it will be a pleasure to help in whatever you need" I don't think it's something that difficult, after all how many things can't be solved when you have your own personal army

Hawthorn expected to see many things when the carriage door opened many of them involved him seconds later jumping in ready to impale the demon pony, but in none did he expect to see his brother being the one looking confident and satisfied while the other seemed that he was gasping for breath after choking while trying to swallow the entire contents of a canteen in one gulp

"Good news brother" Not knowing what to say he just stared at his brother "We have gotten the reinforcements we needed for the battle"

"Wait you're not referring to!" He was incredulous, he knew what he was talking about and that's why he had a hard time believing it, he had never in his life dealt with creatures of this class without Equestrian help

"Exactly, the three of us are going to hunt a hydra" Once again he looks at the mare and she returned his look of panic, at that moment he knew that they both thought the same thing 'THIS IS SHIT'

“Tac tac tac ” Apply magic, repeat “Tac tac tac ” Apply magic, repeat, I had already established a rhythm making everything more efficient at the cost of increasing my mental stress

"We finished the preparations, and you?" This stupid deer, I swear if he asks me again, to hell with our deal!

“I don't know, how much would I have left if I told you it would be over in another hour? Oh! how difficult it is to know someone help me! And I said it sarcastically because your brain can't process that either."

"Do you want to fight strawberry ?" The asshole bumped his antlers against my horns and started applying pressure

"Oh color jokes the deer just fell low where I come from we'd gladly kick assholes like you" Don't let me be intimidated and also apply pressure by making him back up a bit

“ Hawthorn enough, you act like a child” Aspen as always voice of reason

"But she started" I couldn't help but roll my eyes, this is my life now, without further ado I decided to go back to work

"How are things with you?" Oh that's all! I'm going to take out the antlers and stick them in- "Oh Aspen, all good this is the last group of timberwolfves , with them ready we can't be more prepared" I told him while I didn't stop carving the new runes as the wolves kept coming

"It's wrong" I had to stop at that

"What do you mean?" Unlike his brother, his tone was never burlesque, so I don't get irritated.

“You're missing the Gebo rune here or else the runes won't be able to work together and the magic in it will block each other” I'm surprised how observant he is for someone who can't use magic

"Wait, are you saying he'll have to do it all over again? I'd rather jump into the Hydra's mouth than keep waiting." This guy... Is it weird that he wants to bite him?

"No one stops you asshole" I ignored the angry look he gave me and continued "Actually that's how it works since I don't have any explosive spells the best I can do is combine the worst set of runes possible" His eyes seemed to shine with delight. comprehension

"You did a doomed spell to fail to get the desired effect." He seemed to hold back a laugh for a second. "If those Canterlot unicorns knew what you've done they'd go crazy."

"Would it bother you?"

"You have no idea for them all magic must be perfectly balanced and in perfect harmony with everything around it" And what I just did is basically a slap in the face, not bad

"Very well" Now I was the one who contained the laugh "And by the way your brother told me that they already finished their part"

He nodded "Yes it is."

"Then we'll do it tonight." We all nodded.

The truth was I was a little terrified, when I offered him my help as compensation I expected him to ask me for favors such as construction, gathering, protection, you know anything that I could order my wolves not to sign up for a freaking Monster Hunter Word type quest, but no there was a way back, besides killing something so great in fact I was very excited

"Have you already decided which one of you will be the one to do it?"

Aspen did not hesitate to step forward, although her brother seemed to have his doubts I am surprised that he remains silent

"I thought your brother would offer himself in your place" In fact, he wanted it that way, he is the king and this is the most dangerous task he should not do and besides, no one would miss the idiot if my wolves were a few seconds late

"You can't, he's not that fast, most likely the hydra will catch him, I'm the only one who can do this"

"Overconfidence kills be careful with that" Obviously protests came

"My brother is not that stupid, everyone here knows that he is the fastest being in the entire forest, no one can compete with the power of his 'flash'"

“Your what?” I don't remember anything like that being mentioned.

"'Flash' is the name of my gift, it is a strange form of racial magic that from time to time only some deer develop their own product of talent and training, mine allows me to infuse myself with the magic of light to become faster"

That was strange, a racial magic that only some of their race possess and each one is different, nothing like that was mentioned in the book, I will investigate it later "And then what is yours?"

"Ha, you'll see it on the battlefield you'll see the difference between us" Once again his idiotic smile adorned his face, I just turned to see his brother who just sighed exhausted

"It's linked with electricity and it's very useful at short distances, you'll see." That sounds very useful indeed. Why am I just learning about this?

