Primal Nature

It was a normal day in the esteemed city of Canterlot; the majestic marble buildings that lined the streets of the capital, that sat proudly atop a mountainous cliff, shone a bright white with reflected light. Spires of gold sparkled brilliantly in the midday Sun; decadent creations born from countless centuries of flourishing peace. The entitled citizens, nobleponies especially so, went about their day with traditional flamboyance, garbed in fashionable headwear and the occasional waistcoat. Unicorns were far more common in the regal city than elsewhere in Equestria, as many of the upper-crust of Canterlot high society were descended from Princess Platinum, ancient leader of the Unicorn tribe before the founding of Equestria. At the centre of this city sat Canterlot Castle: the home of the Royal family. Put simply, it was a sight unlike any other, with countless spiralling towers of gold and marble, and the beautiful stained glass windows depicting significant events in Equestrian history decorating the throne room. It was truly a work of art in and of itself.

Outside the colossal golden gates, flanked by the white stallions of the Royal Guard, that stood at the entrance to the Castle, Magister Twilight Sparkle popped into existence with a bright flash of magic. The guards, accustomed to Twilight and her teleportation by this point, hardly flinched before smiling warmly at her in welcome… smiles that suddenly dropped after they laid eyes on the lavender mare's battered and burnt form, hunched over and breathing heavily with fatigue as the adrenaline left her body. They immediately leapt forward to assist, carrying the unicorn into the Castle, where an azure alicorn picked up and carried Twilight's unconscious body up to her chambers with the blue glow of her magic. Servants and guards shot the pair anxious  and frightened looks as they hurried through the winding corridors of the castle, no doubt wondering why the Lunar Princess was carrying the beaten Grand Vizier in such a hurried manner. Whatever the reason, it probably wasn't good, since Princess Celestia was rumoured to have had an attempt on her life barely an hour earlier.

Upon reaching the oak doors of the Magister's chambers, the princess blew them open and settled Twilight on top of her bed in a smooth flexing of arcane might. Twilight exhaled calmly once her head reclined into her sinfully comfortable pillows (enchanted with the same incantation as the seat of Celestia's throne: even a princess' backside needed some TLC now and again) and turned her head slightly to take in her friend/mentor's worried face. Noting that the Moon Goddess was likely to start panicking or plotting her righteous vengeance any second now, the purple unicorn smiled soothingly, if a little shakily. The simple act made Princess Luna's expression visibly relax, but she was still clearly on edge.

"I assume, by your unorthodox arrival, that my sister's errand did not quite go as planned…?" she asked tentatively.

Twilight looked up thoughtfully for a moment. "Actually, it went about as well as predicted. Trouble just seems to gravitate towards me sometimes," she put on a false smug look. "Perhaps it's because of my tragically enormous brain?" she added jokingly.

Luna rolled her teal eyes, but the edges of her mouth curled upwards into a smile at the attempt at humour. "Oh, of course. I'm surprised you ever get attacked by anything nowadays; I'd have thought that any monster or would-be assassin would flee with their tails between their legs after seeing your almost planet-sized ego." Both mares laughed at that.

Luna's smile hardened into a frown and her eyes grew serious as she cleared her throat. "Now, I realise that you're unfit to do much more than rest and heal right now, but an incident occurred here in the Castle an hour or so before you returned. Before you ask, no, I won't divulge information about it to you at the moment, as it would only give you something else to worry about. However, I would like to know what happened in the Everfree that did…" she gestured with a hoof to her numerous cuts and bruises. "… this, to you. Is that an acid burn?"

Twilight, who had been listening intently despite her exhaustion, nodded slowly. "Alright, I can do that. It started, as you probably know already, when Celestia came into my office yesterday with an errand for me…" The purple mare went on to recount her experiences in the Everfree Forest, all the way up to the magical explosion, when the Royal physician rapped loudly on the chamber doors. Luna, who had been listening with rapt attention to Twilight's tale, jumped at the sudden noise.

"Oh! Somepony must have requested for a doctor," the Lunar Diarch smiled bashfully, cheeks reddening slightly. "Like I should probably have done before I rushed you here…" Twilight suppressed a giggle: Luna can be so adorable sometimes, she thought. "Anyway, I leave you in the doctor's trustworthy hooves for now, my friend." Luna turned and trotted to the door.

"Wait," Twilight said. Luna stopped and turned to look at the Magister, now sitting up in her bed, curiously. "What happened to Celestia? Don't try and hide it, I know something's wrong. Is it related to this "mysterious incident" you mentioned?" Luna's eyes widened as Twilight spoke, before setting her mouth in a grim line.

"Who told you? Was it one of the guards? I ORDERED them NOT to let you know about it! Was it Smoking Crater? That insubordinate little-"

"Stop." Luna's mouth shut closed with an audible click at the Vizier's commanding tone. "Nopony told me anything. Every time I mentioned Celestia's name, your eyes narrowed slightly and your lips tightened, suggesting worry or anxiety. I was going to let that slide, but when I told you about the Flare, you flinched. Luna. What happened?"

