//------------------------------// // Taken // Story: Epica: The Fall of Harmony // by DaNumbahZer0 //------------------------------// The glowing eyes narrowed, locking the terrified mares within their crosshairs as the creature dragged its jagged claws across the stone wall. Torrents of sticky saliva dripped from its mouth. Spider webs of the putrid fluid strung together the rows of serrated teeth that lined the gaping jaws as it gawked at the girls with untainted malevolence. “Wha-what the hay is that thing?!” Rainbow cried, her face contorting into a mishmash of terror and disgust at the sight beyond the broken window. Though her question was far from rhetorical, Dash never truly expected an answer. “I have no idea,” Twilight called out, packing herself into the collaboration of harmony, “I’ve never even seen anything like this, not even in all my books!” The beast drew in deep breaths through its crooked nose, seemingly drawing all the warmth and prosperity from the cloudy air as it gathered the aromas of the inhabitants. Its eyes grew wide with sick revelation as the scents collaborated within. It inhaled another massive breath, as if double checking what it had picked up before. When the identical bouquet registered in the monster’s mind it smiled wickedly. The beast spoke. “Twilight….” The voice was abyssal, clawing its way from the beast’s throat. Twilight’s eyes grew wide, daring to burst from their sockets. The other five gaped in utter disbelief at their friend. How does this creature know my name? “Whatever evils come, should it be true, I fear they will come, all hunting you….” Before she could begin to think, the brutish fiend had its mouth gaping, a yellow glow forming in its throat. Flames erupted from the mouth, pouring into the hut with slithering malice, engulfing all that they touched in fiery blaze. Twilight hadn’t ducked, staring in incredulity as the fiendish flames licked at her mane. She was soon brought to the floor forcefully. Rarity and Rainbow had wrapped her in their hooves and forced her hard into the solid wood beneath them. The crashing tackle had her shoulder aching on top of her still toppling equilibrium. Applejack was on the move, scampering on her belly towards the entryway. “Come on everypony!” AJ hollered, beckoning her friends to follow her. The fearful mares glanced at one another and took off in the same fashion that AJ had, scooting their way to the door under the heat and billowing smoke. Before her friends had made it to the door, Applejack was scooped up by her flowing tail. One of the beasts had made a ragdoll of the lean farm pony, hoisting her high in the air at its shoulder height. The beast’s slimy tongue snaked its way across the orange pony’s face to taste her fear before slithering down and grasping her throat as a snake chokes its prey, leaving a grotesque residue on her fur. The beast was choking the life from Applejack. In a blind rage, Rainbow took off, her wings creating swirls in the smoke as she ascended. The cyan Pegasus ran headlong into the beast’s belly, successfully causing its diaphragm to spasm (as well as give Dash a massive headache--she hadn’t thought that one through all the way.) Dash tumbled to the ground a few yards away from the collision. Her attack had worked; the beast had keeled over in agony having its wind knocked out, releasing its crushing grip on Applejack’s throat. The Earth pony collided with the ground hard, but she quickly peeled herself from the packed dirt. The monster roared gutturally, spraying a shower of saliva as it uncurled itself from its fetal position. The fiend lunged at AJ with reaching claws. Unfortunately for the creature, Applejack was prepared for his assault this time. Two shoed hooves planted themselves deeply into the monster’s angular face, mashing his scaly flesh into the resemblance of a messily folded blanket. Applejack felt the sensation of bones giving way beneath her hooves, cracking under the pressure of her hardest applebucking kick. The beast came to a crumbling skid, smashing its face in the ground as it halted. “Hurry y’all! We gotta get the hay outta here!” Before AJ had finished hollering the beast was digging its bloodied face from the dirt, rubbing the bridge of its pointed, dragon-like snout and assessing the extent of the damage the Earth pony had caused. The bridge of its nose was crooked and collapsed along with the upper ridge of one of its eye sockets. Blood gushed from the wounds, bone visibly showing through the gash running from bridge of its nose to its injured eye. The creature let loose an angry roar, tearing off in AJ’s direction again, with murderous intent glowing like hot embers in its eyes. Applejack, dove, narrowly avoiding the beast’s strike, but it rounded quickly and was upon her again before she had time to recover.   