//------------------------------//
// Quarray Eels 
// Story: Beasts and Beings - Stories of Equestria's Inhabitants 
// by Strongbolt Stonewing 
//------------------------------//

	Quarray Eels. Like eels but more... Quarray. Known to reside within the holes and caverns of mountains, ravines and gorges, living most of their life in one tube, in one nest, in one giant rock.

The shape and body of a Quarray Eel is similar to that of a regular eel, however, it is much larger, its head is more pointed (like a dragon's) and its scales are more-

Quarray.

I was going to say solid, but okay.

Quarray Eels are dangerous beasts if provoked. They spend most of their time dormant in their rocky abodes feeding off of moss, insects and any unfortunate creature that stumbles remotely near its home.

These beasts are very territorial: they refuse to allow anyone near their caverns. They've been known to wait idly until a careless bird, Pegasus or other winged creature floats by... then they launch out and snatch them beneath their ghastly, sharp teeth.

Quarray Eels aren't particularly common, so you needn't worry about any near you.

Unless, of course, you're in the middle of a ravine. Then you might be in trouble.

But, we've dealt with Quarray Eels before and I'm sure you can too.

There are two very simple and effective methods for dealing with a Quarray Eel: one is a sharp blow to the mylohyoid region.

That's the bit just under the chin (it's connected to their central nervous system).

And the other, less violent option is pepper.

When we were first starting out our adventures, we stumbled across a chasm just south of Ponyville. The locals called it 'Ghastly Gorge' and we wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Turns out that place is rigged with more traps and twists than the entire Daring Do collection.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

Oh no.

We arrived at a solid wall of odd-shaped holes.

And Strongbolt, being Strongbolt, decided to 'check it out.'

I'll give you three guesses as to what came out after me!

Quarray Eel?

Shiera! They hadn't finished guessing!

I think it's pretty obvious considering the chapter is called-

So! The 'holes' turned about to be nests. Luckily it was Spring (when Quarray Eels hibernate), so the majority of them were either asleep or too tired to move.

But that still left you with one, very grumpy, Quarray Eel.

Well, as the old saying goes: "He who hits beast with brick, lives another day."

Who said that?

Me. Just now. It's literally three lines up.

...

...

Words cannot describe the intense lack of intelligence that you possess.

Thank you?

*Sigh*
As you can probably tell, Strongbolt did the one thing he's capable of not messing up, and hit the Quarray Eel with a brick.

We'd originally planned a picnic that day, so we had a hamper full of various foods and spices, including pepper.

While the eel was distracted, I sprinkled pepper underneath its nose...

Turns out that particular eel had a rather nasty cold and the impact from my brick, combined with the severe reaction to the pepper, was enough to set off a gigantic sneeze that blew the creature straight back into its cave; leaving the beast utterly shell-shocked and leaving me covered in its nasal slime.

I couldn't tell what made you greener: the slime, or the vomit that followed just after.

Both were pretty horrific, but hey, you should have seen the eel. Now that was true pain...