//------------------------------// // Full of Cotton Candy // Story: Painted Mirror // by Lord of Turtles //------------------------------// Spike was having a hard time. “Angel, just hold on!” cried the little dragon as he waddled after the springing stallion, Angel clutching to his back leg for dear life. Spike dropped to all fours and tore at the ground after them. “I'm coming!” Tank hovered overhead, staring at the proceedings with a general lack of comprehension. The stallion hit the ground at a sharp angle and went sailing straight up, banging his head on Tank's underside. The pony went limp and fell to the ground in a heap, and a moment later the disrupted reptile landing next to him. Spike leaped onto him, throwing a coil of rope around the pony's reverse-jointed legs. He pulled on the rope until the stallion's knees touched, depriving him of the leverage to spring around. The ill pony didn't even realize what was going on, as he had been made completely insensate by the blow to the head and the terrible fever. Spike huffed, out of breath for a second before saying “Good work Tank. You too Angel.” Tank gave him a wrinkly smile and a nod. Angel just shot him a salty glare and hopped away, clearly done with this madness. Spike retrieved a small wagon and rolled the delirious stallion onto it. He dragged the poor pony back to city hall and quickly through the front doors. He found the first unoccupied bed and roughly manhandled him onto it, laying another rope across his hips and shoulders to keep him from springing free. He wiped his brow and looked up to the rafters. “Hey, hey! Owlowiscious, hey!” “Who.” replied the fluttering owl. “You know who. Go find Twilight, tell her to come by. I've already rounded up another four this morning. We're running out of beds!” The owl flapped through an open window in search of his owner. Spike watched him and grumbled to himself. “Assuming that she isn't a frog already.” Spike looked across the rotunda at the dozens or ponies afflicted with the Froggy Flu. The best were semi-lucid, alert to their surroundings and sitting upright, a few chatting to their neighbors or even ambulatory enough to retrieve their own water and pillows. The worst were completely insensate, their fevers wracking them so badly they had to be strapped down to their beds or they would go springing off, unable to control their mutated muscles. The little dragon gathered up chilled cloths and sipping cups of water to distribute to those who needed them. He caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye and saw a pegasus with a blonde mane zip past a window, back legs distorted and bent as she flapped ungainly through the air. Spike sighed and grabbed his rope, jogging out the front doors and onto the streets of Ponyville. “Hurry up, Raj. I don't know how much longer I can keep this place together.” * * * “I have no idea where we are.” Groused Raj as he stared down at the map. Pinkie scanned it quickly and pointed her hoof at the map. “Are we... here?” “No, that's the train tracks.” “What aboooouuuut... here?” She moved her hoof slightly “That's a quarter inch to the left of the train tracks. And also, no.” She tapped a hoof on her chin in thought. “Well, if we find out everywhere we aren't, then the last place will have to be where we are.” She nodded. Raj blinked “Actually, that could work. Or something like it.” He scanned the paper, “We know we're west of the village, which is west of the tracks, so we're somewhere in all this.” He indicated a huge chunk of the forest. “I think that's the best we're gonna get. If we keep heading on, we'll find the river eventually. When we need to head back, we'll just go east until we hit the tracks and follow them to the meeting spot.” Pinkie smiled “See, Rajy? Told you we'd figure it out.” “Don't call me Rajy.” “Okie doki loki!” she chirped, hopping along behind him as they set off again. Hours of walking had done little to change their scenery. Their entire sky was dominated by vast trees that reached towards the heavens while the ground was either a carpet of dead needles and hardy growth or bare red rock cracked apart by monstrous roots. It was easy to traverse but somewhat monotonous, so it wasn't five minutes later before Pinkie once again tried to strike up conversation. “Sooo, what's living with Twilight like?” she asked cheerfully. “What?” he shot back over his shoulder. Pinkie sprang in front of him “Living with Twilight. Is it true she snores? She seems like a snorer to me!” Raj furrowed his brow. “I don't know. I sleep on a cot in a storage room.” “Oooh, well what about Spike? How's living with him?” “He uses up all the hot water. Seeing as how I didn't have hot water a month ago, it's not a big deal," he replied somewhat blandly as he walked past her. Pinkie watched him go and started hopping after him. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake are the same way sometimes. It's their house though, so I guess it's fine. Anyway, cold showers just let me pretend it's winter for a little while. Unless it is winter, then it's kinda rough. I don't look good with blue hooves.” “Uh-huh," he said back idly. “Pound and Pumpkin are super fun to live with, but they're still babies, so, y'know. You live with kids, Rajy?” “Don't call me Rajy. And yeah, I did for a long time.” Pinkie squealed, “Isn't it the bestest thing ever? Having energetic little things squirming and playing all the time? Always ready for fun and new things! I love it!” Raj sighed. “Yeah, it was pretty great. Looking forward to getting back to it.” She paused, eyes widening. “Oh my gosh, do you have foals of your own?” “We don't call them that, but yeah, one. A boy. His name's Ben.” Raj smiled faintly “He's twelve, actually, thirteen now.” Pinkie's eyes lit up. “That is the greatest thing ever! Ohmygosh, you have to show me pictures of your sweet little boy! Oh, I bet he looks just like his dad, all brown and tall and strong and-” she paused and sniffed the air, her nose crinkling. “Eeeeww!” she dropped down and covered her muzzle “What is that?” Raj shrugged. “Huh, wasn't me. Swear.” “No, not like that. It's... ugh! Can't you smell it?” She dug into her bag and produced a clothespin that she promptly clamped over her nose. Raj sniffed the air and picked up nothing out of the ordinary, just pine and rotting leaves. He shrugged and Pinkie pointed, still shaking her head. He followed her direction and circled around another massive tree before he smelled something. A heavy, cloying reek that stuck in the throat. Raj winced and covered his face. “Yeah, I know what that is.” “What?” asked Pinkie, voice nasally from the clip. “Carrion.” Sure enough, in the gully of the next tree's roots, he saw a massive carcass, laying on its side with its guts hanging out. The surrounding dirt and leaves were stained black with blood. Raj frowned and called out, “Pinkie, you probably want to stay back.” “Why? What is-” the words died in her throat as she rounded the root and laid eyes on the mutilated creature. She inhaled sharply and looked away. Raj stepped in front of her. “Pinkie, why don't you go on ahead, I'll worry about this, okay?” She shook her head and blinked a few times before looking up at him with a weak smile. “It's okay, Rajy. I'm fine.” She turned back to the body. “That's a chimera, isn't it?” “It was, yeah. Been here for about a day judging by the smell.” Raj could easily see the leonine head, as well as the front paws and back hooves. The snake tail trailed along the ground, the actual snakehead torn off to leave a black, bloody stump. “I saw one in the Everfree, this one is a bit smaller, I think. Doubt it went down easy.” “I bet.” She trotted forward to the edge of the blackened dirt. “A chimera can survive the loss of any two of its heads, the remaining ones take over for the others. That's also why they never need to fully go to sleep, one head sleeps at a time and the other two keep it moving.” Raj raised an eyebrow. “Really?” “Yup. Something Nana Pie taught me. She knew everything about monsters. Though I don't know what could do this.” She looked at the corpse and shivered. Raj moved closer for a better look. “Big claw marks on the belly, tore right through the hide and muscle. Probably one big thing, not a lot of smaller ones. If it was a lot of smaller ones, there would be more eaten. Most of the meat is still on here.” Pinkie bit her lip. “You think it was the monster that's been attacking Hollta?” “Maybe. If it preys on ponies I doubt it would go after something as big as a Chimera. But I don't know, Equestria resists rationality.” He leaned close and peeked at a puncture mark on the underside of the lion's jaw. “What the?” “Rajy, can we go? This is creepy.” “Yeah, one sec.” Raj pulled out his knife and poked in the wound, encountering something hard. He pried at it, slowly drawing out a round tube. “The hell is this?” he asked himself as he pulled out a long, hard spike as around as a pencil, stained black with chimera blood. “Rajy! Don't play with the dead monster!” Pinkie scolded. Raj looked over the sharp piece in his hand for a second before tossing it away. “Sure, sorry. Let's go.” They walked