Angela was furious.
She could not at the moment recall how long she had been trying to catch the griffon, as it seemed that every time she even got close to him he would suddenly disappear without a trace, only to reappear a few seconds later in a different area before flying off again. To make things even more frustrating for her, the griffon would sometimes lob another grenade right in her face when it seemed that she had him, buying the hybrid a few precious moments to increase the distance between them while Angela recovered. And each time only served to enrage her further .
Angela did not quite realize it just yet, but she was slowly slipping further and further into a miasma of anger and fury due to the fact that she still had not been able to catch the griffon. At first she had only meant to catch him, rough him up a little, give him the scare of his life, then leave. Whether or not there would be any injury in the process was up for debate. But as time progressed Angela was finding it becoming exceedingly difficult to adhere to that choice.
Get back here! she mentally shouted as she let loose another enraged hiss while she continued to pursue him, knocking over saplings and pushing trees side as along the way. Birds and squirrels and many other creatures of the forest fled for safety away from the rampaging wraith. Angela ignored them however; her sights were set solely on the griffon that continued to elude her.
And then suddenly, he was gone. Angela came to halt, and glanced all around in an attempt to locate her quarry. She could not find him however, and she hissed angrily at the fact that she had lost him. Just then a sharp whistle caught her attention, and Angela looked to see the griffon standing about a hundred feet away, no longer flying. He didn't appear to be doing anything. He just stood there with his wings unfolded, as though he were preparing to take flight, and Angela had enough sense left to realize that something was not quite right with the scene. The griffon had stopped fleeing, but now instead it seemed that he was waiting for her.
What are you up to? she questioned as she approached, scenting the air as she went. There were of course the ever present odors of the forest; leaves and pine needles and dirt, but there was also something else too. A scent that reminded her of gun powder, but slightly different. It had an almost coppery tint it, like pennies. Angela came to a slow stop and looked more closely at the environment around the griffon.
He was standing in a small clearing of some kind, one that did not look to be natural to its surroundings. Tall pine trees grew in a rough circle around the clearing, and it looked like a considerable amount of branches had been suspiciously laid on the ground around him. It was then Angela realized that she had followed the griffon right to a trap he had set for her. She had played the part of the dumb animal, and felt foolish for not realizing it earlier.
As Angela was mentally kicking herself and the more sensible part of her mind returned to her, she came to the conclusion the griffon was just not worth the effort of chasing around, no matter how much of an annoyance to her he might make of himself.
"Well?!" the griffon shouted in a gruff and heavily accented voice. "What are ya waiting for?! Come to Gerald!"
Yeah, I'm not falling for that you mutant chickadee, Angela thought as she gave a short hiss in reply. At that Gerald began to taunt her.
"What's the matter? Ya scared? Are ya a big chicken?" he called as he began swaying motions like he was trying to incite an attack. Angela was not fooled for a second by his taunts. She did not know exactly what kind of trap he had set for her, or if it would even do anything to harm her wraith body. But she knew that she was not going to play the role of a mindless beast for him any more and just float right into his talons. No matter how much he goaded her, Angela was not going to fall for his tricks any longer.
"Come on! Get your scaly arse over here!" Gerald shouted, almost sounding desperate. Angela would have blown raspberries if her jaws were still capable of such an action. As such, she had to settle for an extremely rude hand gesture. It was a little difficult since she only had four fingers on each hand, so as ironic as it would have been she could not flip him the bird, but she managed all the same. After that she turned to leave.
For the second time that night Gerald was taken aback by the way he was being treated by. Never before had any creature of any kind behaved in such a way, and shown such disrespect towards him. It was making him rather. . . irritable, and he'd had enough of it. He drew his knife and made to attack Angela like before. But unlike before she was ready for it.
Doesn't this dodo ever learn? she wondered as she listened for the flapping of his wings to draw closer before she reacted. When it seemed that he was close enough Angela whirled around and skillfully grabbed the hybrid right out of the air, holding him tightly in her talons. She was careful not to grip him hard enough to cause injury, though he proceeded to struggle in a vain attempt to get free.
Okay, she thought. Now that I've got you what should I-
Her musings were cut off when the griffon used his knife to stab Angela's hand, causing her to yelp in surprise and fling him away. The wound was no worse than a paper cut, but Angela was still caught off guard by it, and she felt her frustration with the bird begin to rise again. The griffon flapped his wings to steady himself from the impromptu flight before leveling off and coming at her again.
