[HW - 3] First Contact

The Everfree Forest

“Go now!” Discord hissed, turning his attention to Pinkie and Fluttershy. “You have to get out of here!”

“But it’s scary out there!” Fluttershy whimpered, somehow hiding more of her body behind Pinkie.

“Besides, we can take’em!” Pinkie said, standing on her hind legs to box at the approaching pair of eyes.

“Fine,” Discord muttered, taking one pony in each arm. His mind was racing too far ahead for him to keep up, muting his normal banter. Instead, he began flapping his wings to fly everyone out of the forest. Simple enough plan, surely that thing can’t go up!

Why is it then, he wondered, that his wings were flapping but his feet were still on the ground?

“That’s never happened before,” he said, looking at his legs. “What is that thing?” he asked, turning to cast an angry glare towards the eyes. The glare fell on the red eyes just like all the others; their own gaze burning fear back into him. “Leave us alone!” he shouted, sprinting into the forest. His mind was clouded with too many thoughts and plans to identify – he needed to focus.

“Pinkie,” he said, placing the party pony on his head. “You’re on navigation. Steer me to the castle.”

“Aye-eye, captain!”

“Fluttershy,” he continued, holding the petrified pegasus over his shoulder. “You’re on lookout duty. Keep an eye on Bip and make sure he doesn’t do anything weird.” The pegasus said nothing, simply wrapping her arms around his neck. He continued to sprint down the forest, twisting and turning as Pinkie steered them towards the castle.

Hopefully.

Now he had to think. What was he going to do? Fluttershy would never forgive him after this – let alone purple smart. Of course, this was all assuming they could get away from Bip in one piece. So far his magic had proved only to be in the way, causing him to waste time and energy on something that had apparently no effect.

“This entire situation is looking more and more impossible,” he mumbled, running his free claw along his forehead. “How close are we, Pinkie?” he asked, only barely aware of the blur of forestry streaking past as he ran. In actuality, his legs were beginning to burn quite readily – an odd sensation for a creature that barely used them.

“I can see it!” she said, jumping up and down on his head. “I can see Fluttershy’s cottage!”

“Cottage?!” Discord’s eyes snapped back into focus, Fluttershy’s normally welcoming home sinking his heart as it came into view. “We were supposed to go to the castle!” he said, continuing to barrel towards the cottage.

“Oooohhh. I thought you said cottage.”

Fluttershy’s Cottage

“It’ll have to do,” he continued, breath ragged as his tired body demanded attention. Reaching the domicile, he placed both ponies at the door, ushering them inside. “Fluttershy,” he said, heaving great huffs of air into his fiery lungs. “Did you see Bip? How close was he?”

“I,” she started, curling up into a ball of shivering pink and yellow. “I closed my eyes.” Discord slapped his paw against his face, dragging it down slowly.

“Things are only impossible until they are not,” he said, brain rapidly spiraling into the sweet embrace of madness once more. “Everypony hide,” he finally said, looking around the cottage for anything that might give them an edge. “If we hide well and don’t make any sound, I bet he’ll just leave.”

“Maybe he didn’t follow us?” Fluttershy offered, an ear poking out of her defensive ball like a periscope.

“I get the sneaking suspicion he did,” Discord said, peering through a window. Nothing. Inky blackness of the forest waving back in the breeze. He said nothing, not wanting to edge his chances towards a hasty mistake. “We have to hide, now!” he hissed quietly, slithering into Fluttershy’s fireplace.

Fluttershy whimpered, managing to either ooze or roll her way under the sofa. It was difficult for Discord to tell through the soot. While he’d been focusing on the pegasus, Pinkie had somehow managed to worm her way into a birdhouse. It was less a birdhouse and more a samurai armor set now, but at least it was something.

Discord was, in a word, panicking. No magic, chaos or otherwise, and little more than ash in this chimney to defend his friends. How did earth ponies live like this? His wings ached, his calves burned, and his arms throbbed. Every inch of his body demanded rest, or at the very least relief via magic; but none was coming any time soon.

Instead, all of his muscles managed to tense up more than he thought possible. Moonlight was now spilling onto the floor, illuminating the den. The lack of royal decrees inclined Discord to believe it was not, in fact, Moonpie. When the moonlight was obstructed, it was then he decided that he must act.

