Chapter 15: I Hate Cats.
Of course, the big snarling thing comes crashing through the window to the chorus of three screaming ponies - and lands right on my face. I grab its maw as it snarls at me with fangs whose sharpness I'd rather not contemplate, as its breath hits me - its that rotten stench. The stench that I've smelt in my dreams, and from that one timberwolf back in Ponyville.
"What is that thing?!" I turn my head away from the uninviting teeth long enough to see Twilight pointing a hoof at it, looking on with bewilderment as I try to keep my face intact.
"T-T-Trixie thought you said it was a chupacabra!" The hero who valiantly saved Baltimare from the merwolves, yep.
"But chupacabras don't look like this! They're blue and purple and all furry in the front." Twilight put a hoof to her muzzle and coughed, the others doing the same. She's right, though - if that's what a chupacabra is, this isn't that. Its blue is pale, going on grey, and there's no hair, or fur, or anything. Simply rotten-looking skin.
"Ahn it smells like it died." The smell apparently isn't in my head, either.
"Is it a..." Trixie's eyes go wide looking at it, "z-z-z-zombie?"
Applejack narrows her eyes at Trixie. "Ah think ya've been listenin' to yer own stories a bit too much there, Trix."
"Less hypothetical talk about an imminent undead apocalypse, more getting this thing off my face?" I'm starting to be able to see my own reflection in these damn teeth.
"Oh, right!" Twilight snaps into action, grabbing the thing with her magic and hurling it out the window it came from as I press against the wall-floor-whatever of the upturned train car, panting slightly. I take a moment then begin getting to my feet as we hear the continued steps and clawing of more of those things on the new-roof of the train. God, there's gotta be tons of them up there.
"Uh, Twi." Applejack starts, looking up to the source of all those sounds. "Any ideas in that head of yers to get us outta this one?"
"Uh..." Twilight spaces for a second, as we begin to hear the shifting and yelps of the passengers on the other cars. This train's mostly empty besides us, not completely empty. Shit. "The other passengers!" She finally speaks, realizing the same thing I just did. I reach a hand back and grip it around the hilt of my sword, thinking. "We need to-"
"Twilight." I cut her off sternly, and she looks at me. "Think you can use that shield or whatever or did when we first met to keep the people on the train safe?"
"Yeah, easily, but-"
"Then you three do that. I'll take care of things." I punctuate my statement by drawing my sword, spinning it absentmindedly in my fingers and earning looks from Applejack and Twilight.
"Where did you get that?" Twilight asks, following the glint of the Materia along the blade with her eyes as I continue spinning it.
"Does it really matter?"
"Wait you jus' wait a cotton-pickin' minute, Cloud!" Applejack looks up at me, stomping a hoof. "It's a darn rodeo out there, yer gonna get torn up goin an' playin' hero by yerself!"
Playing hero, huh? Thinking back to Appleloosa, I guess I do like doing that. Holding my left palm open in front of me, I do my standard trick: Fireball conjuring, something Applejack and Twilight haven't seen yet. "I'll be fine, I've had some Great and Powerful help getting the hang of this."
Applejack looks at the flaming orb with a simple 'oh' on her lips, with Twilight sporting a more curious look, and... "Aha! So you admit Trixie's influence in your new-found magical abilities, assistant!"
I flick my wrist and dismiss the flame. "Don't get ahead of yourself, now."
"So what are you going to do?" Twilight asks. Girl asks all the questions I haven't even considered the answers to yet, I swear.
I look around the cart, remembering we're riding in the cart directly before the caboose as a plan quickly formulates in my mind. "I'll distract them by going out the back. Then you three can secure the rest of the train." Their looks are still skeptical. There's an argument on the edge of Trixie's lips but she doesn't voice it, Twilight seems uncertain despite her question prompting my explanation, and Applejack looks a mix of impatient and worried.
After a few more thuds and thumps on the 'ceiling' of the car, I decide to ignore it and move for the door. There's no more time to be debating this unless we want them coming to us - and I, at least, don't have room to fight on a lopsided, pony-sized train. I reach for the handle and begin fighting with it. It's awkward to move at this angle, but eventually it gives and I'm able to open the door like a giant hatch to the outside world. Luckily, it opened with the door above me instead of below, because as soon as I'm starting to step over the threshold I feel a weight pound onto it. Can't even let me out of the train, can they? At least the caboose being in their way is giving them slight pause.
