No sooner than Turf War readied himself did a nightmare tear through the delicate wall of flora. A gigantic python big enough to coil around Ponyville’s school slithered out of the brush with its predatory eyes locked onto him! It reared its head back just high enough to nearly tower the cliff where their cave was as it readied itself to strike, hissing ferociously.
“WHAT IN CELESTIA’S NAME IS THAT!?” Fire Fight exclaimed.
Shadow Shroud threw a kunai into its open mouth just before it was about to strike Turf War. It flinched, but quickly spit it out. “Something we need to kill before it kills us, that’s what!” she exclaimed. “Spiral, stay back! We’ve got this!”
Spiral Galaxy crouched down and buried her face in her hooves trying to stay calm so as not to spark another episode. She took deep breathes that were frantic indeed, but it seemed to just be barely holding back her magic. Fire Fight and Shadow Shroud jumped into the fray.
Turf War jabbed its scaly abdomen with his sign, but its protective outer layer took the blow like a flea bite just as Fire Fight and Shadow Shroud joined him at his sides.
“I f***** wit da wrong one, y’all!!” he exclaimed.
The python shot its head down to bite him, but Fire Fight blasted a quick flame into its face causing it to recoil a little. Its head was just low enough so that Turf War could strike its mouth with his sign edgewise. He managed to graze its gums right where its fangs were, but all it did was cause the scaly scourge to recoil back only slightly further for a split second before it roared in the foals’ faces once more. Shadow Shroud ran behind it as it was recoiling and quickly snuck up the tree.
The python swung its tail around. Turf War got between it and Fire Fight as he poised his shield. But it did little to block the blow as the mighty tail knocked the colts back clear across the river.
Shadow Shroud gasped in horror at the sight her friends being tossed around. Her expression turned even more serious as she crept onto a branch just above the beasts head. She drew her kunai and pounced. She impacted atop its scaly scalp, jamming her kunai into its skull. The serpent flailed around in pain as she held on for dear life; it slithered around the riverbank trying to shake her off, even going as far as to slam itself into the sheer rock wall.
Fire Fight and Turf War got back on their hooves after they took their nasty blow. The two were hardy colts, but that hit was gonna hurt tomorrow morning! Turf War lifted his trashcan shield to see that it had been practically folded in two by the slithering mass! It wasn’t something meant for combat.
“Aw, man! Seriously!?” he shouted.
“Don’t worry about it right now, dude! We’ve gotta help-”
Shadow Shroud started to slip as the massive serpent flailed about more violently. The beast was moving too much for her to make a calculated decision. She finally lost her grip when the python suddenly threw its head straight up and sent her in the air right above it. It then jumped up quick as lightning and caught her in its mouth, swallowing her whole!
“SHADOW SHROOOOUUUUUDDDD!!!!!”
Turf War looked on in horror as Fire Fight screamed her name, and Spiral Galaxy just barely managed to avoid fainting as she caught a glimpse of the grisly moment.
Fire Fight stood there stunned with all kinds of spiraling emotions, namely rage and fury. It was those emotions that caused his horn…..no….his entire body to erupt into a raging inferno. He bellowed a war cry as his flaming body rocketed towards the serpent. He flew into its mid-abdomen with a ferociously punch, forcing the beast to bend its head down. Fire Fight then flame jumped from the abdomen towards its lowered head and hit it with a flip kick that knocked it back straight up. Its jaw could be heard cracking. Fire Fight bellowed again as he summoned a column of fire around the serpent as it was still knocked upwards. It proved to be of little avail as its thick scales served as effective protection from the infernal blaze.
Turf War tossed his damaged shield aside and joined Fire Fight. “Y’ALL KNOW YA SCREWED UP NOW!!” he shouted.
He and Fire Fight, even in his berserk state had trouble doing significant damage to the beast as all they could do was counter it when it lashed its head out at them and stagger it with blows to anywhere else on its body. It was eventually hit in the head just right enough to knock Shadow Shrouds kunai out of its skull and right at Spiral Galaxy’ feet.
Spiral Galaxy peeked out of her hooves at what had fallen to her. She looked at it with surprise, and then back and forth between it and the serpent. She was doing her best not to unleash a storm.
“Spiral! Y’all gotta do somethin’! We ain’t making a scratch on dis thing!” Turf War shouted.
Spiral clutched the kunai as she shook her head in fear. “N-N-No… I….I’ll just destroy everything!” she shouted. But looking at the enraged Fire Fight and holding the kunai made her think back to their words.
“…’ You have to stop panicking! If your emotions are out of control, so will your magic be!’….….‘Just close your eyes and let everything die down inside! Stop thinking altogether!’............. ‘We’re here for you! We’ll take every ounce of pain necessary!’………….. ‘Close your eyes’……… ‘Take a deep breath’……….. ‘Focus on the calmness of the river……….. ‘Clear your mind of all emotion’………”
Each word resonated within Spiral Galaxy’s heart, and it was her heart she followed as she acted on those words. She took a deep breath. The flow of the river finally managed to soothe her thoughts as she gathered her magic…..