Princess Luna regarded the purple mare. Her eyes were focused and calculating, completely different to her previously bright and open look. Her demeanour had shifted slightly too: where the unicorn was previously laid-back (well, as laid-back as the pedantic purple pony could get, at least), now she was leaning forward and intense. Resolute. Luna was no longer beholding Twilight Sparkle, the bright and inquisitive student; this unicorn before her was the third most powerful pony, politically and magically, in Equestria, only surpassed, on both counts, by the diarchs and only two remaining Alicorns alive: Princesses Luna and Celestia themselves. The pony in the bed was Lady Twilight Sparkle, Magister and Grand Vizier to the throne, and she was an opponent like no other.

"I… Please, Twilight. Don't get worked up over this. I promise I'll tell you everything I know later, but just calm down and let your magic regenerate for now," Luna slowly walked back to the bed as she spoke, her tone and eyes pleading for her friend to listen. "I know you mean well, but… please? For me?"

Twilight regarded Luna with her cold eyes, before closing them and exhaling slowly. When she opened her eyes again, the cool intensity had been replaced with their usual warm brightness. "I-I'm sorry, Luna. I just feel so useless right now. My best friend is worrying about me when her sister is probably in an even worse situation. I don't deserve your kindness, Princess, you should just send me back to Ponyville, I'm sure Celestia wouldn't mind, I haven't been meeting her expec-" Twilight was cut off mid-ramble when two hooves and a pair of beautifully soft wings wrapped her up in a hug.

"Twilight, NEVER think like that again. Celestia and I both trust you with our lives, an honour reserved for only a hoofful of ponies in our long existence. I will be back later, I promise you," Luna pulled back from the hug and smiled softly at her blushing friend. "Why don't you read a book or something? Research that thing you were working on. Uhh, what was it again…?"

Twilight grinned with her typical enthusiasm. "Oh, I was expanding on my previous studies into magic styles. I was wondering if it was possible to reliably mix two or more styles together without it resulting in a explosive reaction…" Luna suppressed a giggle: Twilight can be so adorable sometimes, she mused, as Twilight entered her infamous lecture mode. An even more impatient knock on the door snapped them both back to reality.

"Oops, it seems we left the good doctor waiting for too long. Goodbye for now, Twilight!" Luna hurried over to the door, pulled in a startled doctor and trotted hurriedly away down the corridor. Twilight watched the new arrival with some amusement as he blinked and looked around at his new arrivals, not quite comprehending what just happened. He eventually realised he wasn't alone in the room, and walked over to the purple unicorn in her bed. "Ok, my lady, my name is- Hey, wait, are those… acid burns?"

Twilight glared at the oily salve on her forelegs; she knew it was meant to heal the wounds that she received from the Chimera's tail, but that didn't stop it feeling so odd on her fur. "Stupid highly-corrosive acid breath…" she muttered under her breath. She hadn't actually divulged the specific cause of the wound to the doctor, instead coming up with a believable half-truth: "I went into the Everfree forest. Weird stuff happens in there." The Magister's eyes drifted down her foreleg and rested on the fresh bandage that hid a large gash, courtesy of the Chimera's lion paw. Yep, weird stuff does indeed happen in the Everfree forest, Twilight thought bitterly. She sighed and stopped poking at her numerous sore spots, instead glancing idly around her room while she thought of something to occupy herself with until Luna's return. Her bedchambers weren't as grand as the princesses, but that was mostly due to personal preference, as her status was probably enough to net her a room that dwarfed her old library in Ponyville; even after she informed the castle staff that she'd rather her room was simple, it was still quite imposing.

The ceiling seemed to stretch upwards quite a ways, despite assurances that it was only half the height of some of the other rooms in the castle, and extravagant gold ornaments decorated the walls and furniture. Sat in front of the enormous fireplace were a few cushions; perfect for curling up with a book on, as Twilight had discovered. Instead of a window, Twilight's chambers had a balcony that offered an excellent view of Canterlot, upon which sat her trusty telescope, and rather than a wall, she had a bookshelf that had already proved to be woefully inadequate for the  bibliophile. She found a way however, namely an incantation that allowed her to "layer" additional bookshelves atop the installed one, and anyone could switch the layer that was present in the occupied dimensional space with ease: essentially condensing an entire library into one bookshelf. The whole system was kept working with a spell nexus she had etched into each separate shelf, along with a corresponding volume of magical  batteries that each stored enough power to keep it going for years without recharging. Twilight was pretty smug about the fact that one of the most masterful magical mechanisms in Equestria was designed purely to ensure she had enough reading material to keep her from going mad with boredom, but Twilight was a professional; she was only smug with visitors.