I hear the snarling and the pound of a second weight on the door and decide now's a good a time as any to book it. I kick off the door frame, rolling and using the Time Materia to increase my speed. Two dull thuds sound out behind me, but I don't look back yet. First, distance. As I run, I can hear more thuds against the ground. That's when I turn my head to look at exactly what I'm up against.
It's also when I realize this is going on my ever-growing list of terrible ideas.
They're all leaping from the overturned train. Are they after me specifically, or something? I have enough trouble being surrounded with an excessive number of female ponies, I don't need to add rabid and potentially zombified chupacabra-things to my list. Deciding I've made enough distance between myself and the mob of angry cat-things, I turn, swinging my sword with a flourish to try and scare them into backing off. As I swing, a crescent beam fires from the blade, smashing into the front-most of the pack and dissipating among them, causing several in the front to topple and the rest to slow and snarl at me. I'll need to add that one to the list of skills I have to remember how to do consistently.
For now, though, I need to figure out how to get out of a setup pulled straight from a bad action movie. I take a few steps back as I grip my sword in both hands, trying to count how many there are. Twenty? Thirty? I stop counting somewhere between 'too many' and 'I'm going to miss my throat', a volume that shouldn't surprise me considering they overturned a moving train. Well, it's not like I'm going to go down without a fight. I take a moment to check my surroundings - one aforementioned overturned train, a couple of cactus, and a lot of sand. No good cover. I haven't been able to test these Materia on this sword yet so they're basically worthless. If that fight with those 'diamond dogs' or whatever was any indication, trying to use group magic on this many bogeys at once will just lead to exhaustion and lack-of-throat-itis. I'm going to need to get creative...
Sudden inspiration strikes, and I do something I've never done before. That is, I conjure a fireball, throw it in their general direction, then run like hell. Though, I do have an idea - the first cars on the train are the engine and the fuel, with no risk of passengers besides the workers. Hopefully, Trixie and the others have gotten everyone round up, so I can use those two cars as cover. As I run, I look over my shoulder to see the horde of angry not-chupacabras gaining despite the Time Materia still increasing my speed.
Quickly, reaching the engine car, I dive and cast the Lightning Materia around the corner. I press my back against the car, not bothering to look, though there's the distinct flashes of light, crackles, and yelps of pain signifying something just got roasted. So now, hopefully, I'm only dealing with too many to count minus a few instead of just too many to count. Slightly better odds. That's when a goopy, melting sounds hit my ears from the direction I cast Lightning. That's... very not normal. Nor are those sounds of dry heaving I hear from the other side of the engine car. The distinct clink of claws-against-metal makes sure to let me know I don't have time to be thinking this over, though, and I get moving again. A quick cast of Ice against the desert sand puts down a slippery layer to slow them down as I turn to my goal - the back half of the locomotive car, where the fuel is stored. The coal is spilling out the overturned top like a black, rocky hill, and I call on the Time Materia again as I make my move, quickly bounding up the slope and on top of the train.
Kind of ended up taking myself full circle here - but this is far more than I expected when I came up with this terrible plan. I chance a peek at where the Lightning I cast earlier landed, and see several grey, gurgling puddles along with the scorch marks from the lightning itself. Any thought I can give that gets quickly snatched away though as I hear the beasts clawing their way up the coal, a few at a time. I know they can probably get up here from other angles but this will at least provide a funnel without needing to deal with the obstacles of a train car's interior or with ponies that need defending. I decide to improve my odds with another cast of the Ice Materia, freezing over some of the coal and the back half of the locomotive to make their climb more difficult. After another deep breath, I raise my sword, knowing this isn't going to be pretty.
The first one finally makes its way to the top of the car and leaps, and I don't hesitate on thrusting the point of my sword into its gut. Going non-lethal in this situation is just another path to lack-of-throat-itis, so there's no other options. What catches me by surprise is the splatter - not the red blood as I was expecting, but rather greyish-black gunk not completely dissimilar to what I saw at the lightning marks. I kick the beast off my sword with one foot and raise my blade again, this time going for the horizontal slice as the next one leaps. I hit it cleanly, my blade digging deep into it and the wide swing knocking it from the side of the train. Another quickly meets a similar fate, but then they stop charging. They've realized their need for numbers even in this small area and are grouping, attempting to pounce me with multiples at once. I take a few steps back and grip my sword in front of me, preparing myself as my eyes dart around and see a few noteworthy things all at the same time.