Alright, I've had enough, she thought as she snarled angrily at her adversary while he approached at high speed, aiming for her head this time. But just before he was about to make contact Angela darted off to the side, leaving bright streaks behind her. Gerald, surprised by the action, flapped his wings frantically to halt his advance and pull up. He was too late however as Angela had whipped around, and her tails collided with the hybrid, sending him soaring uncontrollably before a conveniently placed tree put a stop to his flight, and he fell to the ground with a thud.
He groaned in pain as he slowly stood, his right wing hanging limp. Angela was on him in a second, and before he could do anything to get away she already had her palm pressing down on his chest. He tried to reach for his knife, which had landed a few feet out of his reach, before Angela put a stop to his struggling by positioning one of her large dagger like claws to press against his feathered throat. She held it there for a moment, hissing angrily. Angela then raised the claw in preparation to put an end to this nuisance and-
It was coated in blood that dripped from its jaws and talons in streams of red, and when it exhaled Angela was left choking on the scent of death.
Slowly, Angela retracted the claw, but she still kept the griffon in place on the ground. He stared up at her in confusion, obviously not sure what she was up to as she held him in place. On the outside Angela's intentions could not be gleaned, but her mind was in turmoil as she realized just how close she had come to killing him out of anger. Something that she had no intention of ever doing, now or ever, and this griffon had almost made her do just that. She felt that it was extremely lucky for the both of them that she was able to reign herself in in time.
But now that left the question of what she was going to do with him, and she debated on what course of action she would take now. He had been injured, so it was not like she could just leave him to fly away. Yes, he had attacked for likely no other reason than to have her head on a wall, but Angela supposed that, given what she looked like, she understood that to some degree. She could just leave him here, but Angela felt that would be just as bad as if she had went ahead and killed him. She had seen for herself what other creatures lurked in the forest, so doing that would likely just be a death sentence for him.
Angela sighed, a raspy exhale that ruffled Gerald's feathers a bit, and begrudgingly accepted that she would have to go out of her way to assist the very same thing that attacked her. Maybe she could just stick him in a tree, where he could still signal for help while being safe from any predators on the ground.
Angela was pulled out of her thoughts when the griffon, apparently having had enough of being pinned under her claws, attempted to push her off.
"Get off o' me!" He grunted. His efforts were feeble at best, and Angela's hand showed no signs of budging. She was about to hiss at him to make the bird be quiet while she decided what to do with him, but she was interrupted yet again. But this time the interruption came in the form of a rustling in the branches of a tree immediately to her left. The disturbance was then followed by the sensation of something landing squarely onto her back with a feminine sounding grunt.
What? was all that she could come up with before she was suddenly wracked with pain along her back as she discovered just how sensitive her spines were when whatever it was began to kick them. Hard.
Get off! Angela mentally screamed with barely any coherence as she thrashed violently, releasing the griffon to reach over her shoulders to claw at her back and dislodge her passenger. He wisely scrambled away to avoid being crushed. During the struggle Angela unintentionally crashed into the side of a tree, sending it toppling over. Immediately after that the thing on her back leaped off, landing a few yards away from her. Feeling her frustration begin to take hold again, Angela shook her head to quickly clear it of the dark thoughts and looked to see her newest assailant. She was somewhat surprised to see that it was the very same pony mare that she had seen running away from her, only now it had a rope wrapped around her barrel and a pair of saddle bags that made an odd clinking sound whenever she moved.
Moving almost too quickly for Angela to track the pony launched herself at the wraith and struck with a swift buck to her wrist. Angela hissed when her joint was hit by the hard hooves. Reacting on instinct before she could stop herself Angela lashed with her claws at the pony. She even went so far as to snap her jaws at her. She was then taken by surprise when the mare expertly avoided both attacks by rolling out of the way and away from her.
At that moment Angela wanted nothing more than to pursue the pony and pound it into the ground and rip it apart, until she realized the direction her thoughts were taking promptly pushed them out of her mind, recognizing that the feeling was her instincts driving her to do so. Angela knew that no matter how aggravated she became she could not let herself be taken by her basest desires, as there would be dire consequences for all involved.
The little pony however was not aware of just how much Angela was struggling to keep herself from killing all of them, and she was certainly not helping by attacking her. Angela snarled at the mare, spreading her jaws wide in an intimidating display meant to get it to back off. The pony responded by reaching into her saddle bags with her snout and pulling out a pair of small items that to Angela looked like red gems with little hooks on their facets.
