//------------------------------//
// On the Trail 
// Story: My Little Pony: Chaos in Equestria 
// by Snake Staff 
//------------------------------//

	Clip, clop. Clip, clop. Clip, clop. Clip, clop. Clip, clop.
The sound of thousands of hooves marching in unison had long sense embedded itself in Twilight’s brain. “And it’s giving me a headache,” she moaned, briefly rubbing her head with one of her own hooves. 
By then, the column had been on the move for some days. Thousands of the Royal Guard marched in disciplined formations, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. Twilight stood near the rear of the group, along with Cadence, Applejack, and a host of other non-guard personnel. Supply wagons, medics, and other support ponies, for the most part. 
Initially, she’d tried to keep pace with the guard formation, but it had soon become painfully clear that such effort was futile. Twilight was smaller and physically weaker than the well-trained stallions that made up the vast bulk of the guard, and they’d had plenty of practice. So Twilight had allowed her pace to falter, and soon she was near the rear. 
Twilight looked to her right briefly. Cadence noticed, and gave her a small reassuring smile for what felt like the millionth time these last few days. Twilight didn’t know what it was, but something in that expression seemed to lift her spirits, and those around her. Everyone was scared. Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, the noncombatants… heck, even the guard were scared, though they did a good job hiding it. But Cadence always seemed to make a pony believe that somehow, some way, things would be alright, just by her smiles. Twilight smiled back.
Looking further, she saw Applejack, amicably chatting with one of the guards stationed to protect the vulnerable ponies in the rear of the column. Twilight looked up, hoping for a glance of Rainbow Dash. She saw nothing. She sighed. “Come on, you knew it was going to be this way,” her rational side chided her. She had. When commander Dawn Spear had ordered all pegasi who could fight and fly onto continuous aerial patrols and scouting missions, Twilight knew that she wouldn’t be seeing much of her friend. The time she did get wasn’t very eventful – Rainbow was always too exhausted to say much when they met at the camps at night.
Looking at Cadence and Applejack again, Twilight felt a sudden burst of shame. It was her fault they were so far to the back. Both were strong and fast enough to keep up the pace with the stallions, but they had allowed themselves to slow down when Twilight began to wear out. Both understood how badly she felt, and wanted to be there for her. It was a generous gesture for a friend. “Rarity and Fluttershy would approve.”
Thinking of Rarity brought tears back to Twilight’s eyes yet again. A thousand and one potential terrible fates for her friends flashed through her mind. “What if they’re… dead? What if they’re alone out there, terrified and hunted? What if they’re lost in the Everfree? Are they sick? Starved? Dehydrated? Did the Chaos ponies get them? Like they got… like they got Pinkie Pie?”
If thinking of Fluttershy and Rarity made Twilight feel miserable, thinking of Pinkie made her conscience writhe in agony. “You should have done something!” it screamed at her. “You’re the Element of Magic, you should have been able to stop that pony!” Twilight hung her head at the unspoken accusations, unwilling to say a word in her own defense. It was true. She had run the scenario over again in her head hundreds of times. She had imagined herself blasting the pony the instant she saw Pinkie Pie tied up. She imagined teleporting the pink pony to safety. She saw herself interrupt the blue pony’s magic, or dispel it somehow. She saw hundreds of outcomes, and in every one she did what she hadn’t done in reality – save her friend. The shame and guilt threatened to crush her. Doubly so because she was abandoning Pinkie to her fate so she could go fight the war. Twilight’s legs trembled. If it weren’t for the thought that she and her magic were so badly needed, she’d be running in every direction, using every spell to try and find her friend. As it was, she couldn’t do anything for her. Twilight sobbed quietly. Cadence gave her a worried look.
…
The column continued their long march throughout the rest of the day time. Day, Twilight noted, was much longer than it should have been in mid-autumn, and warmer too. No doubt this was Celestia’s doing. The skies were also kept perfectly clear of any clouds by the pegasi in the group, ensuring that all had an open view of any potential airborne threats, and that no poor weather or muddy trails hindered progress. In the afternoon, the guard column passed out of the flatter areas around Canterlot and into the Great Western Forest. No Everfree, this forest had been carefully cultivated by ponies to ensure both safety and accessibility for any travelers. The weather was, naturally, also under pony control here. Twilight knew enough geography to know that, taking the fastest route, the army should reach the other side in three days of marching. 
“This is where we make camp for the night,” announced a grey stallion returning from up ahead. He indicated the area the group was already standing in, for the most part. “Time to get some shuteye.”
It didn’t take long for the exhausted ponies at the rear of the column to begin laying down wherever they could find. Those that could laid down in the wagons left open for that sort of thing, replacing the night sentries who had been resting during the day. Those ponies not so fortunate were left to find a comfortable space on the ground to place their issued mats on. Some ponies were already so worn out that they didn’t even bother with the mat, simply curling up on any soft patch of dirt or grass that they could find, heedless of the effects on their appearence. It was a pattern Twilight had grown used to over the past few days, and she used telekinesis to roll out her own mat on a patch of grass not far from the treeline in short order.
Twilight laid down, instantly missing her soft bed again. The mat wasn’t rough, and the night was clear and warm, but she had nothing beyond her pack to rest her head on, and the ground was rough. Taking a peek around, she saw Cadence giving orders to several of the night sentries, pointing to positions around the area where they could get maximum fields of vision. She didn’t sleep much – always too busy doing whatever she could to help the ponies around her. Applejack, Twilight could see, was coming her way. The earth pony rolled out her mat next to Twilight’s and laid down on it. She met Twilight’s eyes, and the latter attempted a weak smile. Applejack’s expression told Twilight that she didn’t buy it.