First is the corpse of the one I stabbed through. It's... melting into goop. Stranger is the one beast I see still on the ground near the engine - its different from the rest, looking more 'natural' and in the colors Twilight described originally, though twisted and with a single long, whip-like limb protruding from its left side. It's in the throws of a heaving cough, and eventually spits up a glob of flesh onto the desert sand. Once I realize what's going on, the sight becomes horrifying - the bit of flesh is twisting itself, forcing itself into the shape of the things currently assailing me. It's enough to nearly make me throw up.
The third of note is probably the one that fills me with the most dread - a cactus hurdling through the sky at the group of monsters on top of the train with me, held in a pinkish aura as its used like a club. I quickly turn to see the wizard-clad owner of that aura, the one pony I was hoping to not see outside the train, though also probably the most likely.
"Ahah! Fiends!" Trixie straightens her hat and makes another swipe with her prickly cudgel. "Do not worry, faithful assistant, The Great and Powerful Trixie shall save you!"
"Trixie, what are you doing?!" I yell down, my eyes quickly darting between her and the pack of beasts. "Do you realize how many of these things there are?!"
"Sure Trixie does! There's..." Her eyes turn from the ones on the train with me to the giant mass of them near the engine, most of which are eying her up to be a far easier mark than I am. "...Oh." Yeah, 'oh'.
"Get up here!" I yell down to her, barely noticing the resumed attack of the monsters in time to knock another away.
"Trixie... uhh... okay..." Why is she so nervous? Twilight teleported fine earlier, so even Trixie must be able to go a small distance, no? Her horn glows, and there's an explosive sound and a large puff of smoke, which clears to reveal... Trixie trying to scramble up the sloped side of the car's ex-roof with her hooves. Goddamnit, Trixie.
"Can't you teleport or something?" I yell down, smacking away another of the beasts. Luckily they're still only coming a few at a time. I imagine a combination of my ice layer and Trixie's hapless performance are to thank for that.
"Trixie... uhh..." Nope.
Then I hear her scream and look to the ground again. Most of those things have decided to switch to the easier mark. Just great. I turn from the remaining ones on the roof and tap the Time Materia again, leaping down and scooping her up in my left arm. "Hold on!" I command as I move her to my back, positioning her so she can wrap those overly dexterous forelimbs ponies have around my neck. And now, I need to wonder how something that literally eats grass can be so damn heavy. Her weight is way more noticeable now that she's clinging to my neck - how can something so small seem to weigh nearly as much as I do?
I can feel her head shift as she looks behind us. "They're gaining! What do we do?!" Goddamnit Trixie you don't need to yell in my ear.
"I won't be able to get on top of the train again." I reply, starting to feel the fatigue from so much magic use. I dart my eyes around, looking for anything useful in the landscape. "There's no cover out here, either..."
She sighs into my back. "Trixie just wanted to help..."
"Maybe you still can. Can you make shields like Twilight?" I ask her, trying to cut off her depressed stupor before it starts and figure a way out of this mess.
"Trixie can try!" She replies, her depression seemingly forgotten as quickly as it came.
I stop and turn back to the things charging us, brandishing my sword with a threatening swing that sends another of those beam-like attacks into their crowd. "Good. I can't use much more magic, so do what you can to protect us and hold on tight."
"What?!" She yells into my ear, gripping my neck tighter.
"We can't keep running." I tell her, keeping my voice steady. "Once I'm spent on magic, they'll catch us easily. We'll have to fight our way back to the train and get inside." Really going full circle on this terrible plan, but I'm almost spent, we'll need to hope Twilight has the train under control and see if the unicorns can take care of this mess.
"A-and what if Trixie c-c-cannot do the shield?" Her voice wavers as her grip gets even tighter, the monstrous things in front of us recovering from my previous attack.
"Better not to think about it!" I ready my sword and charge in. Better to take the initiative and keep them on their toes. If Trixie can do something to defend us then maybe this will work...
Over my shoulder I can see the pink glow of her magic. From the corners of my eyes I can see something begin to form around us, so I take a glance away from my targets to see exactly what - and what I see, is what may as well be a pink turtle's shell appearing around our sides and back. Not the full on bubble-shield I was hoping for, but it'll cover our blind spots. Hopefully it'll be enough.
I tap into my last reserves of magic, giving Time another cast, along with a grouped Lightning, focusing on the center of the beasts. It has the desired effect - striking some and causing most of the rest to bounce out of the way, leaving an alleyway of scorched sand between myself and the train. In the small window of opportunity, I see the 'hatch' of the train I originally exited from opening, and a lavender form I quickly recognize as Twilight Sparkle raising a shield.
