Kepler and Flynn fell from a dramatic height. Flynn initiated his telekinesis at the last second, turning their mutual collapse into a rough tumble across broken stone.
"Mrmmmf!"
"Guhhh!"
A few paces towards Alpha, Wildcard attempted gliding out of his awkward fall. He failed, and he grinded to a stop—painfully—with a ruffle of loosened neckfeathers. Aching, the griffin fought to get up. A patch of shadow formed in the twilight, growing darker—a huge half of a boulder was plummeting murderously towards him.
SWIIIIIIIIIISH! With a spectral streak, Rainbow dove in and rammed her body into Wildcard's. Together, the petite pegasus and the Desperado went rolling for a dozen feet. WHAMMM! The heavy chunk of boulder landed behind them, smashing into a thousand bits that rained on their flinching bodies.
"Wuhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Pinkie's tail twitched so hard it looked as though it would shoot off her ghostly body like a torpedo. All across the plateau, smashed chunks of rock and stone fell from the combined charge of the tatzlwyrm and the herd of creatures. The quadrupedal beasts—panicked out of their minds—galloped back and forth under the chaotic volley. Fluttershy and the other mares winced when a heavy rock slammed through one animal's skull, crushing it to a pulp and leaving its lower limbs to twitch and spasm amidst a sea of black blood.
"Where is it?!" Logan's voice could be heard shouting somewhere in the distance, which was how Rainbow knew that the stallion was still alive. "Where's the damn wyrm?!"
"Still burrowing!" Seraphimus' voice rang. Rainbow caught a sharp claw glinting somewhere above in her peripheral vision. "There! See it?!"
"Ach!" Kepler shook and thrashed on the ground, encumbered by something. "I-I see nothing...!"
"Rainbow, it's burrowing everywhere now!" Rarity exclaimed. As the last chunks and pebbles of rock fell from the explosive event, she pointed towards Omega. "In the confusion, I feel it's lost track of its prey!"
"It's only a matter of time before it detects us!" Fluttershy said.
Rainbow looked across the plateau. The boulders had been so terribly damaged and spread out that the group had completely lost their platform of cover. "We gotta take to the air!"
"All of us?!" Ariel zipped up, slightly bruised and noticeably frazzled. "How can we get all of us out of chomping range at the same time?!"
"No time to think!" Rainbow stammered, feeling the ground shaking heavier and heavier beneath them. "Gotta move!"
"Wait! The alchemic potions!" Flynn crawled over, wincing. "Did you get them, Rainbow—?!"
"!!!" Rainbow remembered the satchel of Kepler's things that she had strapped over her own saddlebags before rushing in to save Wildcard. "Yes! I got them!"
"Now's our one and only opportunity to vanquish this beast," Seraphimus said.
"Better move fast!" Logan belched.
"Keps!" Rainbow and Flynn rushed over, slapping the bag into place before him. "We got your stuff, buddy! Time to work your magic!"
"Alas, Rrainbow One..." Kepler shuddered, sitting limply across from them. "I fearr that will be quite difficult."
"What's wrong, Keps?!" Ariel stammered amidst the noise and tremors. "Are you hurt?"
"Farr worrse, I fearr." Kepler held his spectacles out. Both lenses had been completely smashed now—almost to the point of becoming opaque from the myriad of fractures and cracks. "I do not think I can employ my talents."
"You gotta be kidding me..." Rainbow grimaced. "Are you actually blind without those?"
"Oh, I can see!" Kepler smiled nervously. "I spot my tusks without any difficulty whatsoeverr! Beyond them, howeverr..."
"Well..." Flynn sucked his breath in. "Shit nuggets."
"The wyvern's talents are only limited by his mind, Seraphimus droned.
"Sera's right!" Logan leaned in. "Keps! Can you tell us what potions to mix to make a big anti-wyrm kablooie bomb?!"
"That would be exceeding difficult."
The rumbling in the ground intensified. Flynn grimaced. "Being digested alive in a tatzlwyrm's belly sounds slightly more cumbersome! Come on, dude. Use your hairy brain! I'll help!"
Schiiiing! Logan faced the Omega horizon with his axe. "I'll try to hold him off for as long as I can."
"Don't be crazy, Big Show!" Ariel's voice cracked. "He'll gobble you whole!"
"Then I'll hump his uvula until he chokes!"
"Actually..." Kepler held a claw up. "...tatzlwyrrms arre not in possession of uvulas like you orr me—"
"Keps! The damn potions!" Flynn barked.
"Ach! But of courrse!" Kepler's forehead scrunched as he gestured in the air. "Look forr a small cylinderr with grreen pellets, and a tall flask with powderry yellow filament! The latterr should be marrked 'flarrestone essence!'"
"Right! On it!" Rainbow spat. She, Flynn, and Ariel delicately rummaged through Kepler's belongings for the items in question.
Meanwhile, Seraphimus and a limping Wildcard bravely joined Logan's side. They faced the source of the rumbling. The quadrupedal creatures had all galloped off in random directions; meanwhile the enormous carnivore roared towards that spot via an underground charge. The tatlwyrm had most definitely targeted its original prey, and the distance between them was closing.
While Rainbow and her fellow Heraldites raced against the inevitable fate to produce a defense measure, her ghostly companions could only watch on in tense silence. At some point, Fluttershy peered towards Curveside—fidgeting. Her ears twitched, and she focused on one particular sight.
