//------------------------------// // III // Story: Pony Scales // by StreakTheFox //------------------------------// -III- “THINGS ARE GOING VERY WRONG!” Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs as she and spike raced as fast as they could through the Everfree forest. Behind them was a juvenile hydra with only two heads, yet still as large as a regular sized Ponyville home, chasing them while roaring out in excitement. “How the heck did that hydra know we were coming!?” Spike yelled to Twilight in a mixed tone of confusion and fear. “I dunno!” Twilight screamed in a reply, trying to think of a reason as to how a hydra could have ambushed them. “It must have been waiting for us on the path I usually take! I guess it's because I kept using it over and over today!” SNAP “Watch it Twi'!” Spike yelled as Twilight narrowly avoided one of the hydra's snapping jaws. “Stop thinking and keep running!” But I gotta think, Twilight said in her mind as she sped through and over bushes next to spike, trying not to lose him in the dense forest. I gotta figure out a way to escape this hydra! Twilight's mind reeled as she tried to come up with an escape plan, tried to remember any sort of trick to getting a hydra off of you. She thought of running under it like she did last time at Froggy Bottom Bog, but this hydra was not nearly big enough for that, and she wouldn't make it under. SNAP “What are we gonna do Twilight!?” Spike yelled again in desperation as he looked over to her. “What are we-” Spike was only a few feat ahead of Twilight in the direction they were going, and the angle at which he saw her allowed him to catch a very alluring view of Twilight's chest. Every time Twilight made a footstep, jumped over a bush or a fallen branch, or ducked under one of the hydra's heads, her breasts bounced and jiggled freely. Spike couldn't help but stare at her, not even paying attention to what was in front of him, and more importantly what was behind him. His legs passively carried him further and further, yet his eyes would not veer away from Twilight's direction. Spike's cheeks turned a deep crimson as he bit his lower lip, his mind momentarily drifting away from the deadly scenario they were currently in. Twilight began moving ahead, and Spike caught the perfect side angle as her breasts continued to bounce around before him. Soon Twilight was pulling ahead more, allowing him to catch a tantalizing and almost teasing angle of her breasts, making him move his head over in a vain attempt to see more. However, it was then that Spike realized that if Twilight was now pulling ahead of him, that meant that- SNAP “WOAH!” Spike yelled as the latest snap of the hydra's jaw came just centimeters from his tail which had somehow began to become erect. Snapped out of his trance, Spike quickly picked up his pace again and caught up to Twilight, who was still trying to figure a way out of this mess. However, before she could come up with anything, the two were suddenly met with an abrupt clearing in the forest, followed by flying through the air over a river. Within only a split second, the two had ran out over a large river in the forest and were in mid-air over it. For a moment, it seemed like Spike and Twilight would make it, but their hopes quickly dropped at an equal rate to their descent, straight into the middle of the river. “SPIKE!” Twilight cried out as she tried to keep her head above the fast flowing water. “TWILIGHT! I CAN'T -gurgle- I CAN'T SWIM WELL!” Spike cried back as he too fought against the water. As Twilight attempted to make her way towards Spike, she heard a large splash behind them. Looking back, the hydra had jumped into the water as well and was then right behind them once more. SNAP Twilight barely managed to duck under the hydra's latest grab at it and continued to desperately try to reach Spike. Though naturally adept in the water, the hydra was still a juvenile, and water of these speeds were throwing it off left and right, beginning to make it tumble over at times. As the hydra continued to try to regain its balance, Twilight wasted no energy in making her way towards Spike and finally grabbing a hold of him with one of her claws. Giving a tight jerk, she pulled him closer and wrapped both arms around him, holding him tight in her arms as the two floated down the river. “TWI', DO YOU HEAR THAT!?” Spike yelled in order to keep his voice heard over the raging water. “YOU MEAN THE HYDRA!?” Twilight replied, looking back briefly while kicking her feet, trying to keep the two afloat. “YES, I'M WELL AWARE OF IT!” “NO, NOT HIM! THAT!” Pointing down the river, Spike stared straight at a sudden ending to the river, the trees, and the earth around them. As they drew closer, Twilight could then begin to hear a low rumble and the sound of crashing water. Though in a highly stressful situation, it wasn't hard for her to figure out what those clues meant. And as they reached the point where the river cut off, her suspicions were swiftly confirmed. “WATERFAAAAAALL!” They both cried out in unison as they both turned over the side and began to free-fall down the cliff. The waterfall was about 50 feet or so in height, and Spike and Twilight only used this time to hold each other closer. In a brief moment, they exchanged glances as they knew their lives may be nearing their end points. But as they exchanged glances, Spike's face blushed as he realized hone of his claws was latched onto one of Twilight's breasts, giving it a soft squeeze before the two hit the water. SPLASH ~Another undefined period of time later~ Twilight's eyes strained to open as she had finally found herself coming out of her unconscious state. Her head was spinning and pulsing with a strong pain as she tried to lean up,but eventually managed to gather up the strength and coordination to do so. As she looked up, she could tell that it was now night time, the moon now half way up in the sky with the stars clearly visible. Looking around her, Twilight found that she was just up against the edge of a river, her still dragonified feet lightly dipped into it. She rubbed her eyes gently with a hand before looking around more, able to make out some bushes, a large quantity of trees, as well as- “Spike!” She suddenly cried out as she saw her dragon assistant curled up several feet away, not moving. “Oh no, SPIKE!” Twilight cried again as she clumsily crawled over to him, her body still not fully woken up. As she drew closer, the little dragon would still