NaNo2014: Shadows of Friendship: Part 22

((Second update today, yesterday's writing went up @ 1:20am or around there...))

“But...” Further discussion was cut off by the bird swooping in for another attempt. Twilight heard Fluttershy yelp and Applejack snap, “No yer don’t, yer feathered menace!” before there was sound of hooves connecting with something hard.

With a painful screech the bird went tumbling down the ledge, nearly hitting Twilight on its way down and fell further again, below the fog line. The unicorn peered over the edge, trying to see it but there was too much mist in the way for her to see what had happened.

“Twilight? Yer okay?” Applejack bellowed down to her, sounding worried. “Where’re ya?”

Twilight thought for a moment then sent up a flare of light, an emergency beacon that had been the first thing that Celestia had ever taught her, just in case something happened. At the time she had not seen the use for it, but now, with her friends out of sight, she recognised that it would help.

The burst of purple light that her power manifested bathed the area in a slightly eerie glow, but allowed the ponies on the trail to see each other. Pinkie Pie waved down to Twilight who could not help but smile ruefully and wave back.

Applejack started tying her rope around herself as Twilight tried to work out how far up the side of the cliff she could get via her ledge. The answer was not very far and the unicorn let out a frustrated huff. She had been learning a teleportation spell when Celestia had stopped her studies for the holiday and she was not sure how confident she was that she would be able to cast it and not put herself a couple of foot to the left or right. Appearing in the middle of the rock face would be a gruesome way to go and would not aid anyone and placing herself in midair would be just as bad.

Twilight’s train of thoughts derailed when Applejack threw the other end of the rope down to her. “Tie it roun’ yerself.” The earth pony filly called down, “I’ll pull ya up.”

Twilight was not too sure about it. She knew Applejack was supposedly very strong, Pinkie had mentioned her strength being impressive several times and part of being an earth pony was being stronger than the other two types, but she was not sure that it would be enough to manage her weight. Still she followed direction, trusting her friend and let out a startled yelp as her hooves left the floor.

She was a few yards off of being safely on the higher ledge when there was a deafening screech and the bird was on them, seizing the rope and dragging both Twilight and Applejack into the air. Neither pony knew what to do as they were pulled higher and higher into the air, easily losing their other friends in the fog. The only one that managed to keep up with the bird was Rainbow Dash and even she struggled a little with her injuries.

Twilight kind of wanted to demand that the bird put them down, but she had no idea how far it was to the floor below and she did not have wings. Her Alicorn form did but she did not know how to cause the change and she refused to risk another pony’s life on a whim. Applejack seemed to be of a similar mind as she remained silent right up until they passed a ridge and the bird let go, dropping them both. They only fell a foot before they connected with solid ground, but it felt like a blessing to both ground bound ponies. A tainted one as the huge bird landed in front of the and squawked at them furiously, pecking at the air just in front of them, but a blessing none the less.

“What is tha’ bird?” Applejack asked as she narrowly avoided being pierced by the huge beak, which snapped the rope connecting the two ponies.

Twilight laughed, a nervous, slightly hysterical laugh as she realised she did not know. Once again she did not know something important. This whole day so far had been full of things she did not know or could not remember and she was going a little bit crazy because of it. She was the one with the answers, she never ever either did not have answers or could not find them out. “I don’t know, I really don’t know...”

“I do.” Rainbow called as she hovered between Applejack and Twilight, glaring at the huge clearly carnivorous bird before her, “It’s a winged-beast. A duel monster, just like those Silver Fang. Must be the third task.”

They did not have a chance to discuss further as the duel monster in question took off, the down draft nearly knocking both non-winged ponies off of the ridge and sending Rainbow Dash tumbling through the air. Twilight saved her from being pierced by the sharp beak of the worrying quick, but not very agile bird by blasting the winged-beast with a bolt of her magic. It let out a screech and tumbled a few feet and by the time it had righted itself, so had Rainbow.