Razor sharp claws gripped her flank, tearing the flesh. Applejack screamed in agony and fell to the ground. Her shriek rang out in the night, rattling unmercifully in her friends’ ears. The beast rolled AJ on her back, straddling her and wrapping death around the farm pony’s neck. Her cry was choked out hoarsely as the beast pressed its scaled hands into her throat. Blackness was creeping in as her eyes rolled back. Her end was near. The beast grinned sadistically as it strangled its prey. The world was spinning fast, becoming nothing but a blur to the poor Earth pony. Just as the light began to fade completely the beast relinquished its hold. What happened? A large chunk of burning wood cracked the monster in its diamond-shaped skull, knocking it to the ground in a petrified daze. Hulking bits of rock and debris followed the initial strike, battering the downed creature in a hailstorm of brutality, each propelled at an enormous rate. The beast shielded its muzzle from the barrage with its brazen arms. Ear shattering cracks pierced the air with every strike, tearing its flesh and cracking bones. Twilight and Rarity were giving it everything they had, tearing stone from the walls and floorboards from the burning hut and discharging their armaments at the beast. Both unicorns wore looks of rabid anger, their brows crossed and teeth barred, looking extraordinarily menacing beneath the glowing aura of their horns. With each shot the beast howled in anguish. The stones cracked its bones and the burning debris scarred its hide in blazoned welts. Rainbow and Pinkie hurriedly dashed to their downed companion. “AJ! AJ, wake up! We have to get the hay outta here! C’mon, AJ! C’MON!” Rainbow screamed. Her voice cracked as it always did when she was shouting. The Earth pony didn’t budge. Pinkie pressed her ear to her friend’s chest. Her heart was beating and her chest was heaving. She was simply unconscious; an unfortunate complication given the group’s current life threatening predicament. “She’s alive,” Pinkie called, “but she won’t wake up! Oh, AJ now is not a good time for a nap!” Pinkie’s ears tagged back as she pressed her hooves excitedly against the mare’s chest, trying to rouse her. It was no use. “We’re going to have to carry her out of here, Dashie,” she said solemnly. Dash’s face lost color. Ugh, this is NOT good! How are we going to get out of here and escape these—these THINGS if we have to carry Applejack?! Buck it all! “Alright! Help me get her on my back, Pinkie!” Pinkie squeezed her head under the dead weight of Applejacks limp form, struggling to hoist her up. The farm pony was lean, not an ounce of fat on her. Her body was nothing but muscle, so she was quite heavy for being such a little pony. Pinkie was relieved when a sudden blue light glowed around the unconscious mare as Rarity directed her attention to the difficult task the rescuers were facing. Rarity guided Applejack’s dangling chassis above Rainbow’s as Pinkie darted back and forth to get her legs to hang correctly. Soon the ragdoll of a pony was laid across Dash’s back. She used her wings to steady her friend, trying to make sure she wouldn’t fall when she started running. “Alright, I got her! Let’s get the buck outta here! C’mon!” The others nodded simultaneously, encompassing the charioting Pegasus. Rarity decided to keep her magical hold on Applejack as best she could as they fled to better help Rainbow cope with the extra intricacy of toting their cataleptic friend. The crusaders tore off down the path into the darkness of the woods. Twilight had one last good measure strike to deal as they ran. She fired a blast of destructive magic at a nearby tree, severing it in half and bringing it into gravity’s well-versed hooves. The great tree fell atop the recovering beast, effectively crushing it and pinning it to the forest floor. It let out a mighty howl in agony and daunting fury. They had done it. They were just starting their trek through the winding forest when a bone chilling voice filled them with dread. “Run little ponies. Run and save yourselves, but this one belongs to me.” Their blood ran cold. What the hay did that sadistic creature mean by that? Rainbow’s breath caught in her throat, causing her to stumble and nearly come crashing down with AJ in tow. She skidded to a halt, quivering in sudden revelation…. “Rainbow, why the heck are we stopping?! We have to run!” Twilight shrieked angrily sliding to a stop having nearly collided with the cyan mare. Dash glanced around fretfully, terror in her rose-colored eyes. She bit her lip hard, nearly drawing blood. She bowed her head, a tear streaming down her face realizing exactly what the horrible monster had meant by its taunt. “Dashie?” Pinkie said so softly it was barely audible. Rainbow turned around to face the burning hut. A terrified cry split the muggy air. A familiar cry; the cry that the group had come to know over the years whenever a certain yellow Pegasus had been startled by—well, even her own shadow at times. All eyes turned toward the bloodcurdling scream, all terrified of what they would behold. There, atop the burning wreckage of Zecora’s hut, sat a crouching devil, grinning maniacally. There, in the clawed grasp of one of the monsters horrid hands dangled the yellow mare by her wings. She cried out in sheer agony; a Pegasus’ wings were not meant to bend that way. The others gasped in horror. How could they have let this happen? How could they let poor, defenseless Fluttershy suffer such pain? It welled in them all, scoring abyssal gorges in their sullen hearts. Rainbow whipped around, ready to charge the creature even if it meant her certain death, but before she got the chance it was taken away. “Say goodbye to your friend, you foals! She belongs to me now!” The monster cackled, drowning out the painful wail of