She then tossed them up into the air before swiftly turning to pivot on her front hooves and kicking them Angela, who shielded herself with her two right arms. One of the gems struck the bone of her large scythe claw and fell harmlessly to the ground. The second one however stuck to Angela's forearm, its little hooks letting it firmly attach to her skin. The gem started to glow slightly before Angela's entire arm was numbed by a stinging sensation similar to that of ants crawling over skin.
Angela shook her arm, trying to dislodge it, but the gem remained stuck to her arm, and the feeling was only getting worse. Shrieking in anger Angela did the only thing she could think of and struck a nearby pine with with a mighty backhand blow. With a popping sound similar to that of a light bulb the gem was shattered, exploding in a cloud of red dust. The tree did not fare much better, as the strike had effectively cut it in half, and the top part fell to the ground with a crash.
The feeling quickly vanished, and Angela redirected her attention back to the mare, who had taken the opportunity to quickly gallop to the griffon as he hid behind the trunk of a tree. She absentmindedly noticed that one of his feathery wings was slightly limp, indicating an injury.
"Oy! Miss Drops! Good to be seeing you."
"Shut up Gerald! What were you thinking?!" she snapped as she ran up to him. Angela paused, momentarily surprised that the two apparently knew each other.
Gerald raised a claw to answer, but then faltered as he looked behind the mare apparently known as Miss Drops. She followed his line of sight and inhaled sharply when she saw that Angela was no longer occupied by the gem. The two smaller creatures gazed at the wraith with wide eyes as Angela glared at them with obvious disdain. She was rather incensed at the fact the mare had seen fit to expend so much effort in fighting Angela just to do the exact same thing that Angela was going to do in the first place. It was all completely unnecessary. All she had to do was wait until Angela left him, then help him out. Did she not see her spare his life? Was she so willing to believe that Angela was a monster at heart?
As she glared at them, Angela came to the conclusion that she would be seen as no more than a mindless beast in their eyes. She hissed at them, but she kept her frustration in check as she turned to leave. The pony and griffon breathed a sigh of relief, probably believing that they had driven her off. Just then all three individuals heard a gasp of shock, and they all turned their heads to see a young looking blue stallion standing a number of yards away from them. It seemed to Angela that he would have enjoyed a nice bath, for he was virtually covered in dirt and grime from a long night in the woods. Despite all of the attention he was receiving, the ponies eyes were focused solely on Angela. Her claws more specifically.
"Don't move!" the mare whispered loudly to him. "You might trigger a hunting response if you run."
Okay, now I'm just offended, Angela thought, and she alerted the mare to her displeasure at the comment with an annoyed growl. Despite being directed at the mare, the noise had a noticeably adverse effect on the young stallion, and he began shaking nervously in fear of what she might do to him. Realizing her mistake, Angela tried to get him to calm down by showing her palms. This proved to be another error on her part, as the stallion began to back away from her with his eyes glued to her talons. Angela sighed, deciding it would be better to just give up and leave. That is until she saw in which direction he was heading toward.
Alarm flooded through her, and she reached out her arm on impulse to stop him from going any further. This of course had the exact opposite effect that she wanted, for the moment she moved the stallion turned tail and bolted away from her, galloping as fast as his hooves could carry over the uneven terrain, straight towards the trap the griffon had set for her.
"Stupid colt! Don't go that way!" said griffon shouted after him, but the pony either did not hear him over the sound of his own frantic breathing or did not listen from fear of the wraith. The mare, realizing the danger, ignored her own advice and took off after him, but Angela knew that she would never be able to reach him in time. She had to do something or both ponies could end up seriously hurt, or worse.
Feeling she had no other choice on the matter, Angela darted after him, causing the mare to quickly dive out of the way as the wraith hovered as quickly as the trees would allow. She called after him, but that only served to make him redouble his pace while he occasionally glanced back with panic stricken eyes at what he thought was a monster intent on eating him.
Angela, almost starting to panic herself, began to just knock over any trees and saplings in her way, but doing only helped marginally, and the stallion was only getting further away. She had to think of something, anything, to get him back from what could possibly be his demise. Then, an idea popped into her head, one that Angela was not sure that she could pull off after only just starting to learn how her body worked in the last thirty hours. Seeing the stallion get closer and closer to the trap made her decide that it was worth a shot at the very least.
She slowed down just enough to settle her vision on the fleeing pony, focusing her thoughts on the action she wanted to perform. Time almost seemed to slow to a crawl as her sight centered in on him. The spines on her back bristled and her head began to emit a faint crimson glow.
