Moondancer (1st person)
"What the fuck is going on?!" I screamed internally as I was slammed against a bookcase by an unknown force. Books from the higher shelves toppled out and landed on me, causing me to cry out in pain.
I stumbled for a moment before finding my balance. But I couldn't lament the pain coursing through my body, including the multiple cuts and a fractured rib, before a chuckle reached my ears. I didn't have time to look up and see him as the feeling of a hoof slamming into my face, sending my injured body flying down the aisle of books with a pained cry. Landing roughly on the floor, I scrambled to my weak legs and shook the daze from my head just in time to see Godfree calmly approaching me.
"We could have made this a quick and easy deal." He called out, his frail frame barely visible in the darkness, "But, no! You had to act all proud. Look where that got you." He scoffed.
I ignored the griffon's words, turning and booking it away from Godfree. My legs hurt, my chest felt like somepony placed hot coals in my lungs, and my body ran on fumes. The lack of sleep and blood loss from my injuries made my vision waver, creating doubles of the passing environment. Godfree's distant laughs echoed off the Library walls, sending a shockwave of fear down my spine each time.
Tears had formed in the corners of my already blurry vision as I turned a corner, "Damn it all!" I cursed, "I'm such a coward, leaving behind Poppy Vine like that. What was I thinking; was all that I said to myself just a lie?!" I berated myself. Gone was the courage I had built up minutes ago; now, it had now been replaced by a desperate feeling, a primal feeling, of wanting to survive.
There was no way I had a chance to defeat whatever this damned grampa was using. Whenever I thought I was safe, a hoof would hit me across the face or body. It would be impossible for Godfree to do that since he'd always be out of reach from me, and the attacks come out of random areas. No matter where I hid, under tables or behind bookshelves, I'd always get hit by that unseen hoof. Was this some kind of griffon magic I hadn't discovered? If so, I should be able to cast a temporary disabling spell on him!
Dismissing the tears rolling down my cheeks, I made a few more turns around the bookcases until I spotted Godfree by an open reading area. Due to me being on his left, he hadn't spotted me yet, so I lit my horn and charged the spell before firing at the griffon.
But the small victorious smile I allowed myself to have quickly disappeared as Godfree instantly snapped in my direction. As the bolt of off-white magic was about to hit him, a figure shrouded in black appeared before him, crossing its forelegs while standing on its hind legs. The bolt hit the figure and pushed it back a couple of steps with an echoing grunt, its form wavering a little.
My jaw dropped as the fading light of the spell revealed no damage to the mysterious figure's black forelegs. But my shock was swiftly ended when another hit impacted my gut, making all the air in my lungs escape in a single blow that sent me to the floor.
Godfree chuckled darkly as he slowly walked in my direction, "Foolish mare. I can tell you're no warrior: blindly charging in with no plan and revealing yourself to the enemy." Now he was over me, watching as I writhed on the ground, trying to suck in as much air as I could. "This will be your end, sorry." He said before the figure appeared beside him.
Due to it being much closer now, I could make out some details from the darkness and my semi-blurred vision. It had the body of a pony mare, their body slender and tall with no hair. Every inch of the figure's body was wrapped in black bandages, worn and faintly stained with blood; only two gaps on its face allowed two eerie red eyes to shine through. And various spikes, shards of glass, and sharp metal points poked out between the figure's bandages. The figure's eye stared directly into mine, raising its front left hoof in the air over my head.
"Now die for your insolence!" Godfree roared as the figure's hoof came down toward my face.
I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyelids shut, hoping that some way, somehow, all of this was one bad dream. I wasn't strong enough to save Poppy. She was most likely dead either from this maniac or the blood loss. DAMNIT! It was impossible to think I could be anything better than I already was; I don't deserve to be called anypony's friend!
…
What happened?
I don't feel any agonizing pain from broken bones. Is this griffon so sadistic that he would kill me slowly for his enjoyment?
…
Nothing.
My brain told me not to, but I forced my eyes to open to see what was going on. The first thing I saw was Godfree looking shocked at something other than me. The next thing I spotted was another figure, unlike the one that tried to crush my skull, directly over my prone form with its back facing away from me. It took me a moment to process what was happening before I realized it was shielding me from the black figure's hoof!
