Fluttershy had never been more scared in her life.
When the Snake monsters slithered out of the Everfree, she had only one thought in her head. RUN. She almost did, but an instant later, she remembered the Stallion's injuries; he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. It was just her and Applejack now. The cowfilly had taken an aggressive stance, and Fluttershy proceeded to take a similar position.
Suddenly, the demons opened their mouths, and spoke in a horrific, drawling hiss that somehow reminded Fluttershy of a whoopee cushion; an evil, mutant, demonic whoopee cushion.
"Give him to ussssssss." The creatures spoke in unison. "Give him to usssssss, and your pitiful livesssssss will be ssssspared." Every muscle fiber in Fluttershy's body told her to get out of there, but she knew she couldn't leave the poor colt to these monsters.
Fluttershy's muscles tensed as she spoke. "W-we won't give him to you!" Fluttershy sounded more confident than she felt. "Don't be foolish; you barely know thisssss colt." The shorter creature drawled. "Would you truly waste your life for him?" The taller creature's tongue flickered out of her mouth.
"We ain't givin' 'em up." Applejack snarled at the scaly She-devil. "We won't let ya hurt 'im anymore!"
"Ssssso be it." The creatures suddenly vanished within the shadows. They hadn't left; Fluttershy could hear them slithering in the darkness of the Everfree. Fluttershy and Applejack stepped back to the injured Pegasus to give him a better defense. He was unconscious now, leaving him completely vulnerable.
Fluttershy waited, her adrenaline pumping through her body. She was trying to remember some self defense techniques she'd seen on television. Sure, it was off of TV, but it was better than nothing.
Suddenly, the taller of the serpentine sisters lashed out from the darkness and coiled behind Applejack. The orange mare didn't stand a chance; she attempted to buck her off, but the serpent creature was too agile for it to be effective. The demon wrapped herself around the cowfilly and began to constrict her. Fluttershy flew towards the sudden conflict, attempting to pry the monster off of her friend.
The fearsome creature lashed another one of her snake appendages at Fluttershy, wrapping around her hooves and tossing her like a ragdoll.
Fluttershy skidded across the dirt and crashed into an apple tree, like a skipping stone across a river. The yellow Pegasus stumbled back into standing position, her vision blurring from her head hitting the tree trunk. When her vision cleared, she could see that Big Macintosh had come outside and was wrestling with the taller serpent fiend in an attempt to rescue his sister.
Applejack's face was turning red; it was obvious the monster's serpent appendages were suffocating her. Fluttershy started to gallop towards her friend, when tree roots suddenly shot out from the earth and wrapped themselves around her hooves. Fluttershy tripped, and she suspected she had chipped a tooth when her face met the dirt.
Fluttershy scrambled back onto her hoofs, and saw that the tree roots were rapidly growing; the shorter Snake Woman was using magic! Fluttershy leaped over the roots before they could weave into a cage, and charged towards the magic-wielding serpent.
The creature attempted to cast another spell, before Fluttershy knocked her into the ground; this began a difficult tussle between her and the serpent.
Wait...I'm seeing a pattern here. Fluttershy noticed that this serpent seemed specialized in using long range magic. The monster that was constricting Applejack was specialized in close, personal combat...
Fluttershy successfully held down the fiend. She struggled, cursing in a language Fluttershy didn't understand. She attempted at using magic, but Fluttershy was too close to her for it to work.
If up close combat is all it takes to beat THIS snake... The truth dawned on Fluttershy. We'll need magic to beat THAT snake! "Big Mac!" Fluttershy called out to the bright red stallion. He turned his head, only to be tied up and tossed to the side by Applejack's assailant, similar to how she had dealt with Fluttershy earlier. His head knocked into a rock, and he was out like a light.