The mare noticed the change, sensing that something was about to happen. She followed the creatures gaze to the stallion, noticing how its attention seemed to be focused solely on him. Believing that it was preparing some kind of attack, which was actually not that far from the truth, she removed two more gems from her saddle bags and bucked them as hard as she could at Angela. Her aim was true, and they found purchase on the left side of her head and neck before Angela suddenly shot forward like a bullet, moving almost impossibly fast for something so large as she left streaks of red in her wake. But halfway through her trips the gems activated, and the resulting pain they caused promptly brought Angela crashing to the ground just out of reach of her target, which continued to gallop toward the trap meant for her.
Angela shrieked after him, trying desperately to ignore the discomfort. She attempted to hover the rest of the way, but the pain proved to be too much for her to concentrate. She could not stop to remove the gems or it would be too late for her to do anything. With no other options available to her, Angela began a frantic crawl on her hands and knees after him.
Just. . . a little. . . more, she thought as the distance between them gradually lessened, but she was not certain if she could reach him in time. The pony had almost reached the edge of the artificial clearing, and within seconds he would set off the trap. The pain in her head was also becoming almost too much for Angela to deal with, and she was having a massive amount of difficulty just thinking clearly. The only thought that was left was to get the stallion away from the clearing in whatever way possible.
Struggling through the discomfort caused by the gems, Angela propelled herself forward with all four of her arms, her claws leaving deep furrows in the ground. She had almost reached him when he crossed the tree line, and was halfway across the clearing when loud click sounded that brought him to a halt.
"What?" was all he could think to say before Angela shrieked, bringing his attention back to her. He yelped in fright as he watched her pounce at him, and he shut his eyes in anticipation of his death. But instead of claws ripping into his flesh the stallion found himself knocked away with the back edge of Angela's large claw, and was sent tumbling out of the clearing before landing a short distance past the trees, leaving Angela sitting alone in the center.
Another loud click sounded off, and before she could react, her senses were overloaded when a deafening boom thundered all around her, followed by the feeling of multiple heavy objects falling on top of her, and she slipped into unconsciousness.
Angela was in pain.
She was in pain, but she could not remember why or how, only that the sensation was eating away at her, blotting out all else until all that was left was the deep and primal desire to escape it.
She tried to run, to hide until the feeling passed, but it seemed that no matter what she did, Angela was forcibly subjected to an almost impossible amount of torment as the pain continued. It seemed to be coming from somewhere on her left, but other than that Angela could do little more than hope that it would eventually pass while she tried to remember what had happened to her.
Feeling dazed and confused while flitting between the realms of unconsciousness and sanity, Angela could only vaguely recall that she was in a forest of some kind. She had been attacked by something. Was that why she was in pain? No, that did not sound right. She was not certain why that was so, but it just seemed that was not the reason for her torment. So what was?
While tried to remember the details of her fragmented memory, Angela became aware of something. Something else besides the pain, besides the pounding in her skull. It offered a welcome distraction from the feeling, and although Angela could not exactly tell what it was, if she had to guess it was almost like. . . a voice?
Angela strained, trying to listen through her own frantic thoughts, and was able to determine that it was indeed a voice. At the moment it was too faint for her to make out, but it sounded powerful and full of authority, yet at the same time it was also soothing and comforting. It seemed to beckon to Angela, calling her to come toward it.
Unsure what else to do, Angela called to it, asking who or what it was. A faint whisper answered her, and Angela called out again.
Again, all that she got in reply was a distant series of unintelligible words that seemed to echo a little when they reached her, but she found herself feeling comforted by its mere presence. She was not sure why, but Angela just knew that it meant her no harm. In fact, Angela was able to make out that it wanted to help her.
It was calling to her, telling her to come closer. Angela was slightly hesitant, but found herself unable to resist the voices comforting pull. She tried to find its source, and in the process it felt as though the pain in her head was pushed aside until it was little more than a mild annoyance. And as she got closer she could discern a few words as the voice spoke to her, but they were still too faint for her to make out completely.
She had almost reached its source, and Angela could just barely see at the limit of her sight a dark misshapen form that seemed to waver slightly as though it were underwater, but grew in definition the closer she came to it.