“Listen, sugarcube?”
“Yeah?”
“Is there anything y’all want to talk about? Ya know, like-”
“No.” Twilight said hastily.
“Are ya sure? ‘Cause it looks to me that-”
“I said no!” Twilight snapped, far more viciously than intended.
Applejack’s eyes widened, then she lowered her head, looking sad. “Well, alrighty, if that’s what y’all want…”
“It is.” Twilight didn’t want her friend knowing about any of her guilt. Applejack must be suffering so much already, with her grandmother and brother dead, her home and livelihood burnt down, and now being asked to fight and kill in a war she never expected. But she had been strong, hadn’t complained. Twilight couldn’t be a lesser friend by indulging in her own misery. “I can’t add my problems to her’s.” Twilight had decided.
“Well, ok then. Just me me know if ya change your mind, ya hear?” Applejack laid down, her back to Twilight.
“I hear.” Twilight laid her own head down. A minute hadn’t passed before she was sound asleep.
…
“RAAARGH!!!”
“No! No please! AAAAAH-” 
Twilight awoken to the sound of a vicious roar that somehow sounded slimy, then a brief plea ended with a thump and a wet gurgle.
“Huh? Wha?” Twilight’s head bolted up, but her mind was still foggy. It was still night, of that she could be sure, but at first she couldn’t make out anything else. As her eyes and brain roused themselves, she suddenly saw a vision straight out of the depths of Tartarous.
An enormous, multi-headed beast loomed over the wagons on the opposite side of the trail. Twilight’s biology lessons quickly identified a hydra, but this creature looked nothing like anything she’d seen in a textbook. Twenty feet tall, it towered over the natural specimens of its kind. Rather than sleek, shiny, protective metallic scales, the creature seemed to be covered in a disgusting green fluff, interspersed with odd, black patches. It took Twilight a few seconds to realize that its covering was no fluff – it was bloated, moldy, green flesh. The black patches were what remained of its once-magnificent scale armor, rotten and black with disease. Its leftmost head had swollen and rotted so badly that its eyes and nostrils were lost beneath the green tissue. Its gums were black, and its teeth were yellowed and cracked, or missing altogether. The poor thing looked like it should have been long dead, but it was definitely moving. Moving and killing.
Spears plunged into the great beast’s flanks as the sentry ponies fought desperately to protect their charges. Yellow ooze with all the consistency of molasses dripped from the wounds, but the hydra didn’t seem to feel a thing. One daring stallion ducked under one of its swinging five necks, driving his spear so deep into its central neck that it burst out the other side of the necrotized tissue at an angle. The pony’s triumphant grin quickly turned to a look of raw terror as the beast’s targeted head lashed out at him without pause. He ducked under the snapping jaws, showing admirable reflexes. He yanked on the base of his spear as he went, trying to pull it free. It wouldn’t budge.
The guard tripped, suddenly overbalanced by his own immobile spear. He fell flat on his face. Before he could so much as look up again, the hydra’s central head looked down on him and vomited forth a great stream of blackish-green bile. The stallion screamed in utter agony for a mere second, then fell silent forever. In two seconds, his skin was gone. In five, nothing but a few cracking bones were left of the brave pony, surrounded by a pool of pulpy red and black goo.
But the hydra paid its victim no notice. After dispatching him, it swung its tail and claws at the other guards attempting to surround it, impaling one on a cracked, black claw and forcing the others to back up. Two heads on either end vomited more bile at the retreating ponies, while the other three tore open the canvas top of the nearest wagon. A young-looking mare in medical garments cowered underneath the crates within, desperately trying to avoid the creature’s attention. She was not so lucky. The three heads dumped their bile on the wagon, dissolving wood, metal, and glass just as readily as they dissolved the mare’s flesh and bone. Twilight stared in raw shock and horror. 
“Twi? Twi?! TWI?!” Applejack’s cries brought Twilight’s attention away from the monster, back to her friend. “We gotta get in there and help! Now!”
“You’re right. You’re right.” Twilight said, breathing heavily as she fought to overcome her shock at the sheer horror of the scene before her. “Let’s-”
“NO!” 
For a moment, everything seemed to freeze. Even the creature stopped momentarily, its jaws looming over a guard with half his rear left leg stripped away by a glancing hit of bile. He writhed helplessly in agony.
“NO!” the voice repeated.
Striding out from between the wagons was the unmistakable pink form of Princess Cadence. Her expression was like nothing Twilight had ever seen on her old foalsitter. Raw fury was evident in every movement she made; her eyes shown with raw magical power. She opened her wings, and floated slightly off the ground.
“You. Won’t. Harm. My. FRIENDS!” 
Cadence glowed pink for a brief second, then the ground shook as an enormous pink sphere of energy left her body, going in all directions. It passed through ponies and wagons without a trace. When it reached the hydra, however, it smashed the creature off its feet. The mutated monstrosity rolled backwards as it was pushed. Suddenly, the sphere seemed to reverse itself, disappearing around the camp and enveloping the hydra instead. It roared, now in true pain, as the energy contracted around its form, crushing it inwards. Then a pinkish fire began inside, consuming diseased flesh with stunning and unnatural rapidly. The hydra roared out its agonized death screams. Cadence’s expression didn’t change.
Finally, the creature within the sphere was no more. It disappeared, and ashes and a burning smell wafted over the camp. The glow around Cadence faded, and she sank to the ground, panting.