"Cloud! Trixie! Hurry up!" She yells to us, her horn aglow as she begins running towards us.
Good, if we can just get to Twilight... a slam against my back tells me that's not going to be easy. Trixie's shield takes the hit, but I hear the cracking of glass. It isn't going to last through too many more smacks like that. The fiends still ahead of us also begin moving in, and I hear Trixie grunt and pull her head back as I swing for the fences, smacking one aside. Then another. Then another. Intermixed with plenty more smacks against the shield on our collective back. And through it, I can still hear that damn dry-heaving, meaning that weird one is only making more of these things. I bat another away, only to see a second leaping at me. I pull my left arm up in defense, my bangle thankfully lodging into the thing's ugly maw, though I still wince as a few teeth dig into my flesh.
"Trixie!" I yell back to her, stabbing the stupid thing latched onto my arm in its stupid gut. "Rip this thing off!"
I feel her head shift and hear a small gasp. "O-okay!" The pink magic envelops the jaw of the now-dead fiend, pulling it open with a quick wrench and sending the body tumbling to the ground as I use the side of my sword to smack away another with a one-handed swing. Then, I feel another smash against our back and the full sound of shattering glass. There goes the shield. Shit.
From behind us, I begin hearing yelps, and Twilight's eyes shoot open in surprise, though she thankfully doesn't stop running. Neither do I, and in a few moments Trixie and I are quickly under her bubble-shield, my back thankfully devoid of giant not-cat-creatures. I turn back to see what Twilight is so surprised about as I stoop down and let Trixie off, and I see an unexpected cavalry - dark pegasi in midnight armor. armed with spears, diving and taking pot shots at the big pack of things. After a moment, I notice the strange detail about them - they don't have normal pegasi wings, but bat wings.
"That's... Luna's Royal Guard!" Twilight helpfully answers my unvoiced question as she points a hoof.
Several of the totally-not-zombie-chupacabra begin attacking our shield, causing Twilight to jump out of her stupor and redouble her magic, and I feel Trixie's weight press against my side. Twilight's shield, however, succeeds in holding them back, allowing the flying bat-pony-things to pick them off. It's a bit... unsettling to see ponies use lethal force, really. They've seemed so peaceful so far - but then again, Trixie's anecdotes of her failures often involve ponies throwing entire watermelons at her, so I can't help but wonder. Some midnight blue beams hit the back-most group of the monsters from the sky, and I turn up in time to see a large, winged form come down like a lead weight on top of the one with the fifth limb with a sickening crunch, the noise causing both Twilight and Trixie to wince.
As I look at the darkened form, I see its eyes open - pure white with magic as it unleashes a bubble-shaped surge of midnight blue energy to quell whichever beasts are still moving, the sand now looking more like a road of sizzling tar and goop from the strange decay their bodies undergo. The gruesomeness of it silencing the remaining beasts isn't what gives me pause, however - its the one doing the silencing. The shadowed black form, with deep, white, magic fueled eyes... I grip my sword again and take a deep breath, though I let it hang by my side as the white light fades from the eyes of the form across from us, the bat-ponies landing nearby as it begins walking nearer.
"Princess Luna!" Twilight calls out, lowering her shield and running toward the midnight-colored alicorn. "What are you doing here? How did you know we needed help?" And there goes the question machine-gun.
I take the moment to stoop down and look to the mare huddling at my side, pulling her hat aside so I can get a better view of her face. "You're not hurt, right?"
She looks up at me for a moment, but quickly puts her mask back on and gives me a trademarked 'hmph'. "Trixie is fine, assistant! This excursion is nothing she can't handle!"
Oi vey. I let out a small sigh, pulling her hat back over her face. "You're not the only one who was scared, you know."
She pulls her hat back up with a hoof, but I miss the look she gives me - I'm already turned to the approaching princess, whose walking with Twilight Sparkle at her side and levitating the body of that five-limbed chupacabra behind her. "Ah, Cloud!" Twilight runs up to me, motioning to the alicorn that's about a foot shorter than I am. "Meet Princess Luna! Princess Luna, this is who I wrote Princess Celestia about a while back."
I peer into her eyes, which narrow and look up into mine, before a look of recognition takes over her face. "Ah," she says, letting go of her magic and letting the body she's carrying hit the ground with a plop, "the one with the strange dreams. We are familiar with him."