//------------------------------// // The Thing that stalks the berry patch // Story: How Lily got her "creepy" super strength // by Hyper44 //------------------------------// The little mini dragon flew in wild zigzag patters through he forest to purposely throw himself off. He had gotten turned around for a minute or two before so he could do it again and finally win. The problem was that now that he wanted to get lost, doing so was impossible. He tried going to every place that he rarely visited but it still didn't work. "I'll do it!" He repeated for the twentyish time to himself. "I will win this." He flew through the forest at increasing speeds. "That filly thinks she's so smart! I'll show her and she won’t fool...she..." His sentence trailed off and he slowed to a hover outside a cave as a realization dawned on him. His dark red face turned bright red as he gritted his teeth and clenched his paws. "Grraaarrrr!" He roared in outrage. The sleepy eyed and grumpy face of a large green dragon poked out of the cave and roared back. The force sent the mini dragon tumbling into the bushes. He quickly clambered about and flew back the way he had come muttering about Lily as he went. The large green dragon watched him go wondering why that dragon was so small. He dismissed it as it simply being because he was young and went back to sleep. At least it wasn’t that purple dragon who ate his gems. Too bad he hadn't been able to catch that little annoyance and his pony friend. * * * Lily herself had to inch past a cave mouth where heavy breathing echoed out. Beyond that was a short climb up a steep rocky hill. It was a combination of stones and loose soil making her have to tread carefully. The top plateaued off and trees grew densely atop it. On the other side of them was a huge berry patch. It covered the rest of the hilltop with thick woven vines that were heavy laden with copious amounts of ripe berries. In this berry patch were monsters. Lily stayed crouched behind the trees watching them and worrying about little Prickles Pricklebutt. On one end there was a group of timber wolves nipping at the berries. She was surprised. They actually ate? They were made of fallen branches! Who could explain Everfree monsters though. On the other side was a strange beast. It had three heads. One was a tiger, one a goat and one was a snake in the place of its tail. It was a chimera. In about the middle of the patch was a small group of changelings. Those things came out here? Why not. You could probably find anything out here. Lily crouched down in despair. It was quite likely that her little pet had met a bad fate and if not how was she going to look for him with those thing walking around. Suddenly she blinked, almost as if seeing the vines of the berry patch for the first time. They were so thick that she was certain that in most places you could not see through them from looking straight down. Laying at the edge though she could see that there were little tunnels through the vines as it was with all brush patches. It was perfect for a little hedgehog to slip through and in the dirt she could just make out faint hedgehog prints.. While it was small enough to put a little pony at risk by the thorns this was not problem for her. Lily took a deep breath to summon courage and then crawled into the vines. If it came to a chase she still had her two advantages given by her talent and size. While she could slip through easily they had to step carefully to avoid thorns and tripping. Each animal had to raise each foot straight up and place it down through a gap in the vines. The timber wolves probably weren’t bothered by thorns but they still could trip. The three types of creatures seemed to have staked out different sections of the patch so which one to slip past? The changelings, being the size of a pony were probably the most likely to spot her. The timber wolves had too many big feet stomping around. Not only that but their noses were a problem. She was pretty sure that the overpowering smell of the berries would cover her scent but better not get to close since she didn't know for sure. The best place to try to go was where the Chimera was. There was only one being, albeit it had three heads but they were occupied with arguing as they ate berries. It was mostly the tiger head and the snake tail. The goat kept snapping at them to knock it off. Moving with care Lily crept in their direction. She couldn’t see them through the think vines most of the time but she could hear them. It became harder when they fell into a sullen silence but she kept on. "Prickles." She whispered as she crawled and searched. She was sure that he was here somewhere. If not she didn't want to think about the alternative. As she crawled through she came across tracks that were not made by any monster. The little tracks of her hedgehog ran a weaving line under the vines. She also saw the random dropped berry and some drag marks. She realized that he must have gathered leaves to collect berries in. This way he could drag them to somewhere safer and eat in peace. "Smart boy." She whispered and started to follow them. She hadn’t gone two steps before a huge tiger foot stomped down beside her. "Eep!" Lily had to clamp her hoofs over her mouth to cover her yelp. She laid