The pale blue pegasus swooped over the heads of Applejack and Twilight as she tried to row for height, only to find that she did not have the strength left in her to manage more than a few yards higher. That was fine though as Applejack managed to tie the cut rope together and make a lasso that she used to catch one of the creature’s legs as it chased her. Twilight grabbed her as she started sliding forward and tried to prevent the bird taking off with them holding onto the rope by conjuring a heavy weight that she tied to the end with her magic. It helped a little, giving Rainbow a chance to buck the bird in one of its eyes, causing it to let out an agonised screech and lash out at everything in range. The rope snapped again and both earth pony and unicorn went tumbling as the now half-blind duel monster tried to eat Rainbow.

The pegasus was no foal and knew she could not outrun the bird as she was. Instead she took cover in a narrow cave that provided enough cover that the winged-beast would not be able to get her.

“Hey!” Twilight yelled, casting another beam at the duel monster and fumbling for her deck, aware of at least one thing within it that could fly, “Leave her alone!”

“I think yer made it mad.” Applejack commented nervously as its head snapped around and it narrowed its one good eye at them, as if deciding that it really did not like them and they looked tasty. The screech it let out as it turned towards them, deciding to come back for Rainbow Dash, was deafening and all three ponies covered their ears with their hooves to try and block out the high pitched squawk. 

That gave the bird the opening it needed, allowing it to rake the ridge and seize Twilight in its talons. The unicorn let out a terrified and pained cry as she was once again wrenched from the solid ground, this time crushed in a painfully tight grip.

This was it. She had not only failed to beat Nightmare Moon’s trials, not only failed Princess Celestia when she had been counting on her, but she was going to die here. She could not breathe with the talons squeezing her so hard and even if she could, the fall when the bird dropped her would kill her.

“Hey!” Twilight let out a sharp squeak as Fluttershy of all ponies flew up in the bird’s face. She could not see what was going on, but she could hear that the normally placid and sweet pegasus was furious, “You do not hurt my friends!”

The winged-beast hovered in place, its grip loosening slightly as it squawked at her furiously.

“No. You put her down right now!” Fluttershy snapped, her tone sharp and stern. Twilight could almost imagine her pointing at the ground with her hoof.  

The bird shook its great head and yet its grip loosened again and Twilight found herself having to adjust herself so she did not slip between the claws and fall to her doom.

“Put. Her. Down.” Fluttershy demanded again. The unicorn was stunned as the bird actually chirped, the tone sounding apologetic as it moved towards the rock below. Fluttershy descended with it, moving into Twilight’s field of vision and look she was giving the creature explained its sudden obedience. Twilight herself would not want to disobey the pegasus if she was looking at her the way she was staring at the winged-beast.

It slowly and carefully released Twilight onto the ground and bowed its head apologetically before taking off, the down beat blowing everyone back as it took off into the sky. Twilight was surprised to see a rather frazzled looking Rarity and a slightly less bouncy than normal Pinkie Pie were there too.

Crystal Compass Book 1: Part 13: July 2014 Camp NaNo

She was just rolling through town when she spotted something moving by the home of one of the children she had earmarked as a possible target. She turned her headlights onto the moving shadow to try and get a better look at what it was.

She swiftly wished she had not.

It was just as Clara had described and yet so much worse. The almost skeletal figure was hunched at a grotesque angle, seeming to be almost bent double. The grey, clammy, dead seeming skin was decaying away, revealing dying flesh and rotten organs underneath, blood oozing slowly from each and every hole, dripping onto the pavement and leaving a trail that Twilight knew no mortal who could not see like she could would notice. Bloodstains made their way up its arms, at the end of which were claw like fingers. It turned and glared at her with its burning blood red eyes and Twilight froze up in terror as it smirked at her, its sharp, vicious looking teeth bared.

Twilight fumbled for her crossbow, remembering too late that she had no bolts for it and had left it behind. The creature turned away and leapt with astounding agility up to a child’s bedroom window and slowly opened it, using its long fingers as a lever to prise it open. Twilight cussed and snatched up a rock and threw it at the beast before scrambling for a nearby, rather hefty looking branch she could use as a weapon, wondering what the hell she had been thinking in going after any old bogeyman without a weapon. Especially when this monster was roaming around.

