Apple Bloom watched in horror as the three headed creature carefully inspected its meal.
The Warden was completely limp, but his eyes were wide open. He was awake and aware, but wasn't actually moving.
What was he doing?! Why wasn't he fighting back?!
She remained quiet and still. It seemed as if they had not noticed her yet, thankfully. It was not likely that it had forgotten its failure to catch Apple Bloom, back when she had been caught in the fire swamp trying to make a pie delivery.
What could she do?! Abandoning the Warden was out of the question. She had to do something.
But what?
She remembered her last encounter with the Chimera mere months before. She remembered that Applejack used a special flute, a chair, and a lump of ricotta cheese to defeat the beast.
None of those items were available.
"Hmmmmm…" Muttered the tiger head, looking at the Warden's numerous scars. "He has a lot of blemishes, though."
"Stop complaining! We-e-e-e-e'll just e-e-e-eat around the-e-e-e-em if it is such an issue-e-e-e." The goat head chided.
"Regardlessssss," The snake head added gesturing to the weapons on the Warden's forelegs; "we cannot eat these partssssss."
"Agre-e-e-e-ed!" Said the goat head, before assisting her sisters in removing the Warden's taser and grapple, carelessly tossing them in Apple Bloom's direction.
The two devices landed close by to her, and an idea occurred to her.
It was risky, but she had to try.
She tried to reach them from where she was lying, but it was just out of reach.
"What was that? Something just moved!" The tiger head exclaimed, looking in Apple Bloom's direction.
She had been discovered!
A distraction would be extremely useful about now!
Then, an idea occurred to her.
"RAD!" Apple Bloom cried.
The drone burst out of the bags which had been discarded by the Warden earlier, and buzzed into the air, tweeting confusedly. Then, it wailed in an alarmed manner when it saw the Warden in the clutches of the chimera.
"Distract 'em!" Apple Bloom commanded, to which the drone gave a courageous sounding beep.
It then began flying in circles around the stunned monster as it tried to make sense of the situation, each of its heads turning every which way. The little drone kept just out of reach, flashing a bright light repeatedly whenever it was in front of one of the creatures heads, doing his best to keep its attention away from the Warden.
Apple Bloom swallowed her fears and leapt up, lunging at the two weapons. She oriented each one so that their straps were ready for her to put her legs in.
The tiger head roared as the goat head spat some fire at RAD, who easily dodged it and kept up its effort, enraging the beast.
Apple Bloom froze upon hearing this uproar, but swiftly rallied and placed her forelegs within the loops.
"Taser, tighten! Grapple, tighten!" She shouted, her voice trembling slightly with fear and stress.
Thankfully, both devices obeyed her command, and each device's straps tightened around her legs, firmly yet comfortably attaching themselves to her.
The sensation of wearing these was unlike anything that she had experienced or expected. The feeling of cold metal pressing against her fur was not exactly pleasant, and the weight was a bit more than she anticipated. Still, they seemed usable.
Then, RAD gave an alarmed wail as he was sent flying by the snake head, who had whipped around and knocked the drone away.
Then, all three heads of the Chimera turned to the small, yellow filly for the first time.
All six of the creature's eyes widened in surprise when they realized who she was.
"What? How-"
"It can't be-e-e-e…"
"No, it issssn't! Ssshe doesssn't have a bow!"
Apple Bloom gulped. The creature still had the Warden in its grasp, and she needed to save him.
"It- It's me!" She said, trying her best to sound confident. "Ah'm back!"
"Hah! It is! It's that apple pie filly!"
"We-e-e-ell, whe-e-e-e-ere's your siste-e-e-er now?!"
Apple Bloom stood up as straight, putting on as much bravado as she could.
"Let 'im go!" She demanded. "Now!"
All three heads looked at each other, then laughed.
"Ssssseriousssly?" Asked the snake head. "What will you do, little filly?"
Apple Bloom sighed. She was not going to intimidate them, that much was certain.
She took a shaky breath, and replied.
"Ah'm givin' y'all a final warnin'! Let 'im go!"
The tiger head scoffed. "Oh, please. Stop with the drama already. You're barely a morsel compared to this guy anyway!" She said, shaking the limp stallion slightly before adding; "That being said, if you run away now, we might just forget about you completely."
Apple Bloom thought about this remark. Was it seriously giving her a chance to run away? Was it even telling the truth?
Although she didn't have any reason whatsoever to trust the chimera, perhaps it did have a point. Maybe by eating the Warden, it would be too full to try and eat her instead.
For a split second, she also remembered the Warden's angry outburst earlier. She also remembered how he almost killed the princesses, as well as his constant disdain for them.
Maybe she should abandon him, after all. He deserved it.
…
No.
Absolutely not.
She shook her head. How could she entertain such a thought?
