The Heart of Pleasure
By Haunter Rayne
Ch 62 – Froggy Bottom Panther

Heavy footfalls of wood and shadow tore through the greenery of the Everfree Forest. Tongues of bark wagged under heavy breath as paws of wood scraped across the forest floor. Meanwhile paws of shadow stone were following close behind. “Mmmm, oh my… How liberating this is to be able to hunt without having to worry about looking out for someone with me.” A voice spoke out from behind sharp fangs and a black coat. Just then seven Timberwolves emerged from the far side of a clearing right where the panther stood.

Looking up they saw a fiery light filling the air and once it dissipated an entire swarm of Flash Bees seemed to drop to the ground. Now the panther turned around to face the Timberwolves while grinning wide as electricity seemed to spark from his teeth. “Excellent work my beauties, you herded them right to me...” That was when sixteen Obsidianwolves suddenly emerged from the forest behind the seven Timberwolves who were now surrounded. Right away the shadow hounds descended upon the canines of bark and leaves.

“Easy, easy there. Not all of them.” Rayne ordered as he leisurely strolled over to where the seven forest creatures were now pinned captive. “This is the Everfree Forest, not the Timberwolf Territory. The Timberwolves play an important part of the ecosystem here so we don’t want to capture ALL of them now do we?” With a wave of his paw three of the Timberwolves were released to scurry back into the forest while the remaining four quickly had their essence drained away. They each collapsed into the sticks that made them as Rayne expanded his ever growing pack of Umbran canines to twenty.

“Ahhh now this is a force to be reckoned with. So useful you hounds are. So efficient. You never tire, never complain. And your loyalty seems to be without question. It would appear that you are capable of doing just about anything for me… except for finding changelings that is.” He growled out and seven of his hounds lowered their heads from not having been able to track down Chrysalis back when she escaped him.

“Still...” The panther said and then bent down to spread his paws outwards. With no sound coming from any of them the beasts seemed to yip excitedly as the Rayne took a moment to play and wrestle with the creatures joyfully. “Alright! Alright enough!’ He called out as he was swarmed and overpowered by stone tongues lapping all over him.

Once he was standing back on his fours his hounds stopped wagging their tails and gave him an intent stare awaiting what to be told to do next. "I think we’re finally ready. It’s time to hunt something… bigger.” He grinned as all twenty dogs vanished. Just then there was a fiery light as the Flash Bees had their energy returned to them. But by then the panther had already vanished deeper into the forest.

- That Evening in Canterlot Castle -

“I’m sorry to disappoint you Twilight but I am just as clueless as you are here.” Celestia said as she stood with Luna at her side before the small purple alicorn. The princess of Friendship just hung up head as she tried to think of something intelligent to say but found herself at a loss.

“Really? Nothing?” Twilight whined, showing her years with that desperate plea.

This made two other nearby faces frown as Shining Armor and Cadence looked over from where they were sitting at a table together. “Twilly, don’t be unfair.” Her brother quickly said to her. “We are all doing the best we can here but it isn’t easy when we don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

Now the smaller princess gave a sigh as she said, “I know. I was just so certain that maybe you might had heard of something like this creature before.”

But again Celestia had to shake her head. “I have been around for a long time but I am not completely timeless. I have never heard of a large feline beast the like of which you have described. There are panthers in Equestria but none the size of what you described seeing that day in Ponyville. And certainly none that can use magic the way that you wrote about in your first letter.”

Now it was Luna who stepped up and asked, “And you are absolutely certain that this is the same creature? Originally you warned us of a being with black feathers. But the being you claim to have appeared in Ponyville had no wings of any kind. Are you sure that paw prints you found in the dirt are a match?”

Twilight gave a confident expression and nodded. “Yes. After the incident I teleported back and forth between the site of Tirek’s demise and town. I even took Fluttershy with me for observation. We both came to the same conclusion that the marks were identical. We were very thorough.”

“And we know nothing about it’s intent?” Shining now asked. “It’s not like I’m condoning this kind of behavior within our boarders or anything. But you said that it had to be intelligent, right? That it seemed to know what it was doing?” He waited for a nod from the others before pointing out, “So first this panther shows up in our lands and takes out the villain Tirek. Then it isn’t seen again until it pops up to kidnap a pegasus who you are over ninety percent certain was Chrysalis?” To this Twilight nodded again. “Well, if you ask me it sounds as if it is only hunting bad guys. Maybe we should just leave it alone and it might leave us alone.”