She did not get the chance to snatch it up. The creature was on her in a heartbeat, slashing at her with its claws. The shockingly sharp talons pierced not only her bike leathers, but the clothes and skin underneath. Twilight let out a pained yelp which was swiftly cut off when she was knocked off of her feet and her head slammed into the pavement, knocking her partially senseless.

The creature stalked forward with a low, vindictive chuckle as Twilight moaned and tried to push herself upright, pushing her back down with a foot and pinning her to the floor. Twilight feebly struggled as the creature leered down at her, increasing the pressure on her chest, causing her to scream in pain as her ribs started to creak and crack at the weight.

“Little Havenkeeper, I remember you.” The creature hissed, seeming amused, “Your grandmother kept this town from me, rescued you from my clutches when your mother brought you to town. Shame you won’t live to do the same.”

“K...Kill me,” Twilight stammered out, crying out in pain as he kept increasing the pressure, “And you’ll bring t...the entire Compass d...down on your head!”

“They’re too busy to really pay attention to what I’m up to.” The creature smirked back, “Besides none of them could hope to defeat me.”

The first part was probably true. He had hurt her, had probably hurt Mikey. The Wrath of the Seasons should have activated for the nearest Crystal Compass immortal. That none had shown up told Twilight that she was, terrifyingly, alone.

“Y...You’re just a bogeyman.” Twilight retorted, trying to throw him off balance as she grabbed for something, anything, that she could use to defend herself and finding a sharp stick. “I’m not afraid of you!”

She jammed the sharp stick through paper thin flesh, into the ankle of the foot pinning her. The creature howled in pain and backed off, giving Twilight the chance to get to her feet. She took it, rolling onto her side and pushing herself up as she tried to ignore the way her world was swimming nauseatingly.

She stumbled towards her bike, intending to run the thing over, only for him to grab her hair and pull her back. She tripped, losing her balance, only to crash into the creature. It slammed her into the nearest wall, holding her there by the throat, its long fingers wrapping tightly around her neck and its claws cutting in, leaving trails which oozed blood that, thankfully were not deep enough to kill. Not that Twilight appreciated it as she struggled to breathe past his hand, trying to pull his hand away from her neck.

“You should be, little Havenkeeper.” The creature growled at her, though she had trouble hearing it over the sound of her own heartbeat pounding in her ears, “I’m not A bogeyman, I’m THE Bogeyman, the one all the others answer to, the one who created them in his image. I’m the King of Fear, Bloody Bones. Not that you’ll get to tell anyone.” He squeezed tighter and drove his other hand through Twilight’s stomach, just below her ribcage.

The scream of agony she wanted to let out caught in her throat and Twilight’s world whited out for a moment. When she came back to herself, the creature had let go and was being chased away by an eight foot long, panther like tabby cat.

“K...Kuma.” Twilight called feebly, beginning to slip again as the creature vanished into the shadows, seeming to use it to teleport away.

The feline returned to her side, concern obvious as it nuzzled her. “Use your bracelet.” The cat demon told her, “I’ll get you mortal help.”

“But...busy...” The librarian managed as Kuma transformed into her human form and rummaged through her pockets until she could find Twilight’s phone.

“This is more important than Handover.” The nekomata hissed at her, her voice unchanged from one form to the next, “Use the damn bracelet.”

Twilight stared at the item in question blankly. The silver bracelet had been a present from Jack and Nowell. It was enchanted to allow her to call them when she needed them. She did now. She really did. But it was Handover. They had jobs to do. But whatever Bloody Bones was, she was never going to defeat it alone.

She made up her mind just before her world gave way to total darkness and whispered just one word, the one word that would bring her friend to her.

“Help.”

Crystal Compass Book 1: Part 11: July Camp NaNo 2014

“The King is not seeing anyone.” Clara huffed, sounding exasperated, “Not even the Lords and Ladies who rule over the subcultures of his Kingdom. He has no time, apparently, to deal with ‘such petty concerns,’ despite our best attempts to make him understand the situation.”

“Do you want me to seek the creature out and...”

“No!” Nadia shook her head violently, “Do not, Miss Twilight. This is our affair to deal with and you are mortal, you break far too easily. The Crystal Compass would not be pleased if we let a Havenkeeper get hurt. They like the fae little enough as it is. If you try, I will send even you around in circles!”

