The Phantom Pony of Everfree

by LightningSword

Attack of the Lamia

Nocturne moaned as the dark shapes swimming in front of his eyes slowly came back into focus. Ughh . . . what the buck happened? How long have I been out? He slowly stood up, then felt his heart plummet as his hoof shot up to his head. Once he felt the reassuring fabric of his fedora, he relaxed.

Okay, think . . . last thing I remember . . . three voices babbling at the edge of the woods . . . not Fluttershy, I know her voice by now . . . too young to be her, anyway. I went toward them, about to scare them off like any trespasser . . . my wings flexed . . . my eyes glowed, and then . . . .

Blackout. Nothing else came to him.

Using his superior night vision, Nocturne scanned the area around him. Weak and dying trees on either side of the forest path appeared to have been shredded by claws. Nocturne scrutinized the marks on these trees, then scanned the path for tracks. Looking once, twice, as many as ten times over the same area. Those marks look familiar, but I can’t quite place them . . . well, whatever it was, it was good, Nocturne thought. Strong, stealthy, and got the drop on me. Nopony’s ever done that before.

Well, except . . . .

Nocturne suddenly felt a brutal headache overcome him for a split-second, and moaned briefly before it subsided. Then, as if prompted by the pain in his head, he could place those marks. An event. A showdown of some kind. From the past.

“Oh, no. It’s back . . . .”

Nocturne froze in the dark. By now, the assailant seemed to have scared his intruders away, for both it and they were nowhere to be seen or heard. But it’ll most likely be back soon, Nocturne reasoned. It was headed the same way I was, otherwise I would have seen it coming. And there’s nowhere to go but into town. It has to come back eventually. Ponyville probably won’t take kindly to it.

Well, if my experiences are any indication . . . .

“You know of its return, my old friend Nocturne?”

Nocturne spun around to see the owner of the new voice before him, and saw a zebra with a Mohawk staring earnestly at him.

“Oh . . .” Nocturne replied bitterly, “it’s you . . . .”

“Indeed, my friend,” Zecora spoke with the same earnestness, “I’d gotten a gist. Of our mutual antagonist. I knew she was up to no good, so I followed her to the edge of the wood.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Nocturne growled. “No creature dares invade my territory. Especially after the last time that thing skulked around here.”

“You were quite firm in your intent. But she seems unlikely to relent.”

Nocturne sighed and cursed under his breath. “Even after the last time I had to put that thing in its place . . . .”

“I remember that time well,” Zecora replied with a nod. “I’d been close to hearing doom’s knell.”

“And you haven’t let me forget it since,” Nocturne grumbled. “At least it got you to keep quiet about me.” He trailed off as he glared at her. “For the most part . . . .”

“My apologies are sincere,” Zecora replied solemnly.

“Yeah, I’ll bet they are . . . .”

“But we mustn’t discuss it here. She’ll be back with fresh prey. We cannot let her feast today.”

Nocturne blinked. “What? Prey from Ponyville? Why should I care what that thing does to them?” He lowered his head and squeezed his eyes shut. “After what they did to me . . . .”

The silence of the woods encased them like a cocoon for a long while. After what seemed like hours, Nocturne opened his eyes, looked into Zecora’s offended expression, and spoke up. “Why are you still here?”

Zecora’s brow furrowed. “All this time, and you still can’t cope,” she mumbled. “If you truly believe that . . . then there is no hope.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s supposed to mean, that if you stay . . . .” Zecora turned and walked deeper into the woods, turning her head back one last time. “. . . Then you truly are the beast they say . . . .”

Without another word, the zebra vanished into the darkness, leaving a stunned Nocturne staring into the shadows where she’d been.

---

BANG!!

Everypony froze at the sound of another tremendous impact against the library door. Another BANG, and the fillies started cringing; after what they'd described, they seemed sure of what was making that sound.

“Ummm . . .” Spike muttered with a gulp, seeming to realize what he’d just said. “Never mind.”

BANG!!

“It found us!!” Sweetie Belle screamed. “It actually found us!!”

“It’s okay, girls,” Twilight spoke up over the whimpering. “You’ll be okay, I promise—”

CRAAAASH!!

The door was broken down, taking much of the wall around it with it, and a menacing, 25-foot-long creature slithered in—the very same creature illustrated in Twilight's book, spotted coat, scales, snake tail, wings, red eyes and all.

“Ahhh, there you are!” the Lamia roared as she spotted the Crusaders. “Thought you could slip away from me?!”

“NO!” Fluttershy bellowed, seizing her dormant courage and standing in front of the fillies. “You go away and leave them alone!”

“Get away from them!” Twilight added as she fired up a magical glow in her horn. “We won't let you hurt them!”

