Irreplaceable
Chapter 10- Sudden Death
The air rushed past Twilight as she fell, her eyes streaming as she struggled to keep them open. Tumbling head over tail as the wind caught her, she was sent spinning, narrowly missing a rocky outcropping. She hit the water hard, driving the breath from her. Instinctively, she started thrashing and tried to breathe, but the thick muddy bog defied her body’s natural attempts to save itself, and she only inhaled a lungful of slime. Coughing and spluttering, she began to sink. As her vision began to swim and her head sank beneath the surface of the swamp, lungs and stomach full of thick mud, she had time for one last thought before darkness claimed her.
Thank you... Thank you all for showing me the spark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“TWILIGHT!” The call echoed through the depths of the Everfree Forest as her friends searched, the light from their lanterns illuminating a small circle of the wilderness around them. After leaving Zecora’s hut, a sleeping Rainbow Dash oblivious to their presence, they had proceeded to spread out into the depths of the forest, sticking close enough to see each other’s lights through the gloom.Every so often, their calls were interrupted by a mournful hoot, a status update of a fruitless search.
“Twilight, dear, where are you?”
“Twilight? Are you there? Please come home...”
“C’mon out, Twi! Let’s get you home!”
“Twilight, this isn’t hide and seek! ...But if it WAS hide and seek, you’d be doing really really good! But it’s not! Come on out!”Four different voices, four different calls, one message.
Twilight, come home.
Originally, there had been some talk of splitting up to cover more ground, but, surprisingly, it was Pinkie Pie who had been the voice of reason.
“Nuh uh!” she had said, shaking her head emphatically. “I know we gotta find her, but we also gotta stay together. There’s all sorts of nasty stuff in the forest during the day, but it’s gonna be even worse at night, when all the creepies and the ghosties and stuff come out. And I don’t think we can laugh these ones away”. And so they’d stuck together, spread apart, but just close enough to see one another.
“TWILIGHT!”
Again, there came a hooting. This time, however, it was different, almost frantic. Landing near Applejack, Owlysius hooted again and again, a rapid fire tirade. The ponies clustered around the agitated owl, both excited and terrified of the news he brought. Owlysius hopped from foot to foot, frantically flapping his wings. The four ponies listened intently until he’d finished. Applejack spoke first, breaking the silence.
“I gotta say, I sure as sugar wish I knew what the hay he just said”. Owlysius covered his face with his wings. Suddenly taking off, he hooted again, pausing a moment to look back at them before heading off at top speed. That, at least, was clear enough. Fluttershy straightened.
“I’ll follow him; you girls follow behind us”.
“Are ya sure ya can keep up with ‘im, sugarcube?” Fluttershy looked at her, a strange light in her eyes.
“Oh, I’m sure, Applejack. I’m very sure”. Spreading her wings, Fluttershy rocketed into the night sky faster than any of her friends had ever thought possible for the shy pegasus.
“...Well, I’ll be”. Without another word, the three ponies took off at a full gallop in the direction Owlysius had flown.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A powerful scaly fist crashed into a large slimy head, creating a loud crack that echoed through the swamp. Reeling back, the head slumped to the ground. It wasn’t dead; the blow had simply knocked it unconscious, now only serving as dead weight to the monster it was attached to. Shifting his weight, Spike leapt back as another head lunged, wrapping its maw around the space where his neck had been milliseconds before. Spike and the hydra circled one another, each looking for an opening. The hydra snarled, its unconscious head dragging across through the swamp, unable to assist the other three. The dragon circled and watched, looking for an opening, waiting for the right chance to strike and immobilize a second head. Though harder than simply removing the head, it was, in the long run, the easiest way to beat it. The hydra lashed out, striking at him with two of its heads. Lightning fast, Spike shot upwards, sending the two heads crashing together. Folding his wings, he dropped like a stone. Crashing down onto the stunned heads, he struck, bashing at the heads with fists, legs and tail, delivering as much damage between the two as possible. One of the heads pulled back, rearing up unsteadily, but the other stayed down, the vicious beating having done its job. Spike leapt to his feet and sank into a fighting crouch. Two heads down, two left to deal with. The right head lashed out, snapping. As Spike raised his tail and lunged, ready to deliver another crushing blow. As he swung, the head suddenly fell back as the other head quickly darted in from the side, catching him by the shoulder. Lifting him, the hydra swung forcefully, hurling Spike away. The hydra’s teeth failed to penetrate his thick, armoured hide, but the impact caused the joint to ache regardless.