Just then the pain returned, like a fly buzzing in her ear that refused to go away. Angela tried to ignore it and shut it out if her mind, but the feeling persisted. In fact it seemed to be growing beyond just being annoying to painful to excruciating in a few short seconds. It came to the point that the voice was starting to become blotted out. It called out frantically to her, pleading for her to focus on it. Angela desperately tried to do as it said, but the pain was only getting worse and worse. Eventually the voice disappeared entirely, leaving Angela alone in her torment, and all that she could do was wait and hope that it eventually went away.
And as she waited memories began to resurface, most of them unpleasant in one way or another. And suddenly she remembered what had happened to make her like this. She remembered that it was the pony and griffon that had hurt her, made her feel pain because they did not understand her intentions.
She was miserable because of her past, and they pursued her.
She had chosen to leave so that she would not pose a threat to them, and they attacked her.
She had saved one of them from a situation where even her survival was questionable, and they tried to kill her.
As Angela's memories flooded back into her mind, she was overcome with emotion, and she felt something in addition to the pain that continued to grow and fester until even her torment was blotted out. And she wanted to keep it that way. She never wanted to feel that kind of torment ever again, even if it meant losing control of herself for a little while. Just for a little while she told herself.
As Angela's fury grew to the point where even the agony in her head was nonexistent, she heard a voice in the back of her mind whispering to her. But it was not the same one from before, and its tone and pitch belonged to something that Angela was all but too familiar with.
I am you.
And you are mine.
Bon-Bon almost couldn't believe it when she saw the creature disappear in temporary flash of light. She was even more astonished when the large pine trees ringing the interior of the clearing fell inwards, directly on top of the beast, burying it under a mountain of wood and pine needles. And then everything was still, and a silence followed that seemed out of place after how hectic things just were.
"What did you put in there?" she questioned Gerald as he sat on his haunches, addressing his injured wing.
He shrugged nonchalantly and replied vaguely, "I got good deal from mare in Ponyville."
Bon-Bon raised an eyebrow at that little bit of information, but before she could press the griffon for details on who this mare was she noticed out of the corner of her eye that the young stallion was trotting towards them at a brisk pace, occasionally glancing at the mound of timber resting on the creatures back. For the moment it was motionless, but he did not seem to want to take any chances. Bon-Bon let him cover most of the distance between them before she began to trot towards him with a scowl on her face.
"Did you guys see that thing?" he exclaimed. "I really thought I was a gon-"
That was as far as he got before Bon-Bon whirled around and gave the stallion a swift kick to his chest. She had been kind enough to limit the power of her blow so that he was not injured, but it was still strong enough to leave him gasping for breath as he fell to the ground. After a few minutes of writhing on the forest floor he was eventually able to stand, and when he had regained enough of ability to breathe he demanded, "What in Tartarus was that for?!"
Bon-Bon answered by getting right up into his face and shouting at the top of her lungs, "That was for being a rutting idiot and doing exactly what I told you not to do! Did you not hear me when I said not to run, or are you just stupid?! I'm going to guess the former, because you ran anyway and that thing chase you. What's more, you almost got yourself killed by running straight into that trap that this imbecile behind me set."
"Oy!" Gerald exclaimed indignantly while crossing his forelimbs, but Bon-Bon chose to ignore him for the moment.
"I don't know who you are or why your even out here in the first place," Bon-Bon began to say to which the stallion raised a hoof and began to explain.
"My name's Harp, and I got separated from m-"
"Did I not just say that I don't care, you plot for brains!" Bon-Bon shouted. Deciding that she'd had enough of his stupidity from him for the moment she turned her attention back to the griffon. "And you!" she said, practically seething with anger. "I don't know where you got the idea in your head that you could hunt that thing. Did you not see what it could do? What it's capable of? That thing took out the bug bear, and you thought it was a good idea to hunt it?! I am appalled by your idiocy Gerald."
"Oy! There's no need for bad language Miss Drops," Gerald replied. "Plan worked, did it not?"
"Only after this plot head almost got himself killed by setting off your trap! Tell me Gerald, was that part of your plan?" Bon-Bon demanded.
At this point Harp decided to cut in on their conversation. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. You two know each other?"
"But of course," Gerald answered, sounding happy to have something else to talk about besides how much trouble he was in with the mare. "Myself and Miss Drops were, how you say, colleagues back when we were in-"
"Shut your beak!" Bon-Bon shouted, losing patience with both of them at an alarming rate. She breathed through her nose, closed her eyes and said, "I've told you once. I've told you a thousand times. You are not to refer to me as "Miss Drops" any longer. My name is Bon-Bon."
"Um, hey guys?" Harp spoke up again, trying to get their attention. However he was ignored as the mare and Griffon continued to argue.