The Lamia merely chuckled at the mares' attempts at bravado. “Ponies . . . pathetic little beasts!” she cawed. “Now get away from my meal, or be prepared to pay the price!”

Twilight gritted her teeth and shot a blinding beam from her horn. Almost a blur, the Lamia moved quickly to one side, and the beam blasted a hole in the wall. With the same lightning-quick movements, she closed in on Twilight and brushed her off to the side with a swipe of a paw before the Alicorn could react, knocking her into a bookshelf and burying her under a cascade of books.

“Twilight!” Fluttershy screamed. “How could y—aah!” She yelped as the Lamia lashed her with her tail, catching her in the chest and bashing her into the wall behind her. She was unconscious before she hit the floor.

“TWILIGHT! FLUTTERSHY!” Spike screamed, his eyes dinner-plate wide. He stared up at the monster, quivering, before swallowing hard and holding up his claws. “W-well, come on!” he barked, his claws curled into fists and his knees buckling. “P-put ‘em up!”

The Lamia looked at Spike with a cocked eyebrow and a scowl. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Come on! I d-dare you! I’m th-the hero of the C-Crystal Empire! I w-won’t let you off th-that eas—”

The Lamia slammed a paw on top of Spike’s head, pressing him face-first into the floor, before slithering towards the trembling trio of foals. “You’re not getting away again . . . .”

Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle could only huddle together and squeal.

Without another sound, the Lamia swept her tail in front of her, wrapped it around Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, and squeezed them into a tight bind. The Crusaders struggled against her grip, but could not move.

Twilight moaned as she emerged from the pile of books. She saw the Lamia push up off of Spike’s head and leap out of the library through the hole she'd made. “No!!” she bellowed and fired another beam. The magical projectile uselessly punched a new gap in the edge of the hole, just barely missing the foalnapper. Her victims’ screams could be heard all the way outside, fading as the Lamia took them away.

Slamming a hoof on the ground, Twilight grunted before running toward the hole. Right before reaching it, she heard a soft moan and turned back toward the inside of the library. “Fluttershy!” she gasped, racing toward her and kneeling beside her. “No, no, no! Fluttershy! Say something, please!” She looked around in a panic, as if hoping to find something to help revive her. “Fluttershy, please be okay!” she shrieked. “Please, not now . . . not after everything I said before . . . oh, please be okay!”

Spike moaned as he stood up in a daze, but snapped to his senses quickly. “NO! I couldn’t stop it! It took them! What do we do?!” Spike screamed his head off and ran around in circles in a panic, “WhatdowedowhatdowedowhatdowedowhatdowedoWHATDOWEDO?!”

“Calm down, Spike!” Twilight yelled over him. “Look, I’ll stay here and take care of Fluttershy, you go and gather the others! I’ll join you as soon as I can, okay?”

Spike froze where he stood as Twilight's words relaxed him. “Right! Gather the others! All right, here I go!” And Spike rushed out of (what was left of) the door, stepping over wooden debris and taking off like a little green-and-purple blur.

“Hurry!” Twilight called after him, then turned her attention back to her fallen friend, “Oh, Fluttershy, hang in there! Everything's gonna be okay! I'm right here with you, and Spike's on his way to get Rarity, and Applejack, and Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. They'll get the girls back! I know they will! But just stay with me, okay? After what I said, what I thought, I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. I feel like . . . I feel like this . . . .” Twilight glanced back at the hole in the library and stared for a good while.

“I feel like this is my fault . . . .”

After staunchly believing Nocturne was behind this, the pain of knowing she was wrong stabbed at her like a thousand burning needles. Watching over her now is the least I can do now. How could I have been so blind? How could I let fear cloud my judgment? I never let that happen . . . never . . . .

Oh, I only hope Spike will hurry before it’s too late.

Glancing at her copy of The Behaviors and Habitats of Amazing Creatures (it had fallen open to the Lamia page), Twilight shuddered at the last sentence, the one the Cutie Mark Crusaders had not finished reading:

For centuries, the Lamia's diet has made it a particularly reviled beast, as it only seems to hunger for the young of other species, particularly pony foals.

Comments

[ConfettiColored]

HORY SHET

[The Villain in Glasses]

Whelp... another cliffhanger. But I do see mortal combat in the future...

[EchoWing]

That snake's gonna get skinned before all this is over. Nothing threatens the Crusaders when their big sisters have something to say about it.

[Grekoy]

Not the fillies!!! NO!

[Light Spark]

Oh no... I hope they get saved!

[LightningSword]

7199863 I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I see you're only on the eighth chapter, though. There's quite a bit of excitement to come.

[LightningSword]

7200036 Not a half-bad idea. Thanks again for reading, and thanks for the fave!