It was amazing to know how a seemingly peaceful night can quickly turn into a nightmare. The air is filled with screams of terror, as well as a whole flock of harpies that circled above Piraeus, like a swirling vortex of a coming storm, while picking off the fishes and other latests catches from the sea, courtesy of the fishermen, as well as anything else that strikes their fancy.
Unfortunately, the trouble doesn't end with the harpies. The entire dock city was overrun with even more terrifying creatures of mythological origins, and some that few mortals have ever dreamed of before. And if anyone believes it or not, that's just the tip of the iceberg.
"Let me go you stinkin' buzzard!" Sunset spatted, struggling to break free from the she-demon bird's grip. Of course, the bird-demon wasn't listening. "I won't stand for this you disgusting turkey vulture! Put me down!" Irked, the harpy let out loud screech as she dives down towards the buildings, scaring Sunset, "Ah! Wait! I'm sorry about the turkey vulture comment!"
Before anyone knew it, a string of pink fluid was shot and stuck onto harpy's tail feathers, "Hey buster!" Pink-Spider called, while holding the harpy in place, with her feet planted firmly on the roof of a house. "Why don't ya pick on someone your own size?"
"Pinkie Pie?" Sunset exclaimed.
"That's Pink-Spider to you!" Pink-Spider replied, before she pondered. "Or maybe I should rename myself Spider-Pie? Or Spider-Girl? No, actually that's already been taken, I think." Unamused, if not unfazed, the harpy slashed her claws at the pink webs, cutting herself free from Pinkie Pie. But before it can fly away, Pinkie Pie shot two more strings of webs from her hands, catching ensnaring the bird-demon on the back and leg, "Not so fast, vulture! Give me back my friend!"
With a flick of her arm, Pink-Spider pulled herself towards the harpy, landing a kick, followed by a couple of punches to the harpy's face, before she did a backflip in the air, giving herself some distance from the bird-demon, then fires two more strings of webs onto the harpy's shoulders to pull herself towards the bird monster, landing a strong stomp to her adversary's chest, forcing her to let go of Sunset Shimmer.
"AAAAAHHH!!!" Sunset screamed, as she fell towards the ground. Thankfully, with quick thinking, Pinkie Pie shot several strings of web fluids, creating a makeshift bungee cord, saving Sunset from the fall. "A little too close for comfort there, Pinkie Pie," Sunset muttered, rapidly catching her breath from the adrenaline.
"Uh, that's Pinkie-Spider to you?" Pinkie said to the girl, while hanging upside down from her web. "And you're welcome." A loud screech was heard, and the two girls looked up to see the harpy swooping down on the girls with her talons out. "Yikes! Tweety's back!"
The harpy slashed her claws out, only for Pinkie to quickly do a backflip, evading the claws. Landing on the roof of another building, Pinkie stood up on her legs, just in time to see the harpy making a sharp turn, flying back for the pink girl. Reaching into her hair, Pink-Spider got out a small jar of sugars. Opening the lid, scooping up a handful, the pink heroine parody of Spider-Man tossed the sprinkles at the harpy, "Eat sugar bombs!" Pinkie shouted as the sugars exploded upon impact with the harpy, knocking it out of the sky, and crashing down onto the roof of a building.
With the winds knocked out of her, the harpy was disoriented. But before the harpy could recover, Pinkie shot several pink webs at the bird-demon, pinning it down on the roof.
"Alright, Missy! Start talking!" Pink-Spider interrogated, in a deep voice, trying to make herself sound intimidating. "Why did you take Sunset Shimmer?"
Suddenly, there was another bloodcurdling screech that pierced the air, and the girls all looked up to see more trouble in the sky.
"Mother of Celestia!" Sunset gasped.
"What in tarnation?!" Applejack exclaimed, after she and her friends had finally arrived to see utter chaos unfolding before them.
"Oh! Oh dear goodness!" Fluttershy whimpered.
"Ruh roh," Spike moaned, poking his head out from Twilight's backpack.
"No," Medusa hissed silently in distressed, as if witnessing another flashback of her horrid past.
