The hydra licked its lips and gave a satisfied burp as it looked at the two heads that were still fighting.
"Motherfucker!" Church snarled as he headbutted the hydra. "You ate me you son of a bitch!"
"Wouldn't it be you ate yourself?" Caboose asked.
"Shut the fuck up Caboose." Church yelled as he bit into its neck.
"How are you going to get your body back?" Twilight yelled through the hydra's cry of pain.
"I have no idea."
"What if he poops you out?" Caboose asked.
"Oh god we have to hurry, I don't want that to happen." Church yelled as he headbutted the hydra again.
"This is getting out of hoof." Twilight said as her horn began to glow. "As much as I don't want to do this, I think we may have to kill it."
"Don't do anything! I don't want my body to be smashed to pieces."
"Then what do you propose?"
The hydra head bit onto Church's throat and he gasped in pain.
"I think I know what I have to do."
Church phased out of the hydra, confusing the head he was in as it was under attack. The hydra quickly regained its senses and began to fight back, and soon all four heads were fighting.
"You guys may want to get behind something." Church suggested quietly.
"What are you going to do?"
"Something that I am going to regret instantly." Church sighed before jumping towards the hydra's stomach.
The hydra's torso began to shine blue, which made the four heads stop fighting, preoccupied with the spectacle. The stomach quickly began to shake violently and the hydra gave a deafening shriek.
"Get down!" Twilight yelled, causing the group to jump behind the remnants of the tree that the hydra had shattered.
Moments later an explosion blew away their cover. Twilight looked up to see Church standing in a pool of bile, while pieces of the hydra rained down from the sky.
"Church are you alright?" Twilight asked.
"Why wouldn't I be? Though... I was right." Church said as he started to wipe the muck off of his body.
"About what?"
"I already regret doing it. This stuff smells like shit."
The other three looked up to see Church was now fine and the hydra was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did it go?" Derpy asked as she looked around cautiously. "Did it leave?"
Church looked around at the huge chunks of hydra that were scattered everywhere and still falling from the sky.
"I'm done." Church grunted as he began to walk away. "If you need me, don't hesitate to not ask me."
"But we're almost done." Pinkie said as she hopped alongside him, before bringing one of the pieces up to her face. "This stuff is weird. What is it?"
"What's left of the hydra." Church said without stopping.
"Ew, that's gross." Pinkie said as she dropped the piece to the ground before turning back to Church. "But why don't you stay?"
"Because I'm covered in the innards of a giant hulking, multi-headed creature."
"But we just need the-"
"I. Don't. Care." Church said slowly. "Twilight, you can follow them if you want but I have had enough of dying a while."
"Do you want us to get you when we bake it?" Pinkie asked.
"Do what you want." Church said before disappearing through the trees.
"Alright Pinkie, what's next?" Twilight asked.
"We just have to grab a few leaves of vanilla. I think that there are some areas around the bog that have leaves, so it shouldn't take so long."
The four wandered for an hour until they came across a small, clear watered stream that passed through the bog.
"There's some!" Pinkie said as she hopped towards a small bush on the edge of the stream. "There's a lot of it too!"
Pinkie picked dozens of vanilla stems and placed them in her bag before snapping it shut.
"That was fast." Pinkie giggled. "Now we can go back and start to make it."
A loud thump came from behind them, startling the group. They turned to see a large lion, glaring at each of them.
"What is a lion doing in a swamp?" Caboose asked. "They belong in the ocean!"
"It’s a manticore." Twilight said as Pinkie and Derpy started backing away.
"What is a mandiplore?"
"It's a creature with the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion and a pair of wings. They're extremely dangerous and-"
The manticore let out a loud roar, cutting Twilight mid sentence.
"Run!" Derpy yelled as she bolted past the manticore.
The manticore lost focus on the others and prepared to chase after Derpy until the others also ran by it. With all of its prey running in one direction, it quickly gave chase to the four ponies. Twilight turned a few seconds later to see it sprinting towards them, knocking everything out of its path without any signs of slowing.
"We have to split up! Pinkie you take Derpy and run the other way while I take Caboose with me."
Pinkie gave a nervous nod before tapping Derpy and splitting off from Twilight and Caboose. The manticore looked between the two groups and gave chase to Twilight and Caboose, who seemed to be having a harder time as they ran.
"Can't you use your magic power thingy?"
"I need time to focus on it, I can't just turn around and use it."
The manticore quickly caught up, whipping Twilight with its tail and sending her barreling into a tree before slumping to the ground.
"Run Caboose!" Twilight yelled weakly.
Caboose lost all focus of everything and stared blankly as he noticed the manticore's scorpion tail flicking back and forth as it was getting ready to strike.
"Caboose, don't worry about me, just go!" Twilight yelled as her horn started to glow.
"It is a kitten... with spikes?" Caboose asked darkly as the manticore licked its lips.
"Caboose?" Twilight asked quietly, oblivious to the manticore as she watched Caboose's fur turn a deep shade of blue while his eyes turned completely black.
Caboose snarled as he lunged towards the manticore and tackled it to the ground. Twilight watched fearfully as Caboose slammed his hoof into the manticore's face.
"I hate spikey kittens."