not move, and to her didn't even seem to be breathing. Twilight's eyes watered as she came upon him and scooped him up in her arms gently, bringing him into a deep hug. “Oh Spike...” Twilight whimpered as a tear began to drip down from her eye. “No... this can't... this can't be happening...” Twilight spoke in a soft voice as tears continued to flow. Twilight proceeded to cry freely as she held her limp dragon assistant in her arms, all of her sorrow pouring out of her all at once. She thought it might be a dream, she wanted this to be a dream, but the aching in the back of her head constantly reminded that this was real. Twilight embraced her assistant fully just then, crying out as loud as she could while holding her arms around him tightly. “Spike no! Please don't leave me, I'm sorry! Spike! SPIIIIKE!” Though no matter how loud Twilight yelled, no matter how hard she cried, nothing seemed to bring Spike back. Not now, and maybe not ever... until- “T-twi... light...?” Came a soft whisper from from Spike, his eyes still closed with his body still limp. “S-Spike!?” Twilight gasped as she reared her head back and looked at Spike's face. “Y-you're alive...!?” “T-twilight... your...” Spike groaned softly, his head swaying from side to side slightly as he seemed to be beginning to regain consciousness. “Spike!” Twilight exclaimed as more tears, those of joy began to flow from her eyes. “You're okay! You're... you're going to be okay!” Again Twilight embraced Spike fully, her tears running down her face and to Spike's back. “Oh Spike, I was so worried that-...” Twilight paused as she felt a claw gripping on one of her rear cheeks. “Mmmm... your scales are so soft...” Spike mumbled as if he was sleep-talking while his other claw slid over one of Twilight's breasts, giving a squeeze there as well. “And you're so warm...” Spike's head leaned up lightly as he stuck his tongue out, licking at whatever was there, which happened to be straight onto Twilight's lips. “S-s-spike!?” Twilight gasped as her face flushed red. “Are you... hey, wake up!” At this, Twilight began to shake her assistant a bit, trying not to shake him to hard, but every squeeze she got from his claws seemed to urge her to shake harder. “W-wah... huh? Where am I.. what's-” As Spike came to, he suddenly realized the placement of both his claws, and where his lips were dangerously close to. As he looked up at Twilight, he was also able to make out the bright blush on her face, which was then only matched by the one that began to grow on his. Both Twilight and spike turned their heads away, as spike rearranged the positions of his claws, holding them both now on Twilight's hips. They both continued to blush, eyes looking around while trying to find something else to talk about. “W-where are we...?” Spike finally choked out as he observed his surroundings. “I... I dunno,” Twilight replied, looking around a bit more herself. Looking up the river, there was no waterfall anywhere in sight. “We seemed to have drifted a long ways since the waterfall... and it's night time, so we could be anywhere by now.” “The waterfall... oh no, is that hydra still around!?” Spike gulped. “No, I don't think so... I think it got hit by the waterfall too, and it lost us.” Twilight looked around more, hoping not to be proven wrong. “I think we're safe now. I just hope we can find a way out of this forest.” As Twilight looked around, she got a strange feeling that something was missing. She looked down at Spike, who was also surveying their surroundings, and then back at the water. Then, it hit her... “Oh no, my saddlebags!” Twilight yelled out suddenly. “I lost my saddlebags, with the book and all the ingredients inside!” Twilight got off the ground and released Spike from her arms as she ran towards the water's edge, scanning the immediate area for any sign of her bags. Unfortunately, they were nowhere to be seen. Twilight fell to her knees, feeling helpless now without any supplies and without her magic to help her. What are we going to do now? She thought to herself as she gave a deep sigh. “Twilight...?” Spike asked as he came up beside her. “How are we going to get out of the forest? It's really creepy at night... well, even more creepy.” “I dunno Spike, but I don't think it would be wise to wander around the forest at night,” Twilight said as she began to look around once more. “We should try to find some shelter to stay in until morning.” “You mean like that?” Spike said as he pointed off towards the forest. Turning around, Twilight saw him pointing towards a barely visible opening in the side of a steep hill protruding from above the treetops, looking to be a cave. “That should work,” Twilight said. “I just hope there isn't anything currently occupying that cave...” she gulped at the possibility of things that could be holding up in that cave, and how angry they would be to have two dragons suddenly crash in there with it for the night. However, the two currently had no other option, and proceeded to walk through the forest after one last check of the river for Twilight's saddlebags. After only a few minutes, and without interruption, the two made it to the cave's entrance. Once inside, they were relieved to find out that the inside was not occupied, and also had patches of very small mushrooms on the ground and lining parts of the walls. Feeling the mushroom patches, Twilight determined that these might be good areas to rest for the night, and proceeded to lay down on one of them. Spike quickly followed suit, curling up on a nearby patch of mushrooms and wrapping his tail around himself. “Hey Spike...” Twilight whispered softly, her body shifting around some. “Yeah Twi'?” Spike asked, able to hear Twilight shifting around and then suddenly feel her arms wrap around him. “I'm sorry I brought you into all of this...” She said with a tear building up in her eye. “It's all my fault... just, everything.” “It's okay Twi', really. It's just... been a really weird day.” Spike said, accepting Twilight's embrace and sliding his own arms around her. “I think it's gonna be pretty hard to sleep outside though... even if we are in a cave.” “Don't worry Spike,” Twilight assured. “Just try to drift off to some sort of happy place... a dream land where all your wonders and fears just whisk away, and you can simply lay back and enjoy- uh, not that kind of happy place...” Twilight said with a bit of a blush on her cheeks as she pulled one of Spike's hands off of her rear. “Oh, sorry...”