But then Cadence gently placed a hoof over her husband’s. “I understand what you are saying. But this is Equestria my love and that is not how we do things here. All walks of life are citizens of this land and that even goes for those who are supposed to be ‘safely’ imprisoned away.”

Now the stallion nodded as he softened his tone. “No, you’re right. I’m sorry. We don’t condone capital punishment for a reason and if we can’t protect someone who we incarcerate then what is the difference?”

Now Celestia spoke up again saying, “We know what fate became Tirek but we do not know what ‘actually’ happened to the changeling. It would be foolish of us to assume anything without confirmation. Likewise, if this creature holds such a fierce predatory instinct then I see no reason to believe that it wouldn’t devour a pony if given the chance.”

“And yet,” Luna followed up, “it’s power to use magic complicates matters. We cannot defend every corner of Equestria at once. There are many towns and many cities in our lands as we simply do not have the numbers to prepare keep watch everywhere. Likewise, even if the being was found… against a panther? A magical panther? I would be hesitant even asking our guard to face such a challenge.”

“Well...” Cadence was next to speak. “We’ve reached out for help against a powerful foe before, haven’t we? Isn’t this just like when Tirek first reappeared? Could we just ask Dis-” But then Cadence stopped as she saw Twilight waving her arms for her to stop. “Uh, couldn’t we ask… Fluttershy’s tall friend for help in this matter?”

Clearly all eyes were on the purple princess now as she looked up to address the other leaders of Equestria. “We don’t know enough about what is going on. And as much as I hate it, I feel that I need to agree with my brother at least for a little while. So far we have only seen this thing go after Tirek and Chrysalis. Until I see otherwise I have to assume that it really is hunting villains. Now while our ‘tall friend’ has made quite the turn around, he did used to be a villain himself.”

“Twilight… Are you speak out of concern for Dis-ah, I mean our ‘tall friend?’” Luna asked.

“Indeed I am. I don’t know if he might be hunted by this creature one day so the thought of sending him off to go looking for trouble just sounds… irresponsible to me. If the beast is found and if indeed we aren’t able to overpower it then trust me that I will definitely call out for ‘his’ assistance. But until that time I have actually been working rather hard to try and keep our friend in the dark about this. Even now as we hold this meeting I have asked Fluttershy keep him distracted. So I’m at least pretty sure that he won’t be paying attention to anything else going on tonight beyond the confines of Fluttershy’s hut.”

Now Shining smirked, “Very crafty sis. I like it. But what do we do now? Do we just wait for trouble to show itself again like we did with that previous Sombra scare?”

Celestia gave a sigh as she stepped back to sit in her throne. “I guess that is all we can do for now. Believe me my friends, Luna and I will be ready. If something does happen we will do all in our power to protect out citizens. But unless somepony in actually attacked while in Canterlot then we may have a difficult time tracking this creature down.”

With that Cadence stood from her seat and Shining Armor quickly followed suit. “Very well then. We were happy to visit for this meeting but I feel it would be best for Shining and I to return to the empire so that we can watch for any sightings of the panther appearing there. Twilight, you should return to Ponyville and I guess that we’ll just have to hope for the best with this.” The other alicorns nodded and they each hugged each other for support.

- Froggy Bottom Bog -

Watchful blue eyes peered out from the brush toward a swampy lake. Moss and lily pads covered the water which seemed to sway gently even though this lake had no tide to make waves. “It’s time… let’s do this.” Rayne whispered as a single Obsidianwolf crawled it’s way out of shadow and then stood at the edge of the murky lake. It howled a soundless howl before clawing a bit at the dirt and allowing it to spill into the murky depths below.

There was a massive eruption from the water’s surface as a mouth filled with fangs sprang out with a hiss. Once the splash had fallen away a giant creature with four large heads on four long necks was sprouted up out from the water. One mouth held the Obsidianwolf while the other heads of the Hydra watched carefully as it struggled to chew the strange creature continually reforming each time it was bit down upon.

https://youtu.be/Pq5P_9_vB8E

That was when the reptile noticed a large black cat creep out from the bushes and stare up at it defiantly. Rayne’s sinister voice growled out to his hounds harshly as the Hydra leaned back in surprise seeing nineteen more of the canines launch outward from the treeline.