frozen with fear beside the paw that was almost as big as she was. Then she relaxed slightly. The Chimera didn't grab her so it probably hadn’t heard her. All she had to do now was wait until it moved on. At least the feet of this strange creature didn't have a head. That thought had no more than crossed her mind before a large serpentine head pushed its way through the vines. Her mouth was wide open to bite into the larger berries underneath but she spotted the little filly instantly. For a moment they just stared at each other, Lily crouching on the ground and the snake with her mouth still open. "A little filly all for me," The snake finally whispered while licking her lips. With no time to think Lily did the first thing that popped into her head. She bit down as hard as she could on the tiger paw. The tiger's surprised and enraged roar covered up the sound of Lily scrambling away. The tiger quickly swatted the snake, his tail. "So you pretend to let it go just to sneak up and bite me!" He roared. "I did not bitesss you. It was a filly under the vinessss." The snake hissed back. "So now you're lying," The tiger snarled. "If you’re going to lie then make it something that doesn’t assume I'm stupid." "You are sssstupid if you think that it wasss I who bit you and the filly isss getting away." The goat head rolled her eyes. "You two are always fighting like kids so I'm going to be in charge from now on." The arguing quickly became bleats, growls and hisses. Lily peaked through the vines to witness the strangest sight that she had ever seen. A creature fighting its own tail that was fighting him back while it's goat head kept trying to head-butt the both of them as she complained , "Hey! All of us are going to feel this later." Lily ducked back down. She now had to stay away from that side of the berry patch or risk getting trampled in their brawl. At the same time she wanted to get out faster now just in case they did believe the snake whenever they stopped fighting. All she had to do was get to the other side. She could pick up Prickles trail anywhere. So try to sneak past the changelings or the timber wolves? She could hear the changelings laughing at the chimera while it sounded like the timber wolfs had gone back to their own business. She was afraid of the timber wolves’ sense of smell but the berries were overpowering. It was even hard for her not to stop and eat some despite the danger. The changelings were much closer to her level making them more likely to spot her and they seemed to be paying more attention to their surroundings than the timber wolves. In the end Lily decided to try to creep past the timber wolves and hope that the scent of the berries was enough. It was hard to see from underneath the vines but she tried to pick a path that took her in the least proximity to any of the timber wolves. The problem was that they were more spread out over their stake in the patch. She was halfway there when her dreaded fear was realized. A timber wolf poked its nose under the vines and began sniffing around. He couldn’t tell just what was under the vines but could tell that something was different. Lily changed direction slightly and tried to hustle without making too much noise. Suddenly she felt a hard yank on her tail and she fell on her stomach. Another timber wolf had walked over to see what his companion was up too and had stepped right on her tail. Lily could not pull it free and the nose of the first timber wolf was coming closer. She snatched up a stone and slammed it down on the paw that pinned her tail. The timber wolf yelped and hopped backwards with it's foot in the air. The other wolf looked up at him then plunged his nose back into the vines trying all the harder to find what was under there. Lily saw the nose come back down and threw the rock right into the tip. It yelped, yanking it's head up and shaking it wildly with the tip of its now nose missing. By now the rest of the timber wolves were staring at them. As Lily tried to rush away one of them saw the vines quivering slightly. It ran over and tried putting its foot down on whatever was under there. He was rewarded with a hard blow to the top of his foot. He yelped and yanked it out of the vines. A moment later he felt something hard slam down on a hind foot. A fourth came running and biting blindly at the vines only to have a large stone shoved into its mouth and knock out it's wooden teeth. It was still howling when another timber wolf yelped and yanked its foot out of the vines. In short order all of them raced out of the berry patch tripping on vines all the way. They ran to the edge where they stood staring with wide eyes at the mesh of vines. The changeling stood laughing and pointing at them. Laughing until one of the shrieked and clutched its foreleg. They all took a hint and flew out of the patch. They stared down at the tangle of vines a moment before deciding it was time to leave. After that day, among the creatures that lived in and visited the Everfree a legend became known. The Legend of The Thing that stalked the berry patch. For years to come every time a creature stubbed its toe on a rock or tripped on a vine it was blamed on The Thing. None of them believed the snake that it was a filly. A filly was responsible, come on!