“Spoiler brother” That did make me laugh

Hours passed and now we were all in position, me at the ambush point observing everything with my drones, Hawthorn unfortunately by my side and Aspen right in front of the Hydra

“Tac tac ” I had my drone give the 'All Ready' signal and he just nodded but didn't move right away and I couldn't blame him.

I read the bestiary and this thing was more intimidating in person, ten to fifty meters tall, the same almost in any direction thanks to its four long necks, natural armor almost as hard as rock, fangs like swords that would easily disembowel us and finally two legs and a stocky body that would give us our only advantage, speed

That's why it was Aspen of all he was the fastest, he would be the bait

"I don't like this" Hawthorn as usual doesn't help

"If it's any use to me neither, but there's little we can do about it, he's by far the one with the best chance of surviving" He gave us a little demonstration before he left and let me say I'm glad I didn't antagonize him

"I'm only doing this because I trusted him, if this is his plan, everything will surely work out" At that, he can't help but have a little jump of surprise which earned me a doubtful look "Because he designed it, right?"

I didn't say anything, I preferred not to risk screwing up as usual, but as always it wasn't necessary, he just put his paw on my shoulder and forced me to look at him "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"It wasn't your idea, was it?" He had to think of something fast if he does something on his own it could ruin the whole plan

" Ehh " And that was all that came out of my great master mind managed to get

"Shit!" Without further ado, he just jumped and went full speed in the direction of the hydra.

"Where do you think you are going? You're going to ruin the plan!" He didn't answer me, he just continued in the direction of his brother while he was fleeing from a hydra against which he could do little more than serve as an appetizer, he knew he was impulsive, but this is the height of stupidity!

Well, lucky I brought plan B

This thing was terrifying. Why did we have the misfortune that it chose one of our orchards as its new nest? Why did we have to pay for acts committed by others? That and other questions went through my mind, everything to delay what I am about to do, but it would be useless, better to do it now

I slowly approached his blind spot into the headwind as Des bottled my vial and scooped some seeds out of my saddlebag, once I was close enough I activated 'flash'

In a moment I was facing the face of the hydra or one of its faces rather and taking advantage of the initial surprise I quickly bathed the seeds in a few drops of the potion contained in the vial and threw them at them while they grew at an alarming speed and disappeared again with 'flash'

“GRAAA”

I didn't even stop to see how effective my seeds were, I just kept using 'flash' in short bursts I didn't have to look at her to know she was still behind me I could feel the ground shake as she got closer

“ CRACK ”

I spilled a few drops from my vial while running in hopes of slowing him down, but it seems the trees were just in his way.

I had to admit I didn't know if I was going to make it, 'flash' should not be used to travel long distances it exhausts me a lot

“BOOM”

By tartarus ! That was close, a huge trunk passed centimeters from my head preventing me from passing, forget that these things are not as silly as they seem

I quickly turned around only to find one of the heads about to close on me.

“SHANG”

That narrowly dodged! I barely managed to activate 'flash' and I think I lost a few tail hairs anyway, think think! His attack had diverted me from the path and surrounding him was not an option I was already beginning to gasp for air

Deciding to take a chance on a half-hearted plan, I squirted my vial into a nearby tree and half a second later I 'flash' it.

Exactly what I expected happened, the tree grew uncontrollably, enveloping and trying to nail itself to the body of the hydra almost without success, I could only climb it hoping that it would be enough so that it would not bite me.

"SHIII"

Suddenly a shriek so high-pitched that it almost burst my eardrums came from all four heads, ignoring the pain I jumped from the growing trunk to the body of the hydra now static from the pain and slid to the ground, but what tartarus just happened? The wolves shouldn't interfere unless he really had no other options.

"Brother!" Oh no please no "How dare you jump on a hydra like that!" Wait for it "It's my turn!" this idiot

"What are you doing here? We had a plan.” I barely managed to catch my breath to say that.