“Go now, if you want it.
An otherworld awaits you!” Rayne said commanded to the serpentine beast.
“Don't you give up on it,
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you!” Seven hounds looked particularly determined to not fail the panther a second time.
“All alone, cold dark you wander,
Memories of it, cloud your sight.
Fills your dreams, disturbs your slumber.
Lost your way, a fallen knight.” That was when Rayne joined the fight, racing forward as his Obsidianwolves covered the Hydra like biting ants.

“Hold now, aim is steady,
An otherworld awaits you!” He yelled as he dodged a bite and then began running up the Hydra’s neck.
“One thousand years, you ready?
The otherworld, it takes you!” Then he sank his fangs in deep, shocking his prey with Flash Bug electricity through the reptile’s skin. Ignoring the taste of murky lake water he bit harder until leaping back through the air to avoid another hissing head snapping in from his side.

Now him and the Hydra stared at each other under the pale moon like that filtered in through the trees. “Glad to have your attention...” The black cat taunted as all of his hounds suddenly fell away. Having seemed to anger the creature three of the heads dove directly at him. “And up we go!” Rayne smirked as he leapt above and ran across the necks of the beasts.

Just then the fourth Hydra mouth sprang forward trying to sneak around behind the panther. “Oh no you don’t!” Rayne he cried out and again jumped out of the way just in time as if he had eyes in the back of his head. When he landed back down on the shoreline his outstretched shadow resembled the look of a Chimera watching out in every direction.

“Come on you big lizard! Give me all you’ve got!” Rayne taunted as the shadow hounds stood around waiting. That was when the Hydra roared and attacked the panther with all four heads now. “That’s it… I’m right here. Come and get it!” Rayne held his ground before disappearing into shadow to protect himself. “Do it!” He roared form his incorporeal state and just then the Obsidianwolves moved in.

“Fight, fight, fight
Fight, fight, FIGHT!”

“RRRRAAAAWWWWWRRR!!!” The Hydra shrieked as the canines leapt around the necks of those four heads before biting onto the tail of the hound in front of it. Linking together like chains the wolves locked the Hydra in place and pulled to try to keep those heads pinned down. “RRAWW-RRAAAWWWLLLL!!!” The creature roared furiously and flailed about to try to free itself.

“Fight, fight, fight
Fight, fight, FIGHT!”

“Grrrrrr! They can’t hold it! The Hydra is too strong!” The panther grimaced. “If only they were bigger… but I can’t combine them into a bigger wolf because I need the numbers!” Rayne wracked his brain to think quickly before the Hydra could break away from their grasp. Then looking down as he watched his Chimera shadow checking in different directions for him Rayne had a new idea.

“Wait… when I capture Timberwolves their essence cry out to be reformed. But I have been the one choosing that new form! What if I chose something different? Something bigger?!” Then the panther quickly wracked his brain trying to think of everything that he had hunted over the passed month.

Concentrating hard Rayne reached a wolf to him from the back of their chain. Instantly the others looked nervous as they started to slide, losing their grasp on the thrashing reptile. Changing his focus caused his shadow to shift from the Chimera to the extra Cragadile he recently hunted from around Zecora’s home.

Outstretching a paw as if calling the wolf again Rayne focused his magic and pressed in his mind with the essence of the Cragadile. Meanwhile the other wolves fumbled as one of the heads started to break free. “Rawwrr… Rraaawwwrrr... RRRAAAWRRRRR!!!” That was until the flimsy chain of wolves suddenly managed to yank the head down so hard that the Hydra’s skull hit the ground with a good smack.

“Hope dies, and you wander,
The otherworld, it makes you!”

Looking back the other wolves all saw an Obsidian-Cragadile with it’s jaws held tightly around the end of the chain. Now the eyes of the Hydra seemed startled, being even more confused by the sight of the shadowy stony reptile. That brief hesitation was all that the panther needed. Pulling three more wolves back to him, three more Cragadiles made of shadow and dark stone appeared. Now the chain of Umbran creatures pulled on the Hydra so hard that the beast was almost yanked out of the water.

Dreams, they rip asunder,
The otherworld, it hates you.”