"AWESOME!!!" Rainbow Dash shouted excitedly. In response, her friends all shot strange looks of bewilderments at the rainbow haired girl. "What? I'm just saying, now we'll got some real excitements around here."
"Would ya be cheering if two of our friends are at the mercy of those beasts?" Applejack scowled.
"Hey, if Pinkie Pie gets to be Spider-Girl, or Pinkie Spider, and be a hero, then who says I can't have some excitement and fight some monsters that threaten all of humanity?" Maddie and her snakes all looked hurt at the last statement, which didn't go unnoticed. "Oh! And of course, I don't mean you, Maddie. You're our friend," Rainbow Dash waved her hands in assurance.
"DUCK!!!" Rarity screamed.
"Duck? Where?" Fluttershy asked, before she was grabbed by her friends, and they all hit the deck, just as a car flew over their heads. "Oh! That duck."
"What jusâ" Applejack's eyes widened to see what threw the car at them. "What is that?!"
Standing before them, bellowing to the sky in a bloodcurdling scream, beating his chest with his arms wildly like a mad gorilla, was what appeared to be a large anthropomorphic bull with red angry eyes.
Twilight reached into her backpack, pulls out her encyclopedia and quickly skimmed through the pages, before finding what she was looking for, "It's a minotaur!" She read. "Its a monster that has the head and legs of a bull, but the body of a man!"
"Great, but does it tell us how to fight it?" Rainbow asked.
Before Twilight could reply, Rarity shouted "GET BACK!" The fashionista lunged forward, with her hands coated in a sparkling aura, conjuring plates of crystal shields, saving both herself and her friends from the fists of the minotaur, who was now upon them. Like a stubborn bull he is, the minotaur viciously thrashed his fists against the girl's magic shields, attempting to break through. The monster's efforts were not in vain, unfortunately, as cracks were beginning to form in Rarity's shields.
"Somebody do something!" Rarity strained. "I can't keep this up much longer!"
"I got this!" Applejack cracked her knuckles and she readied herself in a fighting stance. "Rarity, when I say go, open 'er up." The fashionable girl nodded her head, trusting her friend. "NOW!" With that, Rarity opened up a hole in her shield, just as the minotaur was about to strike again, only for Applejack to intervene and caught the monster's fist, with an impressive amount of super-strength. Maddie could hardly believe her own eyes.
"This ain't mah first rodeo, y'know!" Applejack grunted, before she surprises the minotaur with a sudden backflip, landing a kick to the monster's chin, causing him to stumble back. Then, with a burst of speed, she lunges towards the minotaur, pushing him off his feet, throwing him about ten feet away from herself and her friends. Enraged and undeterred, the minotaur got back up on his hooves, pawing the ground with his hands, aiming his horns at the girls.
"Y'all go ahead and find Sunset and Pinkie," Applejack advised to her friends. "I'll hold this varmint off!"
Exchanging looks, unsure about leaving Applejack alone to contend with a large, hulking monster, like a minotaur, the girls and Spike both know Applejack is strong. Her geode is the geode of super strength after all. She can take care of herself.
"Go get 'em, AJ!" Spike cheered for the country girl, before he took his leave, with the others.
Applejack turned her attention to the minotaur to see he has yet to charge towards her. She took her hat off her head to look, reaching inside and pulled out a coil of ropes, with a lasso tied at the end.
"Mess with the bull, ya get the horns. That's what pa used to say," Applejack said to herself, setting her hat back on her head, while unrolling her lasso at the ready in her hands. "But ma told me: 'Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing'. So let's do this!"
With a snort, the minotaur charged towards Applejack, who stood her ground, looking unfazed, as if she's seen bigger and scarier things than the minotaur. The ground beneath her and the minotaur trembled with each stomp the monster made with his hooves, as he got closer and closer towards Applejack. Then at the last second, Applejack rolled to the side, dodging the bull's attack, before with a loud, "YEE-HAW!" She threw her lasso around the minotaur's neck and got ahold of him.
In response, the minotaur was thrashing his head wildly like a raging bull, while at the same time, he was bucking and kicking his hooves out in a desperate attempt to break free.