Lowering his head into the fireplace, he managed to get his first good glimpse of Bip. Whatever he was, he seemed vaguely familiar. Two legs, two arms, and a head. At least, if his own body was to be any kind of guide. The blue uniform was rather striking, though. Why would a demon from beyond the stars bother dressing so… formally?

Discord’s heart sank. The creature was kneeling down in front of the couch Fluttershy had chosen to hide under. Without much in the way of forethought, Discord shoved himself back down the fireplace, thrusting ash and soot into the den.

“Con permiso!” he yelled, standing abruptly to throw more ash around. “You will not hurt my friends!” he continued, pulling the cabinet beside the door down on the monster. “Fluttershy, Pinkie, run!” he yelled, jumping atop the beast. “I’ll hold him down!”

As if on cue, the beast began to rise to its standing posture. With seemingly no effort whatsoever, it shrugged off both Discord and the cabinet. In the resulting cacophony of wood splintering across the floor, a yellow blur rushed upstairs, while Pinkie-Samurai-Jack plopped down next to Discord.

“You made Fluttershy cry, you big meanie!” she yelled, leaping forward with a bird cage as a sword.

“Pinkie! Go get help!” Discord said, grabbing her shoulder before she could get too far. “I’ll do what I can here, but we need the elements of harmony – all of them!”

The words stung as they left his mouth. The very elements that had imprisoned him were now a fleeting hope. If only he had his magic to help him! He could have this petulant disruption taken care of in a snap, if only his magic worked on it!

“That’s it!” he said, an idea sparking as Pinkie bolted out the front door. “My magic can’t affect you,” he said, clapping his paw and claw together. “But it can affect everything around you!”

His paw and claw separated slowly, white hot chaos sparkling between them. The floor ripped asunder, pulling down Fluttershy’s couch, table and chair. The red lisps of heat rasped at Bip’s feet, crawling up his legs as he floated above the void below.

“This is the part where you fall,” Discord said defiantly, looking upon Bip as it turned around.

“Con permisso,” Bip said. The voice had no emotion that Discord could identify. No feeling. No life. Yet the very sound it made ran down his spine, tingling each of his extremities. Instead of the void pulling him down, swallowing him up like so much tat in Fluttershy’s cottage, he remained.

Continuing as though the floor was still there, Bip stepped towards Discord, through the ash. His red eyes burned though the dust, through Discord’s own eyes, down into his very being. No matter how hard he tried, he could not move. He couldn’t even avert his eyes. This was worse than getting the stare treatment from Fluttershy.

Fluttershy.

Suddenly, his mind was again lost in chaos. Thoughts swirled, time distorted, priorities shifted. As focus left the void in the floor, Fluttershy’s cottage quickly returned to normal, as though nothing had happened. Banana hush. Yellow quiet. Flutter butter.

He needed to make sure she was safe – that Bip never laid a hand on her.

“It’s me you want, isn’t it?” he asked, hands falling to his sides. “If I go without a fight, will you leave these ponies alone?” Bip didn’t respond. It simply continued to stare into his soul, burning away at his conviction. “You can speak, I know you can!”

It was Bip’s turn to tilt his head. The eyes didn’t blink, despite the settling ash and soot. They didn’t narrow. Not a sign in the world that any word Discord had said was even understood by the creature.

“There’s no fun in any game if you break all the rules up front! Just take me and be done with it!” Still, Bip only stared. “Do something!” Discord demanded, arms open wide. “Blink! Growl at me! Something!”

Bip raised his arms as Discord did.

“Con permiso,” it repeated.

The voice still irritated his spinal fluid, but it was a start.

“That’s my cue!” came a rather brash, blue sounding voice. What had to be fractions of a second later, Rainbow Dash had plowed into Bip, pile-driving him through Fluttershy’s window.

“Deus Ex Dash!” Discord yelled, quite literally jumping with glee. He sank to his knees, muscles able to take no more abuse without some kind of magical aid.

“Discord, what did you do?” That voice sounded purple, smart, and agitated.