“'We had' a plan now just changed, we're going to kick this deformed lizard right here”

“GRAAA”

Yes, I certainly hear that

“ CRACK ”

The poor tree was being ripped right out of the ground, in fact I was surprised that it held out that long, maybe standing still in pain allowed the tree to better wrap itself around the hydra

“ CRACK ”

Maybe it was only delaying the inevitable, the tree wouldn't take much longer, but apparently it had already lost patience and decided to attack with its only free limb that could serve it in combat, its tail only moved it in our direction with a speed and mass that could easily they would leave us unrecognizable if it hit us, but I didn't move it didn't have to

"SHING"

In less than a blink my brother reacted and his antlers were wrapped with electricity giving them an incomparable sharpness and increasing their temperature several hundred degrees, all that was enough to tear the hydra meat thanks to the shape of his antlers

From where I was I could see perfectly how the blood spurted out, the scales were torn to pieces and the meat would simply have passed the antlers to the point where I could see the bone, now it was just a hanging piece of meat barely supported by small strips meat and skin

“GRAAA”

The hydra only allowed herself a second of crying until she managed to control herself and jump with uncontrollable rage, breaking her bonds and falling in the direction of the cause of her pain, that's when she activated 'flash' to grab my brother and get him out of there

“BAANG”

By the time the heads made contact they only managed to eat dirt and injure themselves, neither my brother nor I wasted any time watching their stupidity and he immediately jumped onto one of the hydra's legs to cut it where the tendon should be.

"SHING"

But he did not succeed, although the cut did not hurt him deep enough and he only managed to make him angry

The exchange continued like this for a few minutes, my brother slashing and me moving him out of the way while taking him to places where he could easily attack.

"Are you OK?" I asked with the little air I managed to gather in my lungs

“Of course… yes, this… is easy!” He was lying it was obvious even his antlers had trouble staying lit and I wasn't any better, I was sure if I fell down now I wouldn't be able to get up until much later, our attacks weren't enough of course the hydra also looked tired and haggard from all those cuts, but I was far from defeated unlike my brother and I

“GRAAA”

Once again it was about to jump on us, but before my brother and I could move, something got ahead of us and jumped out from between the branches of a large tree and fell on one of the faces of the hydra.

It was a rare timberwolf , it's about time! What took him so long? Ignoring my own questions, I returned to focus on the battle just to see the wolf nail his now stone claw right into the hydra's eye.

It shook like crazy trying to get the wolf off its face without success, it seemed to be holding on from the inside not to fall, I could only imagine how painful this was, but that just seemed to be part of the plan since while the other heads growled due to shared pain the wolves approached them from everywhere, the ground, the tops of the trees, only the sky was free of them as they jumped on her and attacked her as they could focusing mainly on aggravating the wounds caused by my brother, the rest could only scratch its scales

It seemed like he had lost interest in us so my brother and I concentrated on getting our strength back or at least until I noticed a faint greenish glow coming from the wolves.

I turned to see my brother and he looked back at me apparently he had also noticed "H-hey, is it my idea or does it seem that those wolves were going to ex -"

BOOOOM

A wave of green flames consumed the wolves and the hydra completely, but it was not enough there were several hundred wolves there serving as fuel and the more it consumed the more it spread until it reached us, I no longer had the energy to grab my brother and run in the opposite direction, the last thing I saw was a red blur passing by and a rock formation falling on me

THAT WAS CLOSE

This guy is crazy and he ruined everything and I spend so much time pushing rocks into the cliff top only for this asshole to ruin everything... well it wasn't me it was my wolves

“ Hmmmh ”

"What did you say? I don't speak taka taka ” One sentence less to the list

"I said Get off me!" The very imbecile without any care stood up and threw me into the air only for me to fall on my face

I had to wait to get the dirt out of my mouth to be able to speak "Ungrateful, if it wasn't for me now you would be just ashes" Being immune to my own fire is the biggest trap, I could explode anything anywhere and it would be the sole survivor unless of course like now someone uses me as a shield

He just let out a disdainful snort "Yes of course, my brother and I had it under control" After a second of silence his smile disappeared, his ears stuck to his neck and his pupils shrank "WHERE IS MY BROTHER?"

The power of the scream left me static long enough for it to put its hooves on my shoulders and start waving desperately "Y-ya pp-stop"

"Then tell me where it is!" From the little that I managed to see, I only caught his crazy eyes

"Here I am." The faint sound of salvation reached our ears only to kiss the ground a second later as Hawthorn released me.

Slowly my beta got up releasing the deer king, he was also a good shield

"Oh brother, it's good that you are well" I quickly take him without any care and hug him almost taking his eyes out of their sockets

"Yes I am, now someone wants to explain to me what the hell happened?" His face turned serious even Hawthorn looked scared and slowly walked away from his brother.

"I- I well..." He tried to find a justification, but obviously his limited brain capacity prevented him

"He acted on his own and screwed it up" I said it bluntly

"Hey that's not true!" He said so, but his word seemed to be as believable as a three dollar bill.