"Ooh, you're strong, I'll give ya that!" Applejack grunted. "But I've tussled with a cow named Arizona. This won't be any difference," Applejack soon got her words eaten when the minotaur got up on his legs and grabbed ahold of Applejack's rope, with his bare hands. "Uh, except Arizona didn't have hands, like you," Applejack chuckled sheepishly.
Before she knew it, Applejack was lifted off her feet, still holding onto her rope, being spun in circle by the minotaur, "Whoa nelly!" Applejack moaned.
"Oh, I hope Applejack's ok," Fluttershy whimpered, as she and her friends make their way through the streets, filled with frighten people who were all running from the monster attacks. "I feel awful just leaving her behind!"
"I'm sure she'll be alright, darling," Rarity assured.
"She'll be fine. She's Applejack. She's strong," Rainbow added in confidence. "Trust me. She didn't win five blue ribbons Texas rodeo for nothing."
Maddie looked curious, "What isssss thisssss rodeo?" Suddenly, the gorgon's snakes let out a loud hiss, alerting her of an incoming danger. "Huh? What'ssssâAHH!!!" Next thing she knew, a blur of brown, white, and gold came rushing towards her, pouncing and pinning her down from behind, exerting a tremendous amount of weight and strength on her.
"Maddie!" The girls and Spike called out, seeing their friend in trouble.
"Let go of me!" Maddie hissed, struggling to slither herself free from her assailant, who viciously clawed at her from behind.
Just as the assailant was about to pull the gorgon's hood off, "Get off of her ya big bully!" Rainbow Dash roared, running as a blur of rainbow before she jumped at the last second and kicked the assailant off of her friend's back.
The assailant rolled across the street, before it got up, snarling and hissing, enraged at the interference of the young athlete. The moonlight shines over the assailant, revealing their appearance to the Rainbooms, Medusa, and Spike. In appearance, the assailant has the head, wings, and talons of an eagle, but the hind legs and tail of a lion. A defining trait about this particular creature is that it has three strands of white feathers over its eyes, each tipped with a hue of pale, light grayish heliotrope with matching flaming spots over its eyes.
"Whoa! What do you call that thing?" Spike asked.
"It's a griffin!" Twilight lectured. "It's a creature that's part eagle and part lion. Their name comes from the Greek word 'grypos' which means, 'to seize.' But their entire legends originates from Egypt, Middle East and parts of Europe and Asia; though it's been said before that India is their homeland. Also, griffins can often be seen on the face of ancient Greek arts."
"Fascinating," Rainbow Dash scowled in annoyance. While she appreciated Twilight for shedding lights on the creature they're about to fight with, sometimes, Twilight's long winded explanation can be a little too much for Rainbow Dash's comfort. "So why did it attack Maddie then?"
"I think the fact that it's part eagle and snakes happen to be one of the eagles main diet, I guess it assumed Maddie was snack."
"Well, no one's gonna make a meal out of my friend!" With a crack of her knuckles, Rainbow Dash marched up to the griffin.
"Uh, Rainbow Dash? What're you doing?" Fluttershy asked.
"Hello kitty," Rainbow snarked, taking the griffin by surprise. "So you're hungry huh? Well, how about you let me give a taste of a knuckle sandwich? Does sound good to you? Yes you do," Unbeknownst to Rainbow Dash, the griffin was getting more and more angrier with every words she said to it. "C'mon kitty. C'mon," Pushed to its limit, the griffin responded with a sudden snap of its sharp beak on the girl's hand.
"AAAAAAAHH!!!" Rainbow Dash screamed in agonizing pain, as she and the griffin went in an all out tussle on the ground, while everyone looked on with shock and horror.
"Oh, oh dear goodness!" Fluttershy whimpered.
The griffin lunges forward and had Rainbow Dash pinned down, while holding onto the girl's hand. With her Geode of Super Speed glowing with an intense aura of blue, Rainbow Dash landed a punch to the griffon's face, followed by a kick that flipped the eagle-lion hybrid off of the girl. But still, the griffin held onto Rainbow Dash's hand.