its quarry. “Get them, my brothers! Bring me the rest of the ponies! Master shall be pleased when we return!” With that the great beast vanished into a cloud of smoke and flames, leaving nothing but the echoing sound of Fluttershy’s anguish hanging in the thick air. “NOOOO! FLUTTERSHY!” Rainbow cried as the monster whisked their friend away into thin air, leaving no trace of where it might have taken her. The mares had no time to spare grieving for their poor friend now, though. Monsters all began swarming from the depths of the forest in a rumbling stampede. In terror, the girls turned and dashed into the woods. The blackness of the woods was impenetrable. Twilight lit the way as best she could with her magic, but she could not focus enough to produce a steady beacon to guide them. They were running blind. Their hooves caught underlying branches and debris, nearly causing imminent disaster on several occasions. The rumble of the demon horde was becoming louder as they closed in on their fleeing quarry. In the unsteady light Rainbow caught sight of something ahead. Two more of the horrid things lay in wait for the fast approaching mares. She saw a downed tree off the side of the trail and made a call. “C’mon guys, this way!” Rainbow tore off the path and into the dense foliage of the Everfree Forest, leaping over the fallen tree. The others followed suit, trusting their friend’s instincts as Dash led them through the thick overgrowth of the woods. Fallen limbs struck their bodies as they trudged on. Thorns from nearby vines grabbed at their coats, occasionally delving into their hides. The scratches and bumps were nothing at this point. It was do or die.  Finally, the inevitable happened, Rarity tripped over a fallen log, smashing her powdery white fur into the underbrush, causing cancellation of the levitation charm she had been performing to help support the unconscious mare upon Rainbow’s back. Applejack came crashing down upon Dash midstride. She never had time to react. The sudden weight added to her gallop made her collapse, somersaulting in the blackness of the night and casting AJ’s body into the darkness. Pinkie had stopped moments before to help the fashionista. Rarity held a hoof to her head, a trickle of blood inching its way down the side of her face from under her frazzled purple curls. “Oh, Rarity, are you alright!” “Yes… yes, I believe so—ow,” she replied shakily as she massaged her wound. Instants later clawed hands grappled the pink Earth pony and dragged her into the forest, leaving nothing but the sound of Pinkie’s last scream dangling in the air. “No, Pinkie!” Rarity called out, igniting a bright light at the tip of her spiraled horn. In the shadows of the trees the fancy unicorn could make out the shapes of half a dozen demons laying in wait. She looked on in horror as she watched Pinkie’s hooves disappear into the trees, leaving deep marks in the soft soil as they frantically clawed at the ground, desperate for escape. Soon one of the beasts scooped up Rarity as well, hoisting her from the ground by her magical appendage and rendered comatose by a bludgeoning blow to her abdomen. She was carried into the darkness. Twilight helped Rainbow to her hooves, unaware that two more of her friends had suffered the same fate as dear Fluttershy. Only when Dash called out their names in horror did the purple Unicorn realize the awful truth. Three of her friends were now in the grasp of the hands of death. This was going to be the end--Zecora had been right about it all…. From the shadows nearby, another beast made its move, lunging at Rainbow Dash with outstretched claws. Thinking quickly, Twilight dove into her friend, shoving the Pegasus out of the way of the beast, and placing herself in its path instead. The beast wrapped its powerful limbs around the purple mare, tackling her into the forest. The two rolled, bouncing hard on the ground before spiraling through the air again as they managed to roll off a large drop off into the murky depths below.   Rainbow pushed herself off the cold dirt. She was alone now. Twilight had sacrificed herself to save her. She needed to find Applejack. “AJ! AJ where are you!” There was no response. She frantically dashed in all directions, hoping to be lucky enough to barge into the comatose form of her athletic friend. Amazingly, she was. She stumbled onto AJ and hunkered down beside her friend, accepting that this was it; this was where their journey ends. She wrapped her hooves around AJ’s neck, embracing her friend warmly. At long last, Applejack stirred. She looked upon her friend through eyes that refused to focus. “Ra…. Rainbow,” She said, her country twang was music to the Pegasus’ ears, “did we make it?” Tears trailed down her Pegasus friends, cheeks. Dashie shook her head weakly. AJ didn’t catch it though. Before she had retained true use of her eyesight again, Rainbow Dash was torn from her side, screaming hoarsely into the night. Applejack was alone; alone in the dark with countless bloodthirsty monsters circling her as hungry predators stalk their helpless prey. Her hind leg seared with pain. There would be no running away from this. She closed her eyes and wished this nightmare would end. The familiar feel of clawed fingers wrapped themselves around her legs, dragging the Earth pony into the darkness….