"There is brother" Aspen said almost desperately, it seems that this situation had been repeated too many times "I apologize for that, but it does not justify that you were so late, any of those attacks could have been the last one"

"The original plan was to use the timberwolves to keep the Hydra on the road or as a distraction not for a direct battle, they were too scattered I had to gather them first or else I would have just finished them off one by one" I also had my doubts about to allow them to approach them once she saw that they could explode, she was smarter than she seemed she had to take advantage of the element of surprise and if for that she had to use the two of them as bait then I can only say sorry, but I don't have to say yes they do not know

"Well, well, do you realize how much of the forest you destroyed?" His look did not lose its severity at any time, I remember well how sacred the forest is to them and I could not help but give him a look, what was once a fertile land full of life was now a blackened wasteland with only inhabitant the trees. carbon

"You were fully aware of the risks of our plan when you accepted it, and must I remind you whose fault it was?" Hawthorn kept giving me hateful looks, but didn't say anything, just hung his head.

"Sorry" Hey! What did you just say?

He just shook his head in disappointment "We'll discuss it when we get home, now we must -"

“GRAAAA”

Great what we needed How is she still alive?! "Ah me and my bocotá" The poor man from Aspen seemed on the verge of depression

Through the dust and large chunks of land blown away, the hydra made itself present once more clearly if it could still be called that, the poor thing had almost no scales, black patches covered all her now exposed flesh, she was breathing with difficulty from three of his heads since one was hanging limply, surely the one that the first wolf had hung on him, parts of him must have exploded inside

"Do you think the original plan still works?" Neither took their eyes off her as we debated our options.

"Lucky if you get him to follow you, I don't understand how he's still standing" I could see his legs tremble, he must have tons of adrenaline not to fall to the pain

“Couldn't we just leave her? I think he already learned his lesson " Hawthorn how innocent

"With that look I doubt it, if they leave her the next time they see her it will be at the door of her village"

Slowly he approached us, I could see the anger, hatred and madness in his eyes he would not stop until one is dead, it makes sense in fact even if he is a distant relative he is still a dragon

“Any plans then?!”

“Only one, plan B!” While I was facing the hydra my beta took Aspen and put him on his back

"But what?"

"You're too tired to help me, you'll just get in the way" He seemed to be in conflict for a second, but unlike his brother he accepted it and pulled the beta's ears and made it march in the opposite direction of the hydra

Did he just tame my beta? I didn't order him to do that "Hey and what about that plan B you brag about so much?" I'll put that off for now focus on the present

"It's on its way. Do you think you can last that long?" I shouldn't have left it in the village

“Ha ha , just ask my ex” This son of a-

“SHANG”

That was close! As soon as I reacted there was no growl or tremor as the head approached, it just jumped on us, if it wasn't for its size I wouldn't have felt it in time

“ btt ”

“SHANG”

And another one! The first one was just distraction, if it wasn't for my drones I wouldn't have seen it "Hey, are you still alive?!" I lost sight of it when the first head fell off and I couldn't focus using my drones

"Of course you thought it would be so easy?!" Demons! I mean, well, the more targets the better.

What followed was a tail flick, I just jumped back, after Hawthorn cut off much of his tail dodging it became easy, but not that easy for him, now that I have his ass in front of me Hawthorn has to deal with all heads, he obviously considered him the more dangerous of the two, I'll show him he's wrong

I focused on my horns and felt them heat up as more energy gathered in them and then I released it.

"SHIII"

The hydra shrieked in pain when my beams hit it, after all even with the inaccuracy of my beams it was impossible to miss hitting such a large target from such close range practically everyone hit the target and add to that the lack of scales and you have devastating damage

Hawthorn did not miss the opportunity and immediately jumped to stab the hydra's torso, the blood came out in seas, without the scales he could only depend on the hardness of his flesh to repel the cuts obviously it did not work, but it was still very big and Hawthorn too small, we could damage it, but not kill it

“GRAA”

As soon as I ran out of magic on my horns the heads of the hydra took notice of me, I think after my last attack it realized that I was the one who skinned it "Shit"

He jumped at me in blind rage, not caring about aggravating the injuries Hawthorn was giving him or smashing the dead head's neck, he just wanted me dead.

Hold your breath and jump to the side managing to dodge the first, the second was already in front of her and exhaled a ball of green fire right into her throat which distracted her enough to dodge by centimeters, how I love that ability

Not a second later the third one from above appeared, I was ready to launch more lightning, but to my surprise this one was the easiest to dodge I would even say it was slow. Was it getting better or was it getting tired?