NO! Fluttershy began to panic. Suddenly, the Snake Woman being held down by Fluttershy had her serpent-heads hair all bite into her leg. "AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" Fluttershy released the Snake Woman, who didn't waste a moment in slithering back to the shadows. My leg... Fluttershy could feel tears rolling down her cheeks. Her front left leg had snake bites running up and down it, and it burned with a pain she knew was spreading to the rest of her body. She could feel the venom coursing through her veins, making each second more unbearable than the last.
Her vision went fuzzy, and Fluttershy collapsed. She saw that the Snake Woman who had poisoned her was slithering towards the unconscious Pegasus, while her partner began to finish off Applejack. The orange mare wasn't breathing, and she had stopped struggling. No... Fluttershy couldn't tell if Applejack was alive or not.
Suddenly, a blue streak shot across the field, launching itself into the shorter Snake Woman. The fiend hissed ferociously as Rainbow Dash beat down the miserable creature. Suddenly, a purple unicorn mare with a lavender streak in her mane stepped in front of Fluttershy's view, galloping towards her with a bag on her back filled with tonics, medicines, and antidotes.
"..Z...Zecora...?" Fluttershy realized how stupid this question was. Zecora was a Zebra; not a purple unicorn. "No. It's me, Twilight." The mare spoke with a worried smile crossing her lips. "You'll be fine." Twilight fished out a bottle filled with a red liquid.
"Twilight, d...don't worry about me..." it took Fluttershy a great deal of strength to speak, and she had to hurry. "Applejack...the...the stallion..." The poison killed her voice.
Twilight poured the red liquid onto Fluttershy's snake bites as she struggled to speak again. Suddenly, the short Snake Woman who bit Fluttershy grabbed onto Twilight's back legs and tossed her into the dirt. Fluttershy saw Rainbow Dash writhing in pain on the ground. She had been poisoned, just like Fluttershy had.
Twilight recovered quickly, and as she scrabbled back onto her hooves, her horn glowed with a purplish hue as a protective field of energy formed around her. "Fluttershy! Can you hear me?" Twilight called to her Pegasus friend as the Snake woman struck against her newly formed magical shield. Fluttershy could hear just fine; her senses were coming back to her. But the poison must have done something to her throat, because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't speak.
Suddenly, the short Snake woman began casting spells of all forms against Twilight's shield. Fluttershy could tell by looking at her that it was taking Twilight a great deal of concentration to hold the shield. Fluttershy stood up and flew towards the fiendish serpent, now prepared to avoid her snake-heads hair as she fell into another wrestling match. Twilight's shield vanished along with her horn's purplish hue as she galloped across the field to help Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy suddenly found herself pushed away from the Snake Woman when this caught her attention.
The Monster vanished within the shadows again as Fluttershy pulled herself onto her hooves. The yellow pegasus didn't care; she galloped towards her friends as she tried to get their attention.
Twilight was spreading the red liquid across Rainbow's injuries as Fluttershy caught up with them. She did everything possible to catch Twilight's attention; waved her hooves, pointed to her and Applejack, and finally started shaking the unicorn.
"What IS it, Fluttershy?" Twilight spoke with an annoyed edge to her voice. Normally, Fluttershy would have been discouraged from doing anything at all, but this was an emergency. She pointed to Applejack, as the longer of the the serpentine siblings continued her constriction. Twilight's eyes got visibly wide, and she quickly helped Rainbow Dash up. "Rainbow, go help Applejack!" Fluttershy facehooved. Only magic would stop that creature, not brute force! Twilight didn't notice Fluttershy's frustration. She was already galloping towards the injured pegasus stallion.
Twilight was mumbling to herself as she started pulling out healing supplies. The Stallion was still unconscious, and Twilight began began spreading several of the tonics on his injuries as she read instructions levitated by her magic.
Fluttershy's attention turned to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The blue mare was having great difficulty striking out at the taller Snake Woman, as she was barely able to avoid her enemy's attacks. However, the Snake woman's focus on Rainbow was still greatly helping Applejack; her grip on the cowfilly was weakened because of her focus on the blue pegasus.