“YOU… ARE… MINE!!!” The panther shouted as he leapt forward. With the shadow of the Aramaspi King evoked the panther gave a smack across all four heads, dizzying the beast. Then a fiery light was dragged out from each of them. “Ohhhhh… Oh yes…. Oh YEAH!” Rayne cheered. “Hold onto your bones because this is going to be good!” He called back to his Umbran creatures.

Releasing the weakened Hydra they all gathered around Rayne he reached out pulling another of the wolves back into him. With a bit of focus he outstretched his paw and then a tidal wave of darkness expanded out before him. Four giant heads roared out without a sound coming from any of them as an Obsidian-Hydra now bowed before Rayne respectfully. “Now THAT’s what I’m talking about!” He yelled excitedly and then his ears perked up as two more Hydra showed up to investigate what all the commotion had been. “Now fetch!” The two newcomers were shocked to see what looked like one of their kind made of black stone and shadow charging right at them.

“Free now, ride up on it.
Up to the heights, it takes you!
Go now, if you want it.
An otherworld awaits you!”

The panther’s fangs shined in the light as Rayne stood grinning like a madman while the ground shook from the violent thrashing before him. With a snap of his fingers he sat and waiting as his small army raced into the fray to help.

- -

Less than twenty minutes later the panther stood on the edge of a ravaged Froggy Bottom Bog. Now three semi conscious Hydra lay collapsed at the water’s edge as the panther stood surrounded by his Umbran forces. “Now… let’s see.” He said to himself sounding both calm and collected. Stretching out a paw he watched as three dark Hydra, four shadowy Cragadiles, and fifteen billowy wolves all disappeared at his command. and vanished back inside him. Focusing a little more he stretched out his paw and was Then once again twenty Obsidianwolves resurfaced at his call. “Perfect...” He cheered to himself sinisterly.

First one, then a second, and then a third fiery light shined through the swamp as the three normal Hydra slowly picked themselves up with their essence restored. They looked down to panther who somehow commanded the forces that had overpowered them all. “Boo!” He spoke out and quickly they went scrambling back through the swamp away from him. “Ha, ha, ha! Alright… let’s go home boys...” The panther said aloud to seemingly no one in particular and yet to many who were listening.

- -

What the panther didn’t see after he turned his back was how the forest moved once he was gone. Broken trees from the Hydra’s fighting sprouted new thorny limbs and stretched into the air. Branches pressed the ground to flatten the crushed and torn earth. Water that had been splashed from the bog slowly refilled. And as the ponies in Ponyville rested peacefully in their beds there was no one awake to notice as the treeline for the Everfree Forest suddenly expanded another few feet out toward the town.

- Inside Zecora’s Hut -

“So how did it go?” Maud asked as the two mares looked up from laying together on the zebra’s floor. They had just watched Rayne open the front door and make his way inside while wearing a rather confident smile upon his face. Both girls leaned together and sighed in relief as he did not appear to be covered in scratches or bite marks as they feared.

“Not to worry my dears. Everything went better than expected.” Then he moved to sit down in front of them and paused to give them each a tender kiss. “I was right after all in what I said after hunting the Chimera from Flame Geyser Swamp. As long as I’m actively paying attention for it, it has become nearly impossible to sneak up on me while I’m hunting. Granted, it can still be a little disorienting because I’m not used to being able to see in four directions at once.”

“Well I am pleased to see you return safe and sound. And can we assume that on your hunt there were many new creatures you found?” Zecora asked as she tried not to guess at what he had been up to tonight.

“Oh absolutely. In fact, I am just ‘sparking’ with excitement to tell you how things went.” He said as he surprised the girls with electricity flickering from his eyes. His girlfriends sat together listening as he explained how he acquired the magic of the Flash Bees, a swarm of Bite-acuda, four more Timberwolves, a couple Jackalope, and then finally he came across a Hydra at Froggy Bottom Bog.

“Rayne...” Maud said with a tone of concern to her deadpan voice. “You didn’t really go after something as dangerous as a Hydra did you?”

To this he smiled and said, “Actually, I went after three. And I have something to show you. Something amazing that I leaned I could do.” To this the girls looked to each other and then back to Rayne before nodding. Conjuring up one of his hounds he pointed to the shadowy creature saying, “Now these you are familiar with. I rip the essence from a Timberwolf and reform it with my own magic under my control.” The two nodded. “But then I realized that the magic I get from Timberwolves doesn’t really have a form of it’s own.”

“What do you mean?” Maud asked as she now gave a curious head turn toward the Obsidianwolf.