Twilight eventually decided that some pleasure-studying wouldn't go amiss, and swiftly recalled her brief, yet intense, skirmish with the Chimera. She had been missing some information from her Hall of Knowledge, AKA her brain, a dilemma that needed to be resolved right away. Feeling that her magical power was already beginning to recover after her short battle and huge teleportation leap directly to Canterlot Castle, Twilight reached out with her telekinesis to her inter-dimensional bookcase, flipped through a few layers, then pulled out the book she was looking for: The Eldritch Compendium: Everfree Edition, the one book she probably should have taken with her when she went on her perilous journey, in hindsight. Flicking through pages rapidly and expertly with her magic, she quickly found the section describing the legendary Chimera. Unfortunately, as with all semi-mythical creatures, the details were very vague: it's physical appearance is described as having 2, 3, 4 or more different parts and being anywhere from pony-sized to the dimensions of a multiple-storey building. It abilities were conflicting as well, stating that it could breathe fire, frost, acid, lightning, steam, or a mix of all or some of them. There was nothing about it's specific nature, origin, modus operandi or biology, nor were there any strategies to employ when fighting one. There was only a sliver of relevant information she could glean from the tome, and that was about how the Chimera and it's brethren were wiped off the face of the planet by Princess Celestia and her most powerful spell: Sol Invictus. Twilight shivered when she saw the name. She knew the effects of the Unconquered Sun more than any other pony alive, princesses excluded, and couldn't think of any real scenario where that much force would be necessary, except for warfare; a concept as alien to ponykind as a dictionary to Rainbow Dash.

Twilight shook these stray thoughts from her mind and glared at the useless compendium. How did something like this even get PUBLISHED? she seethed. Bitter at the waste of time reading it had been, she hurled it at the wall. Twilight slumped back down into her bed for a minute, then immediately sat bolt upright again. In all her 25 years of life, Twilight Sparkle had never purposefully damaged a book. Not once. Not even when the book was filthy, offensive, badly-written or just plain bad; she simply never felt the need. Am I really that wound up right now? Sheesh, Luna was right when she told me I needed to relax… Twilight thought, unnerved slightly as she returned the book, thankfully not too badly harmed, from the floor to it's rightful place on her quantum bookshelf.

Twilight Sparkle couldn't relax after that, however. As much as she dismissed it, she couldn't shake the feeling that, just before her outburst, she heard a voice.

Deep, deep in the Everfree forest, a colossal fusion of lion, goat and serpent was on a rampage. Bolts of magical lightning arced and split the air while trees dissolved into liquid. The local fauna fled in every direction in sheer terror, but most were torn apart and devoured by Lion's razor-toothed maw. The taste of the raw flesh and the exhilaration of the devastation fed their anger at being defeated by that purple pony. She wasn't even using her full strength, and they still fell to her craftiness. But the pony could not escape their wrath again, even when she vanishes with the bright light. Serpent had  tracked her scent, Goat had felt her magic, and Lion had tasted her blood. All three minds relished the thought of facing the pony in battle again, and showing her true fear. Goat offered up a name for the pony. She was the colour of the light between the burning Day and freezing Night, and the snatches of thought she revealed to them during their brief imprisonment had given them a word…

Snake and Goat sensed another predator, one that dwarfed them in size. Turning, Lion saw a Bear of Stars. It was huge, but size was not a factor to the Chimera: the Star-Bear before them was a youngling, and it would pay for it's brash foolhardiness. Goat propelled them forwards with it's powerful hindlegs, bringing Lion in close enough to bite deep into the Ursa Minor's neck and slash at its eyes with his serrated claws. The cry of pain and fury that came from their opponent's mouth brought the Chimera immense satisfaction, even as they were thrown off. Twisting in the air, they landed on all fours, just as the Ursa charged forward to attack again. Lion and Goat worked in unison, shifting their weight to Lion's half and spinning around so that Goat's cloven hooves were aimed directly at the magical monster's snarling head. When Serpent, who had the perfect angle to watch the approaching cosmic beast's lumbering approach, gave the signal, the Chimera kicked out with incredible strength and precision, bucking the Star-Bear right in it's face. As it reeled back in pain and surprise, Serpent shot out like a bullet and sprayed his corrosive breath directly into it's open mouth, with a brutally satisfying result. The Ursa fell to the ground and clutched at its head and neck, gurgling in pain from the assault. Lion looked down on it with disdain, for the powerful magic that formed its bloodless body sustained its life. It was pitiful.

The three worked in tandem for the finishing blow: acting on their newly-awakened instincts, the draconic Serpent conjured a small spark in their body, which Goat fuelled with his magic, creating an internal firestorm. Lion felt the power, and he commanded it. Opening his jaw wide open at the Star-Beast, flame billowed from his maw and incinerated the arcane monstrosity alive. It's screams were drowned out by both the forest fire and the Chimera's bleating roar.

The Chimera was awakened, and only two thoughts ran through their intertwined minds: The name of the pony that disgraced them, Twilight, and an image of a small frontier settlement located at the edge of the Forest. The one that Twilight had feared they would destroy.

We will draw you out, Twilight Sparkle, and we will see who is the predator…       and who is the prey.