The water around began to ripple violently, even splashing as she lit her horn. The ground, the air, the entire immediate vicinity began rumbling as her horn began to shine as bright as a star. More little twinkles began forming and rapidly orbiting around her into a little mini galaxy of her own. She levitated off the ground and the galaxy began shifting its orbital path from horizontal to vertical like Uranus’ rings. Her horns light glowed fiercely and she opened her eyes; they gleamed bright enough to where you could only see the magical light emanating from them. She locked her gaze onto the giant serpent in fury.
“RRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Spiral Galaxy bellowed with a god-like echo as her horn supercharged with cosmic magic. She concentrated it all and fired it as a Star Beam with overwhelming power, her galactic wrath poured into every ounce of its destructive power. The giant pythons reptilian eyes looked on in terror at the last light they would ever see….
The devastating beam lasted for three seconds before dissipating and Spiral Galaxy fell back to her rock with a minor thud. She stirred back to her hooves in a daze from focusing such immense power, but she was quickly able to see the extent of the damage; the pythons head never even recoiled ………..because it had been obliterated clean off its shoulders!
The headless corpse of the massive serpent flopped into the river with a ‘thud’ as things finally calmed down. Its blood gushed out of its neck and into the river flow. Turf War looked on in awe at Spiral Galaxy’s sudden swell of power and what it had accomplished.
Fire Fight, having been freed from his berserker mode ran to its neck and dove right in. “Shadow Shroud! SHADOW SHROUD!” he exclaimed as he climbed into what was left of its throat. He didn’t have to go in very far as Shadow Shroud managed to wriggle her way out towards him. He sighed a deep sigh of sweet relief to see her alive. He helped her out as she coughed and sputtered from exhaustion and adrenaline rush.
Fire Fight threw his arms around her. “Shadow Shroud, are you okay!?’ he asked.
Shadow Shroud finished what was left of her coughing. “Yes…*pant**pant*…Fire Fight…*pant*…Thank you…” she wheezed as she returned the hug.
She let go, but Fire Fight continued to embrace her for a moment still panting from his own adrenaline calming down. “Are you going to let go of me yet, you big baby?” she asked in annoyance.
“Huh? Oh!” Fire Fight let up. “S-Sorry….I-I was just really worried about you….” He said.
Shadow Shroud lightly glared at him for a quick moment. He began to worry that he might have pushed a boundary enough to where one of those daggers would go into his throat. That worry was quickly alleviated when Shadow Shroud turned her glare into a gentle smile. She lightly giggled. “I know.” She said.
Spiral Galaxy walked to her with the kunai held aloft by her magic. “Here, Shadow Shroud. You dropped this.” She said.
“Oh, good! I was worried this didn’t survive the end of the world.” she sneered as she took it and put it back into her ninja cloak. She had clearly perceived the ray of devastation that Spiral had unleashed.
Spiral pouted at that comment. “Not funny…” she muttered.
Shadow Shroud giggled. “I’m sorry, Spiral. I shouldn’t joke about that. But thanks for the save. It…wasn’t very cozy there.” She said.
Spiral smiled and rolled her eyes. “You’re…*pant*…You’re wel-….*pant*…..come…..” she slurred. She was getting dizzy, so Shadow Shroud and Fire Fight led her to the cave so she could rest on a bedroll.
“She could barely handle that, couldn’t she?” Shadow Shroud asked.
“Yeah. Cosmomancy is not basic magic, especially for a foal. She’s gonna be out for a while.” He whispered. The two looked at the slumbering Spiral Galaxy, and then went to go check on Turf War.
Turf War had retrieved his shield and was trying to bend it back into shape with some success. He managed to flatten it out considerably, but its rims were bent in and had some dents that wouldn’t be easy to fix. “Man…” he muttered.
“Turf War, what happened? What’d you do to piss that thing off?” Fire Fight asked.
Turf War just guiltily sighed. “Man, lemme tell ya somethin’. I ain’t even saw where dis m***********- eh, my bad…dis dude come from. I was just doin’ mah thing pickin’ some mushrooms when all a sudden, he come out like ‘Surprise, m*********!’ and I just bounced, y’all. I’m real sorry. I ain’t mean hit you up wit dis.” He explained.
“So it simply viewed you as a prey animal to feast on and subsequently attacked. Hmm… I suppose that’s to be expected. You’re not at fault, Turf War. Though, I urge you to exercise more caution next time.” Shadow Shroud said. “We’re lucky Spiral Galaxy was able to take it out when she could.
Turf War chuckled. “I know, right. We was havin’ trouble makin’ a dang dent, but Spiral just unleashed her own kinda hell on ‘em. I was just like ‘Well, damn! Dat was easy!’ Mah girl over there OP, y’all!” he commented.
“Pfft. Yeah. Although, She’s still gotta get used to how much of a strain it’ll put on her. Plus it takes her a while to focus and execute her spells. I wouldn’t quite call her overpowered.” Fire Fight said.
Fire Fight decided to use what Turf War was able to gather to make some lunch. Spiral Galaxy was just conscious enough to have some when it was done saying she’d probably need a good meal after that. Once they were finished, Spiral resumed her nap and the other three foals began discussing their next move.