//------------------------------// // Ch12: Wildlife // Story: Trapped in another world. // by mild hotsauce //------------------------------// Ch12: Wildlife The six ponies and the Terra waited in the desert heat for their pack animals and cart to emerge from the city. The ponies doubted that the odd animals were going to be of any use, but their guide knew better. “Just be patient,” Fang snarled as Dash tried for the tenth time to try to get moving. “I’ve been patient, but I'm tired of waiting. The sooner we get this done the sooner we can all go home,” she whined. Fang was about to berate her, but the sand in front of them shifted, catching the groups complete attention. One of the Ferosk’s heads poked out of the sand, followed by the rest of it and its partner as they climbed out of the hole they dug. The cart came out soon after. The girls stared in shock at the two beasts, which in turn merely shook the remaining sand from their bodies and hissed in recognition of their guides. Fang gave a low hiss and one the pack reptiles gave a roar and started walking forward, dragging the other along with the cart. He turned to the ponies with his usual frown, “Now we can move.” “Did those things just…” Applejack started. “Ferosk are native to the desert area of the plains. These are domesticated, therefore smaller than their wild brethren who dwell deeper in the sands,” Fang explained. “What are the wild ones like?” Fluttershy asked, hovering close to one of the reptiles. It gave a hiss of annoyance, but otherwise did nothing. “They’ll tear you limb from limb if you’re not careful. The Alpha is the real trouble you need to watch out for..” Fang let the implications sink in, and the ponies looked at the domesticated pack reptiles with a bit of trepidation. “Don’t worry, the most these two will do is snap at you if you try to pet them.” “At least you know where they nest, so this way we’ll avoid them… right?” Twilight asked. “Nobody was ever able to figure out a definite area that the Ferosk live; they migrate and expand territory all the time. We just need to hope we don’t run into them… or they into us,” he stated grimly. The girls gulped at this revelation, but moved forward. They had to, if they ever wanted to return to Equestria. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The group had been marching for two days now and had yet to even reach the halfway point to their destination. The ponies were tired and sweating from having to march in the endless desert; not even Twilight’s cold spell could cool down the group. Even White Fang started to feel the heat of the sun. The only ones who didn’t seem to be fazed were the Ferosk, which shrugged off the heat and nearly trudged too far ahead of the group. “Oh goddess, when are we going to get there?” Dash groaned as they passed another cactus. “The ruins of Diact should be nearby, look for a sun shaped tower,” Fang ordered. “I see it!” Rarity exclaimed, pointing to their right. They made a sharp turn and headed for the city. As they got closer, it started looking less like a place where they would want to rest. The sandstone buildings were crumbling in the sunlight, wisps of sand flowed down the street, skeletons of both humans and terra littered the streets. Each corpse sported armor or weapons lodged in their bodies at various angles, and some looked as if they had been chewed on recently. The gang of adventurers trudged tiredly through the scorched dead streets, nervously glancing down alleyways and through windows of the dilapidated houses. As they neared the center, the caravan stopped by a building topped with a broken crescent sun statue. Whether broken by nature or by design, they didn’t know. “Get the cart in the tomb, we camp there tonight,” Fang ordered. “T-t-the tomb?” Fluttershy stammered. “Yeah. Do you have a problem?” Fang asked. “Yeah! Common sense! You never intentionally spend the night in the cemetery of a haunted area!” Dash yelled. “Haunted? Here? The dead don’t rise here; the right of ascension ensures we go where we are meant to,” Fang explained. The group started as a loud roar shook the city. Looking around, they could not see their pack lizards or the cart. The roar came again as the ground shook beneath them, causing buildings to collapse. “Fang… what’s going on?!” Twilight shouted. “So many heat signatures…” Rarity mumbled as her now glowing red eyes scanned the ground below them. “Ferosk,” Fang whispered. Several heads broke through the sand, each one easily twice the size of the domesticated versions. Their forked tongues whipped through the air, sending an unconscious shiver of fear through the ponies before them. The group huddled together as they readied their weapons. Twilight and Rarity focused their magic, Fluttershy and Pinkie took out daggers, Applejack hefted her hammer and Dash readied her broadsword. Fang himself took out his large hand axe and extended a claw. All hell broke loose when the first body broke through the sand. Each Ferosk took its turn to charge and snap at the group of defenders. It started with small skirmishes, one going on and thrashing at the pony’s and Terra’s defenses. Then two charged in, then three, then four. The line broke. Dust permeated the air like a thick fog as Dash and Fluttershy attacked by swooping in from the sky. Twilight and Rarity sent point blank shots of magic at fast moving freight trains, missing most shots in the confusion. Applejack was using the head of her hammer to try and daze the beasts as they charged, but wound up getting tossed around as the hammer glanced off their hides. Fang fared far better than the group, having been surrounded. He used the charging beasts’ weight against them to launch the creatures into each other, occasionally scraping his axe along their stony scales to try to keep them at bay. “This isn’t working; we need to find their weak spot!” Fang yelled over the sound of the thundering lizards. That’s when Twilight had an epiphany. If she couldn’t scratch their hides, then she would need to do something to their insides. Letting one get close, she hurled a