Fluttershy's panic could only get worse. She had no way of telling her friends her discovery of the creature's weakness's, and it was killing them! Fluttershy decided to do something she wouldn't have done any other time. She grabbed Twilight's bags and began searching through them for a potion or tonic to help her speak again.
Cure burns, no...kill warts, no... The bag was filled with miscellaneous cures and tonics. It would take forever to find the right one!
Suddenly, Twilight pulled the bag away from Fluttershy. "What are you DOING?" Twilight looked at Fluttershy with bewilderment. Fluttershy started pointing to her throat, and mouthed IMPORTANT. Twilight shook her head. "Fluttershy, he needs my direct attention! I don't have time for this!" Twilight returned her attention to the injured pegasus.
Fluttershy wanted to scream to the sky, feeling her flutterrage coming on. Fluttershy took several deep breaths, trying her hardest to keep calm.
Rainbow Dash was whipped by one of the snake demon's appendages, and flew across the field, crashing into the barn. This action, however, proved to be Applejack's savior. The cowfilly was able to pull herself out of the Snake Woman's grip, and scrambled across the field as far from the monster as possible.
The Snake Woman's attention was no longer on Applejack, however. She had noticed Twilight healing the pegasus, and was now slithering across the field at incredible speed towards them.
Rainbow Dash was back on her hooves, and Applejack was gasping for air as she rejoined the group in the defense of the Pegasus. Maybe we can pull this off! Fluttershy was getting the butterfly's-in-her-stomach sensation as she watched the Snake Woman slither towards the group.
Twilight's horned glowed with the same purplish hue as earlier, and a spherical shield raised around the group. "Rainbow Dash!" The purple unicorn was sweating." You...you need to help him! I have to keep this up!" Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to protest, but no sound came out. A bewildered expression crossed the Blue Mare's face as she attempted to speak again, and still, no noise.
Oh, for the love of Celestia! Fluttershy pushed Rainbow aside, and began to search through the bag of potions. There weren't any cough drops, or anything for clearing throats.The best Fluttershy could find was a bottle of honey. It'll have to do. Fluttershy released a silent sigh, and she passed it onto the blue mare as she began to panic. Fluttershy then grabbed the instructions, and found that what was on it wouldn't help this Stallion at ALL.
It told how to heal burns, care for cuts, etc. The damage the stallion was suffering was far more serious. Wait a minute... Fluttershy looked more closely at his injuries, and would have screamed if she could. His skin was peeling off, ON IT'S OWN, his muscles were rotting, ON THEIR OWN, and his bones were hollowing ON THEIR OWN. The "burns" weren't burns, his body was corroding! Fluttershy pulled the tied blanket off of him, and her fears were confirmed. His wing was falling apart, his muscles rotting and his bones were weakening in his wing. The corrosion was happening fast here, as bits of rotten flesh and weakened bone fell off.
"Can't...hold it much l-longer..." Twilight looked like she was going to faint. Applejack suddenly spoke. "Alright, guy's! Ya'll get ready t' fight!" Rainbow had taken the honey, but it wasn't helping her voice. She simply nodded, and Fluttershy reluctantly did so as well. We have to hurry! Fluttershy didn't think the stallion would last much longer. All they could do was stand and fight, for now.
Twilight lowered the shield, and the Snake Woman hissed with delight. She lashed out at the unicorn, and began to slither towards the dying pegasus. Rainbow Dash launched herself at the monster, but the Snake Woman darted away just in time, and wrapped herself around the blue mare from behind. Rainbow tried to fly away, but the demon pulled her down to earth, and began to constrict her. Applejack ran towards the conflict, but was whipped by one of the snake's appendages, knocking her away. Fluttershy flew towards Twilight's limp body, and attempted to pull her back into consciousness. She was breathing, so Fluttershy knew she was alive.
Wake up! WAKE UP! Fluttershy wanted to yell, to scream, to say SOMETHING, but the poison had made that impossible, so She had to settle for trying to slap the unicorn awake.