“Think about it.” Rayne explained. “The magic of the Everfree Forest is to grow completely on it’s own. It needs no help from ponies, it’s like a living thing by itself. And from that growth Timberwolves are created. Just as the forest will refuse to be held back if chipped away at, so too does the magic of Timberwolves seek to reform itself when one is destroyed. But that’s it. ‘To reform’ is the end of what that magic seeks. Now I have been making the Timberwolves into wolves of my own because that is what I assumed they needed to be. But then I thought… what if they didn’t?”

“Rayne, what is this that you say? Are you telling us that you can make other creatures this way?” Zecora’s eyes popped open wide as she marveled at the thought.

Then the girls gasped as the Umbran wolf shifted at Rayne’s behest into Cockatrice. It looked up to them with dark wings of stone that flapped over a shadowy body. It’s hard obsidian beak clucked and yet no voice came out from the small billowy bird. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t have a stare attack like this. It’s only taken the form of a Cockatrice.” Rayne explained as both girls leaned in to inspect the creature. Giving a smile from behind their shoulders Rayne waived his paw again and the bird shifted to being an Obsidian-Jackalope.

“Awww, Rayne it is cute. Oh, and it still has it’s strength of leg to boot.” Zecora chuckled seeing the dark rabbit hop itself around her hut now. Then with another of his paw Rayne shifted the shadow creature back into it's wolf form. It bowed to the stallion before quickly disappearing.

“It seems that I can shift the magic of Timberwolves into the form of any animal that I steal the essence from. And that includes larger animals as well. Cragadiles, Manticores… even Hydras.” He grinned.

“No... Can that really be so?" Zecora gasped, speaking more in disbelief than hesitation.

“You can really animate a Hydra Rayne?” Maud asked as the stallion nodded, explaining how he used the essence of the first one to subdue down the next two that later had arrived. But that was when his gray girlfriend looked to him inquisitively and asked a question he did not expect. “Can you animate us?”

“W-what?” Rayne asked softly.

“Well, you have the essence of Zecora and I. Not to mention nearly everypony in town now. Can you transform your hounds into shadow ponies?” She asked as Zecora looked on curiously as well.

“No, sadly that I can’t do. This magic seems specific to what it will or what it won’t combine with. I cannot transform an Obsidianwolf into any pony or even a copy of myself. Only my mirror pool magic does that for me. I cannot animate a copy of Tirek or the Aramaspi King or even a Griffon either. Now I of course can emulate the power of anything or anyone that I’ve taken. But these wolves of mine can only assume the form of creatures like beasts or fish or animals. Trust me, I tried. I was playing around with it for awhile after I figured out how to control this new ability of mine.”

The others nodded but that was when Zecora stood up and gave a very deep kiss to Rayne’s lips. “So impressive is our mighty stallion. However now the hunt is over and two mares are waiting for their rapscallion.” To this Rayne chucklrd a bit and Zecora giggled seductively in turn. Quickly she guided him into the arms of Maud who lay waiting on the fern floor seat while the zebra fetched a bowl to scoop a viscous substance from within her cauldron.

Instantly Rayne turned back to the Zecora and smiled as he asked, “Wait a minute. Zecora, is that what I think it is?” He asked while fondly remembering back to the first time she had prepared that fluid for him.

“It is indeed, and you need not worry. Certain I am of having the mixture right this time so in our use of it we needn’t hurry.” Zecora called out while bringing not one but two bowls over to where Rayne was now laying.

“What is that Rayne?” Maud asked as she looked up to the two.

But the stallion just smirked as he whispered seductively into her ear, “Oh weren’t both about to show you my sweet rocky candy. You’re going to love it...”

Author's Notes:

So first question... did anyone pick up that Rayne charming the Hydra in the last chapter was a foreshadowing for this chapter? Hehe.

Okay so it's been awhile since Rayne got to show a good display of his badassness. There have been a few time skips now. Rayne has been in Equestria for approximately two months by this point. He has gone hunting quite a few more times and now he has acquired the essence of nearly every single Everfree Forest creature except for maybe a Roc.

And with figuring out how to combine his hounds into other beasts, Rayne has mastered one of the greater powers that he will use going forward in this story. I hope that my explaination was clear for you to understand. I know many of you have had questions regarding these hounds and this chapter was meant to explain the extent of their abilities.