“Make sure Fluttershy is safe,” Discord said, laying down on the floor now. He curled up, barely aware of the rest of Twilight’s ensemble as they shambled into Fluttershy’s home.

“Discord!” Twilight yelled, rousing him from his fast approaching sleep. “Discord, this is no time for a nap! I need to know what you did!”

“I didn’t do anything!” Discord snapped, raising his head to meet hers. “Bip is here! You refused to believe me – none of you believed me, and now he’s here!”

“Bip? Who’s Bip?”

“Must I spell everything out for you? Bip is the machine from the sky! He landed, and he’s not friendly. You have to stop him – chaos doesn’t seem to work on him. Skittles will need your help, now go! Power of friendship and all that,” he said, waiving his claw dismissively. The protagonists were here, it was their turn to deal with Bip.

Bip, as it turns out, was able to easily remove Rainbow Dash. He held her up as she struggled against him, swinging all four hooves wildly in an attempt to disable the creature.

“You wanna piece of me?!” she growled. Still, Bip merely held her at bay. Instead, his gaze returned to Fluttershy’s cottage. Rainbow’s gaze followed Bip’s, quickly putting two and two together. “Oh no you don’t!” she said, flapping her wings furiously. Slowly she began to lift Bip off the ground, using his grip to her advantage.

“Con permiso,” Bip repeated, releasing her. Rainbow’s furious flapping caused her to shoot up into the air, no longer burdened by the creature’s grip. The voice had a similar effect to the pegasus, however. It was alien and uncaring. The sheer strangeness of it threw off her already unexpected flight path, landing her in the branches of a nearby tree.

“Come back here!” she yelled, struggling in the branches of her new captor. “Twilight, lookout!”

To everyone’s surprise, Bip didn’t crawl back through the window. Instead, he calmly walked around to the front door, and entered once more. He scanned each of the new arrivals with his devilish red gaze before focusing once more on Discord.

“Con permiso,” it repeated.

“Discord, what’s it saying?” Twilight asked, standing between Bip and the draconequus.

“It’s something he heard me say – it means ‘excuse me,’ but I doubt very much Bip knows what that means.”

“You’re sure it’s not friendly?” Twilight asked.

“Twi, just look at its eyes!” Applejack said, guarding the staircase. “Have you ever known red eyes to be friendly?”

“AJ!” Twilight said, casting her friend a harsh gaze. “Just because something is different from us, doesn’t mean it’s evil! Did you already forget what Zecora taught us?” She returned her gaze to Bip, directing her questions back to Discord. “What is it he did, Discord?”

“Discord,” Bip repeated. A new word.

“It doesn’t matter what he did – my magic doesn’t affect him! I can’t stop him from pursuing me, Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie! Whatever Bip is, it’s immune to me and has to be stopped!”

“It matters exactly what he did!” Twilight barked, turning her head slightly towards Discord. Still, she kept her eyes on Bip, but Discord got the message. “If his only crime is being different from us and ignoring your magic, then he’s done nothing wrong!”

“What about breaking and entering? Surely that has to count for something in this lawless country!”

“Discord,” Bip said, pointing to the draconequus.

“Oh, very impressive. Eat a good book while I wasn’t looking?” Discord sneered.

“AJ,” Bip continued, pointing now to Applejack.

“Twilight,” Twilight said, sitting up to point a hoof to herself.

“Twilight,” Bip repeated, pointing to the purple unicorn.

“Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down with excitement.

“Pinkie Pie,” Bip repeated once more, pointing to the party pony.

“Yes yes, we’re all very impressed Bip – you’re obviously a descendant from some kind of space parrot,” Discord groaned. “Twilight, can you please just turn it to stone so we can deal with it at our own pace?”

“Bip?” Twilight asked, pointing a hoof to the creature. She would have words with Discord later about his comment. Bip’s expression changed. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Bip’s face took on an expression from one of stoicism. It seemed almost… confused? Lost, even?

“Anonymous,” Bip finally said, pointing to itself.

“I don’t suppose you said that at all, did you?” Twilight asked, looking back to Discord.

“I hope that thesaurus gives you indigestion,” Discord growled.

“I think we’ve got a lot to talk about,” Twilight said, turning to look at Discord fully now.

Last Edit: 01/10/2019 12:59 CST