magic spear into its open mouth. The spear pierced its soft inner flesh, making the beast howl in pain. The battle stopped as the herd changed tactics and corralled the gang back into the center of a stampeding circle. “What did you do?” Rainbow said. “Their maw! The inside is their weak spot!” Twilight yelled. “Ohh, their breath is going to mess up my mane…” Rarity whined. “Just get to killing!” Fang snarled, making the first move. The Terra jumped into the rampaging Ferosk, grabbing one by the head and shoving his axe down its throat before ripping it back out, blood coating his previously white shell. Before he could attack again, he was tackled by another beast, signaling the girls to move in. Now knowing their enemy’s weakness, they used it to their advantage. Twilight and Rarity fired bolts of fire into the gaping maws of several charging Ferosk, incinerating their heads. Pinkie and Fluttershy sheathed their daggers, and took out a pair of cross bows. Apologizing profusely, they loaded them with red banded bolts and fired them down the large creatures throats. They stumbled, coughed up blood, and died. Rainbow and Applejack saved Fang after having been tackled by spearing the beast with sharp points on their weapons. The wounded beast roared before retreating back to the herd. After getting up, Fang shrugged the two ponies off before running up to another Ferosk, shoving his claw down its throat, and ripping out its heart. “A thank you would have been nice,” Rainbow grumbled. “Bloody varmin's goin to git ‘imself killed,” Applejack murmured. As soon as it looked like the battle was going well, the tides turned. The Ferosk got more aggressive, and the group was running low on energy. As Twilight fired her last bolt of magic, her horn sparked and she gasped as fatigue washed over her. “Twilight, are you alright?!” Rarity screamed, erecting a shield as she checked on her friend. “My magic is running low…” she gasped. “GRAAHH!” Fang yelled as he was hurled against Rarity’s shield, “Mind doing me a favor and kill the damned Ferosk!” The Ferosk quickly grabbed his leg and hurled him from the shield. The creatures closed in as the group was losing energy. Their defenses slowly started to whittle down until… “AAHH!” Dash yelled as one of the beasts grabbed a hold of one of her wings. It slammed her into the ground and started tearing at her flesh. “Get it off!” she yelled as pain permeated her body. Fang and Applejack were about to rush in when two more showed up and tackled them to the ground, pinning them as they tried to fend off the hungry monsters. “A little help here!” Applejack yelled as the beast snapped at her head. Fluttershy and Pinkie were pinned simultaneously as one jumped them from behind. A large foot on their backs started to crush them. “Get off please, if that’s okay with you…” Fluttershy squeaked. Rarity’s shield flickered as more Ferosk slammed against it, making Rarity flinch in pain each time. “I can’t keep this up much longer,” she gasped as another slammed into her fortifications, forming a crack. Twilight just watched as doom unfolded. “No, it can’t end like this…” Tears formed in her eyes as she thought of all that would be left behind - their friends, their family, their country… Worst yet, Equestria would be open to Vold’s advances. “NO!” she yelled as a burst of magic flared from her horn, knocking the offending Ferosk back and off her friends. The others stared at her in shock, her eyes glowed red as her coat turned bleach white and her mane and tail caught fire. The Ferosk backed away from the angry mare as she fired a wave of magic in front of her, incinerating several of the beasts. They each howled in pain as their bodies were fried to a crisp. The girls looked at their friend in fear, and Fang looked at her with respect as the Ferosk backed way. The ground rumbled as the creatures made space, the sand shifted as a beast twice the size of the others poked its head above the ground. Everyone except Twilight looked at the large predator in fear, while she just glared as it surfaced from the sand. “The Alpha…” Fang muttered. It gave a roar of anger and snarled at the group, its rotted breath wafting from its mouth like gale force winds, making the ponies manes flutter behind them, forcing them to back away. “Ever heard of a breath mint pal?” Rainbow asked sarcastically. The beast just snarled and gave off another roar before taking a lumbering step forward. Twilight responded with a roar of her own, forcing the beast to stop. “What! Are you surprised? Did you expect us not to fight back!?” she yelled at the top of her lungs, the flames that were her mane and tail growing brighter with each word. The Ferosk backed away as they watched their Alpha confront the new creature. “Did you think you could hurt my friends and expect to get away with it!?” The Alpha started to back away, lowering its head and sizing the unicorn up. “Well let me tell you something, sand for brains! As long as I live, you will not touch a hair on their heads!” The Alpha roared and charged at the pony, its footsteps thundered as it made its path to the unicorn. Twilight stood resolute, snarling and flaring her horn. The lumbering beast soon found itself air-born as it was hit with a blast of magic. As it came back down, Twilight lit up her horn again, and a large spike tore through the earth where the Alpha would land. The spike ripped through its torso with a loud ripping noise. It gurgled and thrashed about, trying to get free from Twilight’s conjuration. She walked up to the beast and looked it in the eyes. Her cold stare met its dying gaze. She fired an electric jolt, making the beast spasm and fall still, blood oozing from its maw and the spire upon which it was impaled. She glared around at the other Ferosk. Each one lowered its head from her gaze, and one by one, they burrowed back beneath the sand. Twilight slowly reverted back to her original color. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out. “Twilight!” Pinkie yelled. “Get her into the tomb and see what’s wrong, I’ll find the cart!” Fang ordered.