Catching his balance and rotating in midair, Spike landed and immediately pushed off, hurling himself at the other beast. He opened his mouth and struck hard and fast, clamping down onto the side of the hydra’s face. The creature let out an unearthly shriek and tried to rear back, but, even with its overwhelming size advantage, the dragon’s raw strength and ferocity kept the head down and firmly within his grip. Unleashing a flurry of strikes at the head, Spike spat it out and leapt back as the final head rushed past, barely missing him. Spike stepped back, creating a distance between them. The head Spike had bitten thudded to the ground, as immobile as the other three, while the one remaining reared back, still ready for a fight.
Perfect Three down, and...
Spike froze, unable to believe what he was seeing. The final head opened its mouth and bit deep, but not into Spike. The three unconscious heads flopped to the ground, twitching like fish out of water. The severed necks pulsated and bubbled, the sickly sucking sounds it created mingling with the creature’s shrieks. In a matter of seconds, the necks had split and burst outwards, growing at a rate almost not to be believed. Where there had once been four heads, now there were seven, each of the necks sprouting two additional heads.
Well now. That’s just plain unfair.
Spike looked from head to head, inspecting each as quickly as the situation would allow. The creature seemed woozy, off balance, as could be expected from the exertion of growing six new heads, but that wouldn’t last for long. Spike needed to find the correct head, and find it NOW. Something drastic had to be done, and quickly, before it was too late. The hydra shook itself, snapping out of its momentary torpor, then hurled itself at the dragon, all seven heads snapping. There! Third from the left! It was all he needed. Again he spread his wings. This time, though, he pushed backwards, forcing himself into the trunk of a great tree. The moment the hydra was in range, he used the tree as a springboard, catapulting himself towards the beast at great speed. His wings catching the night air, he stayed low, gliding, ducking under its guard and slipping underneath the hydra. Lashing out with his tail, he struck at the unprotected belly of the beast again and again, the sharply bladed tip of his tail leaving deep lacerations where it struck. All seven heads shot backwards, shrieking as one. Dodging out from beneath, Spike flipped around the wildly lashing tail. Steeling himself and planting his feet directly in the path of the lashing tail, he readied himself for the blow. Again came the frenzied tail, swinging almost blindly in pain and rage. This time, however, Spike didn’t dodge. Taking the mighty blow full in the chest, he caught the massive tail. Gritting his teeth at the near indescribable pain, he sank his teeth and claws in as deeply as possible, giving a great yank and pulling on the tail with every fibre of muscle in his body. The combination of wounds on its underside and the sudden surprise of Spike’s seizing its tail made it easy for Spike to force the larger beast to the ground. The many headed beast hit the ground hard, shrieking in pain and fury through seven throats. Seizing his chance, Spike leaped into the air, unfurling his wings with a mighty flap for added height. He landed at the base of the creature’s neck, poised behind the head he had targeted. Wasting no time, he tore fiercely at the neck, ripping the head off with a sound unequalled in its nauseating thickness. The other heads, furious at this attack, struck, lightning fast. Spike dove forward, slipping through the forest of scaly appendages. A jolt of pain shot up his side; a lucky blow had managed to force a tooth into a gap between scales. Ignoring the wound, Spike seized the head he had torn off and, pushing off, shot off into the air. Pain racked his body as he spread his wings, soaring off towards a nearby cliff overhang, overlooking the swamp. Forcing the fanged mouth open, he rammed a scaly arm down the dead throat. He actually managed to fit his arm up to the shoulder inside the monster’s esophagus.
Come on, COME ON! It doesn’t matter if it swallowed, it still takes longer than that to reach the stomach! Rooting around in the great beast’s severed neck like Santa Claus reaching into a grotesque stocking, he groped blindly until-
YES! Closing his fist, Spike gingerly removed the object he had been searching for from the colossal gullet.
TO BE CONTINUED