That was against everything that she had been taught!
The Warden could be hostile, sure. But so could Discord. Fluttershy gave him another chance when nopony else would, and he mostly reformed.
Why would the Warden be any different?
If anything, he was actually better than Discord. He was a pony with issues, admittedly. But he also cared for her and kept her safe through the past several days.
He had saved her a couple of times, and was actively trying to get her home. Even after he got angry with her, he still didn't abandon her!
No, Apple Bloom was not going to abandon him.
She stood up on her hind legs, groaning a bit in pain as her injured leg bore more weight than usual. Then she pointed both of her forelegs at the chimera, aiming both weapons at it.
"Taser, on!" She commanded, and she flinched slightly as the weapon crackled to life, electricity arcing between the prongs.
"Oooh!" Said the goat head mockingly. "Look out! She-e-e-e has a little-e-e-e light!"
The tiger head seemed less amused.
"Fine." It said. "Let's get her!"
The chimera let go of the Warden, tossing him aside like a ragdoll. Then, the creature lunged at Apple Bloom.
In a panic now, Apple Bloom tried to command the taser to shoot, but mixed up her command.
"G-grapple, fire!" She stuttered, only realizing her mistake once the grappling claw shot out.
The claw sailed through the air, and by some miracle, hit the tiger head in the eye, latching onto its face.
The tiger roared in pain and surprise, stumbling to her side and causing the rest of the chimera to follow suit amidst a chorus of protests and cries of alarm.
The chimera inadvertently drew the line taut, and Apple Bloom was pulled off of her hooves.
Now being dragged along the ground as the two unharmed heads tried to calm the panicking tiger head, Apple Bloom frantically tried to think of how to get herself out of this situation. She then blurted out another command, not thinking it through yet again.
"Grapple, retract!" She cried, and the spool began to rewind, drawing her ever closer to the terrible creature.
Out of instinct, she placed her foreleg with the still active taser in front of her, and within a few seconds, she impacted the chimera's side.
The taser's prongs dug in slightly into the creature's flesh, and the electrical current surged through the chimera's body.
All three heads howled in agony as every muscle in their body contracted painfully, subjected to the full amperage of the taser.
At that moment, Apple Bloom remembered what she needed to say to detach the claw.
"Grapple, release!" She shouted, and immediately, she fell away from the chimera. She wasted no time in running a short distance away, also giving the command for the taser to turn off and for the grapple to retract the rest of the way.
After doing so, she turned around, taking stock of the situation.
The chimera was still reeling, trying desperately to remain upright. After a few seconds of this, all three heads looked at the filly with a mixture of raw fear and awe.
Apple Bloom, still breathing heavily, saw that they were definitely fearful of her now. On a whim, she gave a final command.
"Taser, on!" She commanded, pointing the device at the chimera again.
It crackled to life again, and Apple Bloom stared at the chimera, her bright, orange eyes glaring fiercely at the monster.
Seeing this, the snake head hissed.
"Forget thissss!"
The creature broke into a run, thoroughly frightened.
"Le-e-e-et's get out of he-e-e-e-re!" The goat head wailed as they disappeared into the forest, trying to get away as quickly as possible.
Apple Bloom stood there for what felt like a minute, her chest heaving with each deep breath that she drew. She stared off into the forest where the chimera ran, slowly coming to the realization that she had actually defeated the chimera.
"A-apple Bloom…" A weak voice snapped her out of her daze.
The Warden!
She looked around, and saw him lying in the grass a short distance away, still completely limp.
Immediately, her priority shifted to helping the Warden. She still didn't know what had happened to him.
"Ah'm comin'!" She shouted, running as fast as her short legs could carry her. "What's wrong?! What happened?!"
As she ran up to him, he gave an answer, his voice alarmingly weak.
"Syringe… Please…"
Apple Bloom recalled how he had injected himself with something the night before, and remembered what bag it was in.
"A-alright! Hang on!" She cried, running to the Warden's bags lying near the bonfire. She rummaged through the bags, and shortly found a smaller bag filled with the same small syringes that he had used the night prior. Grabbing it in her mouth, she rushed back to the stallion's side. When she got to him, she opened the bag, took out one of the syringes, and carefully stuck it in one of the Warden's forelegs, injecting the contents into his body.
"Thank… You…" The Warden murmured, closing his eyes in relief.
"Are ya goin' to be alright?" She asked, sounding legitimately concerned.
"I… Yes." The Warden groaned, sounding a bit louder and clearer than before. "I'll be back to normal in a few minutes. Can you please start another fire in the meantime?"
Apple Bloom nodded. "Ah will. Just… Hang on for a few moments, okay?"
The Warden nodded, and Apple Bloom turned away, scanning the ground for potential firewood.
In the back of her mind, she was processing what had just happened.
She had saved his life.