"wha-" Twilight's eye's fluttered; the magic had taken quite a toll on her, and the Snake Woman's attacks against her shield hadn't helped. Fluttershy got Twilight on her hooves and began to wave her hooves wildly, trying to tell her to use magic on the Snake Woman.
Rainbow Dash was struggling, still being constricted by the serpent, and Applejack kept trying to strike out at it, only to knocked back several feet by the snake's appendages. The Snake Woman knew she was winning, and she was making a strange rasping sound that Fluttershy suspected was laughter.
Twilight got up groggily, and she quickly noticed the conflict. Her horn took on it's purplish glow, but it was dim and flickered. Twilight's magic summoned up the root's of the trees, and they wrapped around the Snake Woman's body and pried her off of Rainbow Dash. The Snake Woman attempted to pull the roots off, but they were powerful and numerous. Every time one of her appendages broke free, two more roots grabbed onto it again. Eventually, she was completely held down by the roots. Finally, the demon was at the mercy of Twilight's magic.
Fluttershy stepped towards the trapped creature cautiously. She was screaming bloody murder, trying to shake free, but the tree roots had her secured. She wasn't going anywhere.
"Wha-what IS that thing?" Rainbow Dash suddenly found her voice. It was weak and raspy, but she could still speak. "Ah got NO idea." Applejack stepped up beside Fluttershy. "wait...weren't there TWO of 'em?" Fluttershy realized they had only been fighting one of them.
Fluttershy cleared her throat, and finally was able to speak with a weak voice. "I-I think the other one ran a-away..." Suddenly, the Snake Woman burst into flames, screaming in pain. Everypony leaped back, shocked by what was happening. Twilight's magic weakened, and the roots released the Serpent, but it didn't matter. Before two seconds had passed, she was reduced to ashes.
"Wh-what just happened?" Fluttershy was shaking from the sudden, graphic event. "That...was a Gorgon." Twilight stepped towards them, and Rainbow Dash had to catch her when she collapsed from exhaustion. "What's a Gorgon?" The pegasus asked Twilight as she helped her back onto her hooves.
"A Gorgon is a serpent-class chimera. She isn't a natural being; she was created." Twilight seemed to have caught her second wind as she spoke. "Chimera's are under somepony's complete control. When they can't do their master's bidding, the spell used to create them wears off, and they...well..." She tipped her head towards the ashes.
Suddenly, Applejack spoke up. "Wait a minute; Ah asked ya to get Zecora! How did ya find Twilight?" The orange mare looked at Rainbow Dash with a suspicious look in her eyes.
"Zecora was gone." Rainbow had to clear her throat again; the poison's effect was wearing off, but it was still difficult for her to speak. "Twilight came down the path when I tried to come back. She was visiting Zecora, and...well, she was better than nothing."
"We don't ha-have time for this!" Fluttershy galloped towards the injured pegasus. "He's still injured, and you're all chatting like school-fillies!" She grabbed twilight's pack, and as she turned to the pegasus, she saw his wing was in an even worse condition than before. It was corroding like it was dipped in acid.
"W-what's happening to him?" Twilight stepped next to her friend. "I-I don't know...he...he's...corroding..." Fluttershy didn't even know if they could save him now.
"Wait.." Twilight's horn glowed it's purplish hue as she touched his chest with it. A few seconds later, she pulled away, with a grim look on her face. "He's been cursed. We can still save him, but we have to move NOW!" Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. "Get somepony who can take him to the hospital. MOVE!" Twilight shouted when the pegasus hesitated. She flew off at top speed towards ponyville. Twilight turned to Applejack. "Applejack, you and I are going to have to remove the core of the curse if we're gonna have any chance at saving him. In this case, the core is the limb that was struck when the curse was cast. So..." Twilight gulped. Fluttershy could tell she openly felt like vomiting. "We're gonna have to tear off his wing."