"Bah! Not as good as Sweetie Drops if you ask me. Name change is not necessary as long as you are quiet about it. Besides, nobody cares about agency anymore. They do not know it even existed, so what is problem?"
"The problem is loose beaks like yours blabbing sensitive information wherever you happen to park your plot you halfwit! The only reason why nopony knows is because of precautions, like name changes, to keep them from ever finding out that they are not as safe as they might think when they sleep at night."
"Guys?"
"Bah! Who cares about little details like that? Knowing never hurt anybody."
"I care! And how can you claim that any of your methods were quiet in anyway, shape or form? I could have heard your stupid stunts all the way from Canterlot! And what are you even doing out here in the first place? Is this really what you did with years of training? Become a poacher?"
"Oy! I am no poacher! I am legitimate business bird, and I have papers to prove it."
"Guys!" Harp shouted, making both pony and griffon finally turn their attention to him.
"What?!" they exclaimed, and Harp pointed with a hoof at what was making him so nervous. They looked, and their mouths fell open when they saw what he was trying to alert them to.
"Great Guto's ghost," Gerald muttered as they watched the creature, which they had thought to be dead, attempt to pull itself out from underneath its wooden prison. It snarled and hissed ferociously in agitation and rage, appearing to have suffered no more than a few bruises, and Bon-Bon got the distinct feeling that if they did not leave right now then they would be hard pressed to survive the night.
"We'll finish this later," she stated. She then turned to Gerald and asked, "Can you fly at all?"
Gerald shook his head. "No. I have been through worse, but I won't be flying anytime soon I am afraid."
Bon-Bon cursed under her breath. She glanced at the creature while it continued in its efforts to escape as trees began to fall away.
"We need to get going, right now," she stated, in which everypony was in agreement, and they all turned tail to run away. They had not made it more than ten feet before a different sound brought their attention back to it, and they glanced back to see that the creature skin almost seemed to be glowing in places, like its bones had suddenly turned a vibrant orange beneath its skin.
Then suddenly a loud and thunderous crack sounded off as the air around seemed to implode, and the trees that were keeping it down were practically disintegrated as they were thrown in all directions like twigs, with some of them flaming at the ends. The ponies and griffon rushed to take cover behind the trunks of trees that were standing as large splinters crashed all around them. Eventually the rain of debris ceased, and they cautiously poked their heads out to see what else was happening.
They looked on astonishment as they saw the monster hovering in place above a smoking crater of what was once its prison as it glared at them. Bon-Bon felt that, despite its lack of any actual eyes, it was quite expressive as it hissed at them.
Then something rather unexpected happened that caught all three of them off guard.
The monster let loose a shriek that filled the entire area with a sense of dread and impending doom before it suddenly began to convulse, thrashing violently all about with its multiple arms and tails spasming erratically.
"What's it doing?" Harp questioned as he looked on, confusion and fear evident in his voice.
"No clue," Gerald answered in a similar tone. "Maybe it's dying?" he then suggested.
Bon-Bon had no answer for either of them, and before she could even begin to come up with a theory she noticed that large tumor like growths had suddenly sprouted up all over the monsters flesh, and it almost seemed to be in pain when a foul looking black substance began to leak out of every pore, even its mouth, until its entire form was coated in the material. Bon-Bon felt that she was going to be sick herself as the creature continued to convulse under the veil of of black slime.
Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped, and everything became silent as death, like the calm before a particularly bad storm.
"I don't know about you two," Harp said, obviously wanting to be anywhere but here, "but I have a really bad feeling about this."
Bon-Bon wholeheartedly agreed with him, and was about to suggest that they beat a hasty retreat when the ichorous black mass began to rise up, and it fell to the side like a nausea inducing waterfall. The tips of the monsters spines poked out of the top, their darkened tips appearing dangerously sharp. Then suddenly, the monster emerged out of the substance like some sort of hideous butterfly, revealing that it changed a substantial amount. Its claws were larger and sharper, the spines were taller, its tails were longer, and its skin seemed to have gone from a pale gray to a deep ashen color. Overall, it appeared that it had grown to almost twice it original size in the span of a few seconds.
The creature exhaled, and its breath seemed to somehow echo in their ears before it raised its head to the sky, parted its jaws, a let loose a powerful shriek that evoked a feeling of dread and hopelessness in the ponies and griffon as it filled their hearts with terror.
As she looked on with a mixture of fright and confusion, Bon-Bon said the only thing that she could think of.
"Run."