That was the head closest to me so I didn't lose sight of it, surely it would try a second attack, but it didn't move, it didn't do anything, it just stood there with a lost look and its tongue hanging out... "Huh?"

“ Btttttt ”

By the time I understood what was happening it was already too late, it was only thanks to my drones that I managed to see the real third attack, the damn thing had thrown the dead head at me to confuse me and it worked, now I could only see how the big jaw was serrated about me

The first thing that brought me back to reality was a puncture in my side, second the way the ground moved away without me doing anything "AAHHHHH AHHH" The pain was immense, the only thing I could do was use my hooves to prevent it from closing completely and although I had subconsciously activated my telekinesis to help me keep it open, even though I was already halfway there

I began to feel a thick liquid fill my mouth, I heard my bones creaking, the tears blurring my vision, I was not going to last much longer, I was going to die

NO NO NO NO NO MADITASEA, DO SOMETHING!

I didn't say it with anything in mind, just with pure desperation, but luckily my request was answered.

A massive rock chariot crashed into the hydra as one side shattered and reformed into a claw that caught the hydra's head, jamming its claws into the edge of its jaws preventing it from closing.

The rest of the hydra attacked the car as best it could, but the car didn't seem to notice it since every part of itself that reformed was used to prevent its mouth from closing, in fact, it had accidentally helped it transform faster

The pieces of the car that were torn off and discarded quickly began to float and join together, returning him to his true form, a modified alpha .

“GRAA”

As soon as he finished forming he gave a yell of challenge to the hydra while using both claws to force it to open its mouth and finally free me.

I fell uncontrollably, I was in no condition to do anything but prepare myself for the crash... but it wasn't like that, instead I felt something soft, soft compared to the floor because as soon as I fell I had to spit out a stream of blood with which I almost drowned

"I can't believe you're alive!" Hearing that annoying voice was never so nice

I didn't know what was happening just that we were moving, everything was blurry, from time to time I heard the blows of the battle of giants, but I had no idea who was winning

"By the heart- I mean for you- I mean, you know forget it and let me see that wound!" That was Aspen's voice, I didn't even bother to make sense of what she was trying to say, I just wanted the pain to stop.

“Did they poison her?” What? With the little strength I had left I turned to see what he meant until I saw it, my entire wound was covered by a black liquid, but I didn't panic, I had already seen it in one place and to check my theory I passed my helmet over my mouth and this one was also male of black liquid or better said manticore blood, my blood... I would be fascinated if I wasn't bleeding, now that I think about it in my time here I never got to suffer a wound that made me bleed I guess it's normal that he didn't notice

While I was rambling Aspen was tending to my wound and saying things something about going into shock, I don't know, my attention was on the fight I didn't know what to say it seemed pretty even, normally it would be an easy win for the hydra, but the way I was now

The hydra attacked with all three heads at the same time, the alpha instead of dodging hit one of them, letting the rest hit him, one buried its claws disfiguring his face and the other that bit him on the shoulder returned the bite, He immediately let go and tried to go back, but the alpha grabbed the inert head taking advantage of the fact that it was the only part that could not move and forced it to stay still while he turned on himself and hit it with his tail that I had turned into a ball of demolition

"He brought that thing into our village?!" He didn't even know whose voice it was anymore, he just knew that, although the alpha seemed to have the upper hand, that was mostly because of his aggressive approach, various parts of his armor no longer rebuilt and without it he would just be a bunch of twigs, something. that the hydra already demonstrated that it was an expert in destroying

Although now that I think about it… I took a look at the vial on Aspen's chest and then at the beta that was a few steps away from us… it's still a plant right?

"Hears!" Again I didn't pay attention to what they were saying and I made the vial levitate to the beta's mouth as soon as it entered he ran towards the hydra, as if he had given instructions to the alpha he knew immediately what he had to do and he left attack by the hydra so he could hug her and keep her as still as he could, the beta didn't waste the opportunity and jumped into one of the bigger wounds caused by Hawthorn and got in as far as he could, it was a horrible sight to see, but I didn't take it away the eyes above

“ GRAAARRRaaaaarr ”

The hydra began to move like crazy trying to free itself, but it was useless soon its movements became slower and its growls watery while liters and liters of blood came out of their mouths, I honestly expected something more -

“SHIIIIG”

A disgusting sound like cloth when it is torn sounded when huge raises came out from inside his body forming a bloody tree that did not stop growing I did not have time to see it end when I felt myself being lifted and we began to move and only then the pain stopped and I was able to sleep in peace.

Author's Note

Proofread and edited by Underrated Drake