"Let go of me ya lion on KFC!" Rainbow Dash grunted, as she continues to shower more punches and kicks, until at last, the griffin lets go of Rainbow Dash's smarten hand, before it sets its sight on the girl's geode. Kicked by its natural greed for shiny objects, the griffin pounced on Rainbow Dash again, this time grappling the girl for her geode necklace. "Hey, this is mine! SO LET GO!" Rainbow Dash grunted, struggling to pull the griffin away with her hands around its neck.
Next, the griffin picked Rainbow Dash up by the scruff of her collar and dumped her head in a huge tank full of lobsters. Then it pulled Rainbow Dash's head out of the water to reveal Rainbow Dash has a lobster dangling by her ears. "OW! OW! OW!!" Rainbow Dash wailed from both the painful pinches of the lobster's claws, coupled together with the griffins assault.
"Huh, Sandy Claws," Spike commented.
"She'll be killed!" Fluttershy whimpered frantically over the dog's pun. "We've got to do something! Twilight! Help her!"
"But how? What can I do? That griffin must be about the same weight of an average lion, not to mention the ferocity of an eagle! I can't just charge blindly into battle with a griffin!" In response, Twilight received a dope slap from Spike as he, Rarity, and Fluttershy, looked at the girl, incredulously.
"Hello? Geode of Magic?!" Spike pointed.
"Oh....right," Twilight blushed embarrassingly, feeling stupid. With a wave of her hands, an aura of sparkling magenta was conjured as Twilight telekinetically pulled both Rainbow Dash and the griffin apart.
End of fight song
Bruised, battered, and bitten in places she doesn't want to think, Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight angrily with a black eye, "You couldn't have just done that earlier?" She scowled.
"I'm sorry! I don't think very well when I'm under a lot of pressure, okay?" The magical girl apologized, as she sets her friend down, before tossing the griffin away.
Later, the friends all ran into an alleyway, where they could take refuge for awhile to catch their breaths.
"Oh, I'm going to feel this tomorrow," Rainbow groaned, as Fluttershy quickly went to work applying the first-aid kit for her friend.
"Oh you poor thing," Fluttershy cooed.
"Hey y'all," A familiar voice called, to which the gang turned to see Applejack, who was also equally battered and bruised as Rainbow Dash is. "Did ah miss anything?"
"Applejack! Darling!" Rarity exclaimed happily, walking up to her friend. "Thank goodness you're alright!"
"So I take it you took care of the minotaur then?" Twilight asked.
"You could say he's riding off into the sunset," Applejack replied.
"Alright, Applejack!" Rainbow Dash complimented her friend, and the two strong girls quickly exchanged a secret handshake, much to Maddie's curiosity and confusion.
Looking at her own claws, the cursed gorgon tried to mimic the gesture, slapping and punching her own fists together, unsure whether she got it right or not.
"Though, to be honest, you've sure seen better days," Applejack commented, noting the bruises that covered Rainbow Dash from top to bottom. "What happened to ya?"
"We were looking for Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer, when suddenly there was this griffin that jumped out on Maddie and then we had to fight it off, it a certain someone had saved us all the trouble with a little something called magic!" Rainbow Dash explained, while squinting her eyes at Twilight.
"Let it go, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy advised as she patches up her friend's arms, before turning her attention to the lobster that was holding onto the athletic girl's ears. "Um, would you kindly let go of my friend's ears, Larry?" The lobster, identified as Larry, complied as he released his grips off of Rainbow Dash and drops down to the ground. "Thank you. And please, be safe on your way home," The lobster clapped its claws, as if giving Fluttershy his farewell before he was on his way.
While Rainbow Dash was getting patched up, the friends looked outside from their hiding spot to see the chaos that was still going on outside, "Talk about a monster mash!" Spike commented. "First, we've got Maddie. Then Sunset got herself kidnapped by a harpy, and then we almost got ourselves killed by a minotaur and a griffin."
"How did we ever become a magnet for monsters?" Applejack questioned, before turning to Maddie. "Not including you, Maddie."
"The strangest thing too is, they're all mythical creatures from Greek Mythology!" Twilight stated. "But the question is, where are they all coming from? And why are they coming here?"
