//------------------------------// // Trixie Part II // Story: Arktophobia // by Aeluna //------------------------------// Trixie tried to scream, but her mouth was clamped by the roughness of the ursa’s tongue. She thrashed wildly, barely able to free a hoof; when she finally succeeded, all she could feel was hot, wet air against her bloodied fur. She hissed in agony as she was jostled around. Her wounded leg smacked heavily against something smooth and hard. She bristled, her back hunching up. Her teeth ground together and she bit back a scream, but a groan still escaped her lips. She kicked and struggled again, feeling her lungs constricting and shrinking, collapsing on her. Her eyes shot open in a panic, seeing nothing but an off-black shade pink, and she fought ever more frantically, nostrils flaring uselessly. She opened and closed her mouth equally desperately, but all she got was foul-smelling saliva as opposed to the air she so desperately needed. Dizzy. She was so dizzy now. She struggled weakly again and tried to elbow the ursa’s gravelly tongue, but could barely move her foreleg; her lips slipped shut, only slightly parted, and she let the muscles of her face relax as a sudden calmness washed over her. Her eyes began to close, the lids slowly, slowly getting closer together. Everything happened so suddenly. The ursa’s tongue released its grip, leaving Trixie’s hunched up body to fall. Her eyes shot open once again and her lungs instinctively contracted so heavily that it was almost painful. Putrid, warm air flooded into her and, for that moment, she didn’t even care that it was so foul. She breathed as deeply and as quickly as she could, but it was not enough. What fool would do something like this to prove a point? A rush of liquid spewed over Trixie’s body, shocking her into action. Though every muscle trembled visibly she shot to her hooves quickly and looked around, only just able to light her horn. Oh, dear Luna. She was genuinely in the urea’s mouth. She was positively puny in the vast expanse, standing unsteadily on its twitching tongue. And then she realised exactly what was happening; the tongue was rising slowly, trying to send her down into the ursa’s stomach! Trixie couldn’t hold back a scream. Frantically she dug her hooves into the ursa’s muscular tongue, struggling to find any grip. It was useless! As she rose higher and higher, she fought more and more, kicking frantically with her only usable rear leg—and then the tongue flattened out for just a moment, and it was all the encouragement she needed. With a cry of pain she pushed her body clumsily forwards, tumbling onto the flat section of the tongue. Just as it began to straighten again, she leapt from the side in a blind leap of faith. It was only as she fell that she realised just how stupid a move that had been. Those teeth were directly below her—and they were sharper than anything Trixie had seen. A spell jumped to mind almost instantly, and she was working on it before she could even debate if it was a good idea. She lit her horn weakly and focused her magic in front of her chest, condensing the feeble power into a massively high-pressure ball. It was small—too small. Her strength had been drained. She could barely keep the magic stable, feeling a migraine picking relentlessly at the edge of her mind. The tight ball of magic wavered slightly, threatening to disintegrate. Trixie gritted her teeth and clenched her eyes shut, pouring every last trickle of magical power she still had in her reserves into the breaking ball—and then let it go. The power exploded outwards, but it was barely big enough. Only a small rush of air was formed in the explosion. It collided directly with Trixie’s chest, as she had hoped, but she only moved slightly further away. It hadn’t been nearly as much of a force as she had wanted. The beast’s teeth snagged her fur, ripping out small chunks. But she hadn’t been impaled. Trixie landed heavily on the ursa’s gums on her rump. She tried to scream but couldn’t make a sound. She scrabbled at the skin of her chest as she fought to take a breath but found herself incapable of doing so—and then the air rushed in for the second time and she sighed, collapsing to her stomach and trembling. But this wasn’t over. The ursa snapped its maw in aggravation and threw its head around, bumping Trixie against its teeth mercilessly. She squeaked, flinging her forehooves around one of the beast’s canines and clinging on desperately. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she scrabbled to take the pressure off of her torn-open rump. And then the ursa’s tongue peeked over the top of the teeth, searching for her lazily. It approached slowly, slowly, slowly creeping closer and closer. It brushed against Trixie’s ears painfully. She hissed and shrunk her body down, cowering—and then the ursa’s tongue brushed against its lips, parting them to the outside world. She had no choice. With a deep gulp of hot air, Trixie withdrew her hooves from the canines so that she was merely sat on the ursa’s gums. And then, with a pre-emptive scream, she closed her eyes and dove towards the small gap to the outside. Her body slipped through the small parting easily. The cold air hit her like a train and she cringed, the wind rushing around her body as she fell. It ripped the heat from her, leaving her shivering in mid-air as she plummeted. She hit the floor without any means of dulling the impact. The rock met her body eagerly, making her scream and gasp as she bounced heavily. Her entire body beaded with a mixture of blood and gravel, burning her skin like dragon fire. And then, when she finally managed to summon the strength to squint her eyes open, she watched as the ursa’s elephantine paw drew closer in one final, deadly blow.