"W-What?!" Godfree shouted, trembling as his stand put everything it had into pushing the other figure down with little success. "That's impossible; there's no way she could have a stand."
Before I could question what was happening, the figure over me lowered itself closer to me, letting the black figure slump forward for a split moment. The figure followed up by shoving the black figure away by pushing up, then reeling back its hindlegs and bucking Back in Black in the gut. Godfree was flung back, his ghost…pony disappearing, and squawked in pain as he crashed violently into the armchairs of the reading area, toppling the seats and a mini coffee table in the process.
I continued to stare where Godfree crashed in amazement until I shifted my wondrous gaze to the figure that protected me, now standing at its full height.
From what I could see from under the figure winter coat with rolled sleeves was clean red fur ending with gray hooves. The winter coat was tan brown with peach fuzz lining the inside of its folded coat collar and rolled sleeves, a large red cross on its back. Vines and moss grew and wrapped around its body, and various types of flowers blossomed around the bottom of its barrel and where the rolled sleeves ended on its forelegs. A Prussian ushanka hat rested upon its head, protecting its porcelain-like face and set of vintage aviator goggles. A pair of pants cover the figure's flank and hind legs, accompanied by black outdoor boots.
The figure stood tall and proud, getting into a wide defensive stance as Godfree arose from his crash landing, glaring at me. "He didn't tell me that the pony carrying the arrow shard had a stand." He said, "No matter. She just got a lucky shot in; Back in Black will take care of her." He stated smugly.
Seeing as he was about to attempt something, I quickly rose to my hooves and was on high alert. I was proven right when the black figure called Back in Black suddenly DIVED into the floor, startling me.
I ignored the smirking Godfree as I and the figure looked around the floor in anticipation of the attack. In my search, I failed to notice a faint rippling sound and Back in Black remerging halfway from the ground behind me. When I turned around to check if it was there in my search, it had disappeared. While I was faced away, Back in Black had leaped meters into the air from the ground, letting out an ear-piercing screech. When I reacted to the sound and turned around, my eyes widened as I looked up in panic as it started to fall back down toward me. The figure stood in front of me with a protective stance, ready to block while Back in Black threw a flurry of punches in my direction.
But to my surprise, a beam of sunlight crept up between us, bathing a lengthy line in a warm glow. What had surprised me, though, was that the flurry of punches Back in Black was throwing slowly disappeared as it passed through the beam of light with every inch. It soon included its body, as Back in Black's forelegs, head, torso, and eventually, his hindlegs were all sucked into the sunlight, leaving just me, the figure, and Godfree.
I followed the beam of sunlight to see it coming from a nearby window; its curtains partially opened, letting said light leak in. My attention was diverted back over to Godfree as he cursed loudly, shooting straight up from his once prone position, unfurling his wings, and glaring daggers at me.
"Damn you, mare! I've wasted too much time on you!" He angrily yells, veins bulging on his forehead before flying at me in a blind rage.
Letting out a startled yell, I cowered away from the charging griffon, falling on my flank and holding up my forelegs in front of me, wishing that this damn senile bird was gone already. When Godfree was less than a couple meters away from me, I was further surprised when the figure suddenly blocked his path and reeled back their left foreleg.
Godfree was too late to dodge or block as the figure's hoof shot forward with blinding speed and landed a hard punch in the middle of his face. The figure then hit Godfree again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again until it quickly turned into a fast flurry of punches similar to what Back in Black did moments earlier.
"BABABABABABABABABABABABABABABA" It repeated in an echoing, masculine voice. Each punch landed on the griffon's body in different areas, some directed at the groin, and didn't let up their attack for a single second.
After exactly 20 seconds of non-stop punching, the figure pummeled the heavily bruised and bloody Godfree into the air and reeled back its fist. At the same time, Godfree's free fall lined up with the figure's shoulders, letting the figure let out one last 'BA' as its hoof shot forward and struck Godfree in the beak. It elected an audible crack from the impact and made Godfree's limp body do a backflip through the air. The front half of his beak went off in another direction, and blood sprayed across the ground as he flew back and landed into a mini bookcase near a window, breaking it upon contact.