Twlight tried not to be insulted, she really did. It was a valid concern. Jack was known for his playful nature, but he was also known as the ‘Harbinger of the Winter Storm’ as he had, on more than one occasion been gifted with the ‘Wrath’ of Winter as he had been the closest Immortal of the Crystal Compass on hand when something non-mortal had been preying on those of mortal persuasion.

However she was honestly getting a little sick and tired of the ‘you’re only mortal’ issue. She fought monsters and magic on a regular basis in order to protect her little Haven. She had been at Jack’s side through several incidents and helped him all the way. She was not as useless as everyone seemed to believe. To hear even Nadia, who had seen and assisted in the take down of some of the recent non-friendly’s come out with it was exasperating.

“Fine.” She shrugged anyway, trying not to show her frustration, “I just came up to ask a favour. People are going to be searching for that missing kid again, can you grant them safe passage through your forest, please?”

“I don’t see why we should.” Clara grumbled, “My home is my home, you would not let people traverse your garden however and whenever they like!”

“I’m a Havenkeeper, remember?” Twilight reminded her with a chuckle. “Non-mortals traverse my lands all the time.”

“You’re a rare, almost extinct breed,” Nadia sighed, “I can tell you now that the child does not take shelter amongst the trees of my forest, Twilight, my people have told me such. At least the ones who can currently reach their trees have. So there is no need for the search to continue within the confines of our lands.”

Twilight grimaced at that. It meant that Mikey had obviously either gone in a completely different direction or was within the dark spot of the forest. However if Nadia kept her word and she would, the librarian knew, there was no way for her to get there to find out.

“I wish I could inform the searchers of that, but they would never believe me.” Twilight tried, “You can keep them away from that dark zone, if you wish, but the sooner they think they’ve traversed the whole area, the sooner they’ll leave you alone.”

“Fine.” Nadia huffed as Clara moved from Twilight’s shoulder to hers, nodding irritably, “But only because you asked and only until they are done with the search. Then the forest will not let them in so easily.”

“Thank you.” The student grinned at the pair of them, “You’re the best.”

“We know.” Twilight could barely hear Clara from just a few feet away, but she caught the tiny fairy Queen’s comment and laughed as she headed back to her bike.

One brief call to Detective Ley later to tell her that the dryads reported that Mikey was not in the forest, she finally got on the road, trying not to feel really weird that she had just reported something a member of the fae had told her to a detective. The trip to Plymouth was relatively quick once she actually left the dirt track. Though it took her an hour to get across to the port city, she welcomed the feel of the wind hitting her and the sounds of the road. The hustle and bustle of the busy university town was a stark and interesting contrast to the quiet and more often than not, peaceful village.

Her friends were waiting for her as she pulled up, demanding answers from her about the missing kid and whether she had seen anything as she tried to chain up her bike and head to the one revision class she had before they were supposed to be settling at the library.

She answered their questions with ease, a bright smile she did not entirely feel on her features as she remembered last night and the fact that right now there would be people combing her home in order to remove the bugs that the police had installed.

Still her friends, who had been the ones to coin the nickname ‘Twilight’ in the first place, were in quite a jovial mood. Once the initial questioning had passed and they had sat through the revision session with the one lecturer Twilight had that was guaranteed to put eighty percent of his students asleep with just a short lecture, they dragged her out to have a little fun. Considering the state of her bank account and the state of the accounts of her friends, who were all shopaholics and had almost completely totalled their student loans for the term, it was almost a relief to get dragged halfway across town for a burger and an hour on the ice skating rink.

Hanging out with her mortal friends was a breath of fresh air. They might have been obsessed with that daft animated pony show that was so popular right now, enough so to have nicknamed her after the book-obsessed librarian pony within it but they were good for her. Though they had no powers and often just humoured her when she said something odd, she did not have to worry about what she said around them or guard her words or actions.

It was okay, they had told her, that she was a little odd and occasionally talked about the fantastical. They had decided years ago that obviously her creative nature took over and ran roughshod over reality. They were used to it and it made life more interesting. She did not have the heart to tell them that it was all real. She was just pleased for their acceptance.