"We'll worry about that later y'all!" Applejack suggested. "Right now, we've got to find Sunset Shimmer and PinkieâOOF!!" As if on cue, who should drop in on their conversation, but one of the girls they were looking for.
"Owieee," Pinkie Spider groaned, before she looked down and gasped, "Applejack?!"
"Pinkie Pie?!" Applejack asked.
"Pinkie Pie?! Who is thisâ"
"Knock it off, Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash scowled. "We know who you are. And we've been looking all over for you and Sunset!"
Looking around, seeing no sign of the fiery headed girl, Maddie was the first to ask, "Where isssss Sunssssset SSSShimmer?"
"She was with me a little while ago," Pinkie Pie explained. "But suddenly, we were attacked by more of those harpies, and they justâWooosh! And then boom! And I went whoa! Ka-boom! And here I am."
The friends both turned to each other, unsure of what Pinkie Pie just said. Taking her chance, Rainbow Dash asked, "Meaning?"
"Those mean harpies used their magic to create a powerful tornado and I got blown away!"
"What?! Can they really do that?" Applejack exclaimed.
"Well, according to earlier legends, harpies are personification of destructive winds and they can cause severe storms too," Twilight lectured.
"And you're just telling us about that now?" Rainbow snarked. "Anymore useful facts you'd like to share with the us about these monsters? Like how to fight them?"
"We'll worry about that later," Applejack said, stamping her foot to the ground as she got everyone back on the task at hands. "Right now, we gotta find and save Sunset Shimmer! Where is she now, Pinkie Pie?"
Great job. Loved all the fights.
Exactly whatâs to stop them from petrifying that hideous monster at the beginning of this chapter? They had the perfect opportunity to make a statue out of bull headed man. And it would have been a lot less dangerous and fewer injuries would have been sustained. And it would be a nice time to see that awful power put to good use where itâs called for. Isnât that why they turned her and the others into gorgons in the first place?
9812182
I think after that whole "With great power comes great responsibility" talk with Rainbow Dash and Ben Parker, not to mention a few other superhero talks and stuff, Medusa's holding back her "death stares" so as to avoid any unintentional kills and everything.
This ain't Injustice: Gods Among Us.
Excellent work on this.
Oh boy, as if dealing with one monster wasn't tough enough but now a whole army shows up to wreck their holiday. If these monsters were going for Medusa, an odd choice of deciding to capture Sunset Shimmer just in case. But even so, the girls did hold their own against mythology's most notable monsters. And yet this might not be the only time they encounter anything this intense, even with the addition of a random 'Spiderman' reference. All that matters now is the need to rescue their friend is bigger than before, if they can find out where Sunset Shimmer is being taken and considering Medusa knows about these monsters more than they do Medusa is going to need start talking if she has a rough idea of where they are taking her new best friend.
9812212
Sure. Sound logic on one front, not so sound on another. Most of the monsters had wings and were in flight, to say nothing of the fact one of them had Sunny. In flight or levitation thereâs a high probability of bystanders being hurt by falling debris.
The same canât be said for the Minotaur which is the only one expressly coming for them with clear murderous intent, and was in a place where I donât think anyone else was around to become a casualty. I presume the others were all standing behind Medusa at the time. This big brute was less stealthy and likely much dumber than the rest, thus giving them the perfect opportunity to use that power wisely.
I think had they done that, RDâs subsequent injury would not have happened, as AJ often stops her from doing things impulsive before she hurts herself.
9813807
9813517
I think I'm going to need to take some time off to rethink a bit on the whole creative direction I had intended for this story to go in. I'm not going to spoil anything for the nearest future.
As noted earlier, a gorgon's stare is similar to that of a cockatrice, since they can both turn their victims to stone, and they're snake-themed. However, say that a gorgon's stare is more powerful and lethal than a cockatrice, in which they can't reverse the effect on their victims, as it's been depicted in a few episodes. Medusa's already destroyed her loved ones already long ago. And I for one doubt she would risk repeating that same fate on the Rainbooms and Spike again, should she ever use her stare again and go overboard.
