Ch. 5
"Oh my God." I was the first to get my wits together enough to speak. That was all I could manage.
"What in Celestia's name is that?"
Derpy turned to the Doctor. "Is it... an alicorn?"
He shook his head. "No, I don't think so. It's off somehow."
On a second glance, I totally agreed with his assessment. While it had the wings and a horn, and a coat somehow whiter than Celestia's, that was all the alicorn traits it possessed. It was short, barely tall than Twilight. Its horn was gnarled, and its body seemed shriveled.
But the worst thing was the eyes. They were all black, the pupils lost in the darkness. Even though the body stood listlessly, they never stopped staring at us.
"I think you're right, Doctor." Twilight concurred. "In fact... it looks more like a white changling."
"What do we do?" Derpy whispered.
Twilight nodded towards the Tardis. "It's still drawing power from the Tardis. We should disconnect it while that thing's still recovering." She started towards the Tardis.
I stopped her before she got more than an inch, keeping my eyes on the thing. "No, don't!"
"What's wrong?" The Doctor demanded. "We have to sever that umbilical cord before it gets its act together."
I pointed at its face. "Look." They did, but they couldn't see what I was trying to show them. "It hasn't stopped watching us. It's not recovering, it's waiting. Like a snake. The second we step towards the Tardis, it'll strike."
That froze them. "What do we do?" Derpy asked again, this time more insistently.
"One of us has to distract it so the others can get the Tardis loose."
"I'll do it." Twilight volunteered.
"No." I said immediately. "That thing's full of energy from the Tardis and us. If you fight it, this whole place will burn. And we're close enough to Ponyville that it might get hit by a stray beam." I cracked my neck, psyching myself up for what I had to say. "I'll do it."
"You!?" All three of them had the same question.
"Twilight's too powerful." I explained. "The Doctor knows the Tardis better than anyone. And Derpy's no fighter. It has to be me."
Twilight had her doubts. "Can you do it? You can't even use telekinesis."
"If I thought a magic fight was the solution, you'd be the one distracting it." They didn't like it, but we didn't have a choice. They agreed. "All right. On my mark, run for the Tardis." They tensed, ready to sprint. "Go!"
As I expected, once they took off the not-alicorn thing launched itself towards them, aiming a punch at Derpy. I was ready, and before it hit, I wrapped my forehooves around its limb and dragged it down into an armbar. "Me first, jerkface."
The first time I saw any sort of emotion from the thing was when it glared at me for saying that. Then the blank mask came back. It shrugged and that sent me flying. As I skidded to a landed, my momentum rolled me through so I ended up on my stomach.
I looked up just in time to see four hooves about to down on my face. I rolled out of the way, kicking at its legs as I did. It hopped out of range.
The thing giving me space was exactly what I needed. I got up, trying to think of a way to survive. I knew I wasn't going to win this fight when I went into it, but I didn't realize how strong the thing was.
My thoughts were interrupted when it charged at me, horn first. I was able to dodge it, kind of, but it caught my flank. The thing wheeled around.
But there was a problem. While it had wheeled, it noticed the others again. It wasn't looking at me, it was staring at them. I wasn't doing my job.
"You know..." I bantered, trying desperately to get it to focus on me. "I need to think of a name for you. How about... 'Tom'?" No reaction. "What about 'Fluffy'?" It started to turn away from me. I ran at it. "How about 'Fucking Idiot'!?"
It snapped back to me, which was great for the others. Not so much for me. I was able to duck under a lazy back-hoof, but the gash just behind my saber shaped cutie mark was slowing me down. I couldn't get out of the way of the next blow. and it sent me tumbling.
"You know what?" I said as I picked myself up. "This just isn't working. I can't fight on four legs."
I stood on my back legs, all dramatic and epic. My opponent wasn't impressed. It launched itself at me. But it was a different ballgame. I sidestepped and placed a hoof square on his jaw.
Ok, maybe not too different a game. The creature's head barely moved and I'm pretty sure my hoof cracked. I skipped back to avoid a jab from its horn.
This fight just wasn't going my way. My arm was stinging from the shock, as if I had punched a steel vault. I shook it out. I couldn't go hit for hit with this thing. It was strong enough to throw me with a casual wave, and I'm not entirely sure its body was actually made of flesh. But maybe I could use its power against it.
I shuffled until my back was to a huge boulder. The thing obviously didn't know this trick and it charged. I waited until it was almost to me, then spun around behind him. I added a dropkick's force to the creature's charge and it slammed horn first into the rock.
It was trapped. I took the time to catch my breath and put pressure on my cut, which hadn't stopped bleeding. Derpy flew over to me.
"Where'd you learn to do all that?" She asked.
"Don't know." I gasped. "Can't remember. Are you done yet?"
She looked back at the Tardis. "No, not yet. It's really stuck."
"This thing will get loose soon, and I don't think I can last too much longer. Please hurry."
Derpy nodded. "We will." She took off, just as the not-alicorn was able to pull its horn out. It turned and glared at me.
"All right." I said. "Round two."