The dust from the calamity had cleared, revealing the Dihmers... or what was left of them. A boulder had landed squarely on one of the ponies. The upper half of its body was obscured by the weight of the earthen structure. The ill-fated soul's lower legs lay dormant.
Fluttershy bit her lip. Her eyes instantly watered up. At the sound of scraping hooves, she looked further towards the edge of the plateau.
Dihmers were dragging another wounded pony across the fractured earth. Her rear left leg was severely damaged. Dim, barely-glowing blood dribbled liberally from an upper joint. Meanwhile, in place of a hoof, an exposed shaft of bone glistened in the twilight. Despite this heinous injury, the Dihmer did not scream. She did not cry. A slight shiver rolled through her body. Otherwise, she was just as emotionless and lethargic as before.
"It drains," another Dihmer said.
"It fades," added another. "Can it move?"
"Mmmm..." Fluttershy reached blindly back and tapped an orange shoulder. "Applejack..."
Curious, Applejack glided over and hovered beside her friend.
The wounded mare sucked her breath in, the only sign of pain thus far. "It can," she told the others. "It fades. It is not able to return."
The other Dihmers looked towards one another. A twinkling of understanding flickered across their eyes. At last, the surviving elder of the group approached the mare. "It sustains," he said.
The mare was momentarily silent. Shivering. After a few seconds, she ultimately nodded and repeated, "It sustains."
"It sustains."
"It sustains."
Slowly—with practiced precision—the other Dihmers reached in and grasped the satchels and saddlebags from the mare's flank, briskly stripping her.
Applejack's ears instantly drooped. "Oh no..."
The mare hobbled backwards, naked and free of supplies. She was given a spear by one of the other hunters. She used this as a cane as she pivoted around and faced Omega. As soon as her back was facing her colleagues, the rest of the Dihmers moved as one towards Curveside.
"Rainbow...?!" Applejack hollered. She and Fluttershy turned around and rushed towards their anchor. "Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow was too busy forming a chemical compound with her friends. She hunched over the alchemic supplies with her back to her ghostly companions. Her ears were full of Kepler's rolling instructions.
The three-legged mare hobbled off towards Omega, dragging the spear with a loud scraping noise.
"Rainbow!" Fluttershy pleaded.
"Consarnit, sugarcube!!!" Applejack flew straight into Rainbow's face. "Will ya pay attention—?!"
"Not now, AJ," Rainbow tried to peer through her ghostly figure. "We gotta make this bomb pronto or else—"
"She's going straight towards it!" Fluttershy yelped.
"Look!" Applejack pointed.
"... ... ..." Rainbow slowly stood up. She squinted towards Omega.
By now, Logan, Wildcard, and Seraphimus saw the Dihmer too. She had approached the fringes of the plateau, where the rumbling was the most intense. At long last—so far out—the injured mare held her spear up high... then slammed it down repeatedly into the stone earth, forcing a loud echo to billow outward in every direction.
"Hey!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Heeeeey!" She waved her forelimbs wildly. "Knock it off!"
The rumbling in the earth intensified. Pebbles shook and danced across the ground.
Rarity's horn glowed. She winced. "It's... it's moving towards her—"
"Get out of there! Don't—" Rainbow turned towards the rest of the Herald. "Wildcard—!"
The Desperado was already spreading his wings to intervene...
...but he was too late.
POWWW! With a splash of granite chunks—RAWWWWWRSH!—the tripartite jaws of the beast lunged forward and closed around the upper half of the Dihmer. SCHLLLINK!
Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle winced.
Ariel held her hoof over her muzzle.
"What...?!" Kepler squinted everywhere. "What is happening—"
The tatlzwyrm spun like a cylinder. Blood splattered in a fan as the torso of the Dihmer was ripped clean from its lower body. Sp-Splorch! Half a second later, the jaws snapped forward once more, gobbling up the rest of her—spear and all. Then, with a gross gurgling sound, the wyrm slowly wriggled back down into the earth and vanished with a low bass rumble.
Flynn's jaw hung agape.
Logan and Seraphimus stared, silent and deadpan.
Grimacing, Rainbow turned towards her companions.
"It's... burrowing away from us," Rarity said. "Slow and steady... towards Omega."
Fluttershy sighed... sniffling as tears ran down her muzzle. "It's satiated." Applejack hugged her gently.
"Sweet Celestia..." Twilight murmured.
The Herald exchanged glances. Several eyes fell on Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow was fuming. Her eyes pulsed red-on-yellow, and she shot up into a low hover, facing the Dihmers. "You didn't have to make her do that!!!" She snarled, teeth glinting in the twilight. "We were gonna fix something up to fight the freak off!!! Do you hear me?!?! I said we had a solution, you heartless melon fu—" Her voice trailed off.
The caravan of Dihmers had made a great distance. They marched wordlessly—speedily—towards Curveside. They did not stop to respond to Rainbow Dash. They didn't even bother to carry the remains of their other fallen member. Barely-glowing blood and scraps of flesh were left in their wake. They had taken all of the intact supplies with them.
Rainbow Dash blinked. With flapping wings, she looked down at the blood-stained plateau. A beat, and she squinted Curveside once more. Her lips pursed...