9813898
As you rest up from a long writing process, it is important to consider that while a Gorgon may have similar abilities as a Cockatrice, to what extent is a Gorgon's power? After all, we're not just talking the outside of a creature's anatomy turned to stone, but it's possible every functioning organ inside their bodies would've turned to stone too (Talk about your case of kidney 'stones'). If a lesson for Medusa is to learn how you can't always take back your mistakes and you must always accept the consequences regardless if it was your fault or not, it should not mean that there isn't hope for Medusa to use her powers for good. After all, as you yourself wrote in the story, not 'everything' about Medusa was true (Like the fight with Perseus and all the other stories about her). So who's to say that her power isn't strong enough to 'heal' those affected by her spell.
After all, you must ask yourself this one question: What would Lauren Faust do?
9813898
First off, most of us heard of gorgons well before FiM even existed, presuming we are all adults. The gorgon myths are way more popular than cockatrice, which I doubt most of us ever heard of prior to FiM.
As such, itâs near universally agreed upon that direct contact with a gorgonâs eyes is immediate death by petrification. The statues would be lifesized, anatomically correct, and if you broke them, the interior would reveal marble or granite organs in the exact right position in the exact right proportions, and a skeleton likewise made of marble and granite with all its bones correct. The process is permanent, and most serious films adhere to the myths having characters have no further scenes after freezing up.
FiM treats it like a hibernation period or a prison sentence, reversible, and victimâs consciousness varying from case to case. Neither EQG nor FiM has or will use gorgons unless the comics resort to them at this point, and we wonât find out which way Faust would have gone about it.
Given how itâs been avoided thus far, (though one bystander froze up petrification or not), I think making it truly fatal makes the most sense here. This has the luxury of going all the way and not being confined to its rating system unlike FiM. This can go to lengths the show never would or legally could. Iâd say go for it, as the show wonât, and a gorgon is a person like humans. Surely the difference between them and a cockatrice wouldnât be merely superficial. Gorgons by their very name and reputation are horror incarnate, nothing like the reptile people presented here. Unlike this presentation, the only thing nonhuman about them was the mass of snakes on their scalp. Otherwise, they looked like regular humans, only dead ones. Pale, white, dry skin like mummies, visibly shedding, blank eyes, long sharp nails, and fangs in their mouths. But they had heartbeats and breathed.
I donât know where this is going, thatâs your call, and I do not want to interfere with it. Iâm just glad we have Medusa. And hope to see Sunset Shimmer alright.
9813898
There is another issue based on what you decide to do with the story. If this were not a 'Friendship is Magic' project, if this had been written as Faust wanted to for that animation company then I wouldn't make too big a fuss if Medusa's actions are so consequential that she can't just snap her fingers, free those people from their stone imprisonment, and everything is going to be okay... Because it might 'not' be, at least not right now. Some fans may want this story to take certain measures that other readers might find question and others might not be ready for something so intense even though there are writers who won't hesitate to get away with it (Though to be fair, the few who do usually get more dislikes than likes). But at the end of the day, 'we' cannot decide how you want your story to go not like Sony wanted Lauren to make these changes just because the movie would be 'their' product... You need to be 'Lauren Faust'. In other words, this is YOUR story... Whatever you decide, we just want you to be happy so long as the story pays off in the end.
Monsters are attacking the city, and no one notice them. That's always happen, right?
Good chapter.
9828814
Well, Pennywise goes about eating children left and right and almost none of the adults are aware of it. As if some evil influence was cast on the town to make everyone turn a blind eye to the truth of all their pain and suffering. I can't say that the same is happening in this town, but if we are to assume that in this universe that magic and monster attacks are a near common phenomenon knowing there are heroes to stop it when the police and military are outmatched, it's no wonder they wouldn't be 'as' concerned as much.
Then again it's also like 'Glee', the major characters sing and have their spotlight moment and either the background characters are too oblivious or the background dancers going along act like it didn't happen.
Seriously? No one else has made the comment that the griffin in this chapter was described as looking exactly like Gilda?
9871643
You got it!