in silence until the chimera corpse was beyond the range of their noses. Pinkie shook her head and put her smile back in place. “Anyway, where were we? Oh, right, we were talking about your adorably sweet foal, Ben. So what's he like?” Raj blanched. “Um, Pinkie, could we not talk about that? I'm don't... I'm not really feeling that right now.” Her face fell some, but she nodded. “Okay, but I don't want to talk about the dead thing either.” “Okay, well we don't have to talk you know. We can just keep walking.” “Oh, well, okay. That's fine.” She walked along for about ten steps before saying. “Oooorr... we could play I Spy?” Raj rolled his eyes and smiled weakly. “Sure, why not?” * * * Eight-hundred-and-thirty-two rounds of I Spy later, they finally found the river. “Hey look, we're here.” Chirped Pinkie. “Oh thank God.” Raj sighed blissfully and knelt at the shore to cup his hands into the cold water. He took a long draw from the running river and poured the rest over his head. “Ah, that feels nice.” Pinkie smiled at him. “So, should we start looking?” She drew a magnifying glass and her clippers from her bag. “Not yet. We follow the river down to the lowlands where the cliffs and caves are. Troll's Beard grows where it's dark and wet, so if we're going to find it, that's where.” He stood up. “Let's keep going, we have a few hours of daylight left.” “Do we?” Pinkie looked down the wide river towards the setting sun, the bottom of it just shy of kissing the horizon. “The sun's kinda low. And pretty.” “We got time. Come on.” Raj trudged forward, shading his eyes from the glare. Pinkie whined. “Ohh, come on, Rajy. Can't we stop for a break at least? I'm tired.” “Should have slept on the train like me.” “B-But... I'm hungry!” She rubbed her stomach with a shaky frown. “We'll eat when we camp. Now move.” Pinkie looked back and forth. “But, uh, ooohh, Rajy! Look over there, look at that thing! Isn't that thing important?” She pointed across the river, hoping to distract him. He turned back to her sharply “Pinkie! Do not call me-” He caught something moving across the river. “The hell?” Pinkie looked over and said, “Oh, hey, there is something over there. Neat!” She craned her neck up to try and get a better look at the creature. The river was a good forty meters across, but even from that far away Raj could tell thing was big. Its head was dunked in the water to drink and it lifted when it heard the two on the other side. Once they saw it catch sight of them, they both heard a chattering cry echo across the wate,r and it dove in, swaying as it worked it's way across the river. “Hmm, you think it's friendly?” she asked him. “It's not friendly, nothing is ever friendly. Run, Pinkie!” Raj turned and started booking it along the shore. Pinkie rolled her eyes “Oh, that's not fair, Rajy. There are all kinds of nice creatures in Equestria. Why, once you get to know this one, I'm sure you two will be-” The creature tearing across the river breached the surface, chatter-screaming again and opening wide to show off a maw of ragged teeth with no lips, just constantly bared fangs. A pink blur zipped past Raj, churning up the soil in a mad rush. “Rajy! It's a Bandersnatch! Run for your life!” “A what?” He dared a look over his shoulder and saw that it was gaining fast, its bulk propelled with six thick legs, its long fur swaying with every multi-legged step. He could actually feel its blue eyes on him like a pair of lit cigarettes hovering over his skin. The whole time it kept letting out its guttural chattering. Raj broke left, heading into the woods. The Bandersnatch slewed to chase, long tail whip-cracking at the air as it turned on a dime and bore down on him quickly. Raj kicked up over a root three times his height and slid down flat against the other side. He felt the thing's gaze break, and he drew his axes, breathing heavy. The creature leaped over the root easily, soaring over Raj's head and pivoting on a pair of claws to round on him. The creature went low, legs curled up to spring forward. It snapped and chewed at the air, gaze burning his chest. From head to rump, it's body was maybe twenty feet long, its tail another fifteen. Its back bristled with curved black spines over a blue-black pelt of waving fur, the rest of it a dirty white fading into a pure white under the neck. Its mouth had no lips, shining black fangs on constant display. Raj gave his axes a roll and said, “I'm guessing you're not interested in talking?” The Bandersnatch chatter-screamed as loud as a gunshot and sprang forward, four claws presented to tear him to pieces.