I grimaced at the scene, not for Godfree, but more for the ruined books under him. "That's gotta hurt," I mumbled to myself. After a few moments, I thought about what Godfree did to Poppy Vine and smiled victoriously. "Good." I huffed. While I could bask in the figure's victory, I needed to get back to Poppy. Looking at the figure, it had remained in a static standing pose, like the royal guards in the royal palace. "Um…hi?" I meekly called from the floor with a small wave.
I forced myself from flinching when the figure turned its gaze on me, "Thank you for saving me- um -stranger?" I thanked the figure. I received no answer as the figure kept staring at me silently. "But if you don't mind, I can't exactly get up. Can you help me?" I laughed awkwardly.
Instead of a verbal response, the figure was immediately by my side with an offering hoof stretched out. I tentatively took it and was mildly curious about the hoof's texture. It was similar to touching cold slime or jelly, but it was solid enough to be hard as a hoof. Hoof textures aside, the figure helped me onto mine.
With a little bit of wobble, I managed to balance myself and started to walk to the front desk, the figure still following me. That was until a loud 'CRASH' alerted me to where Godfree had fallen, causing me to turn around, only to see him gone and a blood trail leading out of a broken window.
"That's not good." I said, flashing a worried look at the figure. There was no time to worry about that, unfortunately. Poppy Vine needed me.
With a bit more walking, I arrived at the front desk and opened the door that acted as its entrance instead of jumping over the counter. Closing the door, I was relieved to see Poppy vine react to my sudden appearance by weakly looking up at me with a slim smile.
"M-Moondancer?" She called out.
My eyes widened in surprise; she was speaking normally again! "Huh? What did you say?" I said in disbelief.
Poppy raised an eyebrow, "Um…I said your name?" She said like she hadn't had a broken jaw minutes ago. She then noticed the state I was in, a concerned look appearing on her face, "Oh, Moondancer, are you alright?" She asked.
"Yeah," I chuckled, walking over to her and sitting on the tiled floor, making sure not to sit in the dried puddle of blood, "It's honestly not as bad as it looks."
"If ya say so," Poppy responded, "Good thing ya got that fancy healing magic on ya." She sighed gratefully.
It was now my turn to stare at the librarian mare with a confused look. "Healing magic? But I don't remember learning about such spells, let alone casting them." I said.
Now that I think about it, she was acting a little too casual for a mare that looked to be on death's door. Overlooking her body was the only answer I acquired. Beneath the bloody bandages, I saw fresh scars, and the previously purple bruises were now a slight yellow color. Some of her broken limbs were even realigned. The broken femur that had jetted out from Poppy's thigh was now encased under her skin but was still broken.
"Really?" Poppy said, wincing as her hind leg twitched, "That's strange. After you led that griffon away from me, my whole body started to feel better! Sure it still- ow -hurts, but not as much. Thank you, by the way." She said with a thankful look.
I stared at her healed body for the longest time, trying to figure out why that would happen. I was sure I didn't use any healing spells, right? My eyes widened as an idea popped into my head: was it the work of Baby Hotline?
Wait.
"Baby Hotline?" I mumbled.
"What was that?" Poppy said, causing me to jolt.
"Uh…it…I…" I stuttered, trying my best to formulate any words. Too much was happening at once, and I needed sleep. So, with a yawn, I lit my horn, "It…was nothing, Poppy. You want me to take you to the hospital?" I offered.
When Poppy nodded, whimpering in slight discomfort as I levitated her body off the ground and onto my back. As we were leaving, I noticed that the figure from before had vanished, most likely when I opened the door to the front desk area. Well…I shouldn't say figure, as the name Baby Hotline sounded appropriate for some reason. Shaking my head, not too hard as to disturb Poppy Vine, I pushed the memories of the past hours aside and focused on getting my friend to the hospital.
But as I was about to reach the entrance to the Library, it suddenly started to open. Panic aroused from inside me, thinking Godfree came back for a second round until a burly gray stallion with a black mane/ tail and a weird white hat walked in.
"Hey Poppy-" The stallion called out, "-I finally came to return that book on marine life you kept complaining to me about. And sorry that I arrived…so…" His voice trailed off as he spotted me with the battered Poppy Vine on my back, staring at me with a blank expression.
He then lowered his head and tilted his hat forward so that it would cover his eyes. "Good grief." He mumbled.