A Serpent Situation
Chapter 1: Beastly battle
It was around mid-morning in the Everfree forest. The sun shone down across the wild forest’s trees, with an occasional beam piercing the thick canopy. In one such tree, a large, jet-black serpent lay across an outstretching limb. His coils hung lazily down from the branch as he basked in the sun’s beams. He had found a cockatrice nest not too long ago, and was quite content with indulging himself on the cluster of eggs. And wouldn’t you know it, the mother returned just in time for the main course.
The lump in the serpent’s coils shifted as he recalled his good fortune. Now all that was required of him was some rest while he digested the recent meal. His forked tongue flicked out, ‘tasting’ the surrounding air. Having not tasted any immediate danger, the serpent closed its eyes and dozed off to sleep.
* * *
“Ugh, are we there yet,” Scootaloo groaned with impatience. “I feel like we’ve been walking for hours.”
Applebloom huffed. “Well we coulda’ taken yer’ scooter if ya’ hadn’t broken its wheel in one of yer fancy stunts. Besides, we’re almost to Zecora’s.”
“Tell me again why we’re going to her creepy old tree-house again?”
“To see if we can get potion cutie marks,” Applebloom said excitedly.
“Oh yea! Potions are pretty cool, I guess. …What do they do again?”
“Potions are like magic for earth and pegasus ponies,” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “They are created with natural, magical substances and are used like a spell would.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Fine, little miss dictionary.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not a dictionary, you dodo!”
“Stop calling me things that don’t exist!”
Applebloom turned to her friends. “Both of you stop it. We’ll never get our cutie marks if we keep on bickering like this!”
Scootaloo put a hoof to her chin as she thought. “Bickering cutie marks?”
“What would that even look like,” Sweetie asked. Scootaloo just shrugged.
“Beats me.”
The three paused for a moment before continuing their trek. As they made their way down the path, they steadily grew nervous. Even though it was daytime, there wasn’t much light. The thick tree canopy cast an eerie, splotchy shadow across the forest floor. If nothing else, what little light there was only seemed to make everything look worse. Soon the fillies became aware of many strange shapes and sounds coming from their surroundings. They had been so engrossed in conversation before, that they had not noticed.
The canopy began to thicken, casting even less light on the trail than there already was. Soon a deep, yet quiet rumbling began to grow distinct as they continued into the darkness. As they came to a large boulder in the middle of the path, the three paused to listen more intently at the rumbling.
Applebloom turned to Scootaloo. “Please tell me that’s your stomach ah hear,” she whispered. Scootaloo shrugged.
“No way. I had two cupcakes for breakfast.”
“What kind of a breakfast is that? Don’t you know how unhealthy that is,” Sweetie whispered to her friend.
“Hey, it was all I could get, ok? Besides, we’ve got bigger things to worry about,” Scootaloo replied, trying to get the topic away from her and back to the mysterious rumbling. Suddenly the rumbling paused before snorting loudly. As they listened, they began to recognize the rumbling as snoring. By the sound of it, whatever was making the noise was on the other side of the boulder. The three fillies pressed their backs against the large rock, hoping to avoid startling whatever the creature was.
But something felt funny about the large boulder. It felt almost like it was… hairy? Applebloom was quick to assume it was moss, but it was too brown. On top of that, it had been much to warm for moss recently. She tapped the hairy rock quizzically. The boulder shifted as the unknown creature snorted again, this time sounding more like it was waking up. Applebloom froze in place. She slowly brought a hoof to her mouth, signaling her friends to not say a word. They nodded in silent agreement. The three backed away from the rock as carefully as they could. Applebloom was beginning to realize that the boulder was not a boulder at all…
* * *
The serpent was roused from his slumber by a tremendous roar that shook the very tree he was in. Had he not tightened his coils around the tree limb, he might have fallen. It sounded like there was a manticore nearby. The sound of trees being twisted and ripped apart echoed through the forest. … And it sounded pretty pissed off as well.
The serpent knew it was a wise decision to stay clear of the enraged beast, but he first needed to know where in the forest it was. He flicked out his tongue several times as he tasted the air for the manticore’s scent. It didn’t take him long to sense the beast. But not only did he taste the manticore, but three other animals as well. He tasted the air again to try and make out what the other three animals were.
After a quick double take, he faintly recognized the three as two fillies and a chicken. No wait… That wasn’t right. It was two fillies, and a third filly that smelt very heavily of chickens for whatever reason. How odd.
Another thought came to his mind, dispatching the idea of some crossbreed of chicken and pony. With a manticore on the rampage, the three young ponies must be in danger! A sudden worry came over the serpent, as well as a glimpse of personal hope. Perhaps now, after all this time, he had a chance at redemption! Finally, he would be able to make up for all those horrible deeds against ponies.
Filled with new confidence and motivation, the serpent disregarded the digestion of his meal and slithered down the tree. He had a vow to fulfill, and nothing, not even a manticore, was going to keep him from completing it!
* * *
After they had realized that the giant rock had in fact been a sleeping manticore, the crusaders had backed away as quietly as possible. That is, until Sweetie Belle stepped on a twig, resulting in a surprisingly loud snap. The Manticore, having already been slightly roused, awoke with a furious roar before giving chase to his awakers. After several minutes of being chased through the forest, the fillies ran behind a nearby tree and took several deep breaths.
Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief as she wiped her brow. “Whew, I think we lost em’.”
Without warning the tree was ripped in half with an ear-splitting crunch, sending the two halves soaring on opposite directions. The three turned around slowly, coming face-to-face with the livid manticore. Its nostrils flared, sending out a wave of hot air across the filly’s faces.
“Hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Applebloom began, “but ah don’t think we lost em’.”
The manticore unleashed another tremendous roar in the filly’s faces. They responded with a terrified shriek and bolted away through the brush. Like before, the manticore gave relentless pursuit, leaving a trail of devastated forest behind it.
Soon the fillies burst from the brush into a sizable opening in the trees. When the sounds of the forest being trampled behind them ceased, Applebloom looked behind them while managing to keep running. There was a hole ripped into the wall of trees where the beast had exited, but there were no further signs of it.
Suddenly the manticore came soaring down from the sky, landing with a loud thud at the opposite end of the opening. The three fillies tried to stop as fast as they could, but they only succeeded in tumbling over each other. They finally came to stop in a twisted pile of hair and legs a few yards from the manticore. They untangled each other quickly and began backing away slowly, making sure not to take their eyes of the beast. Their retreat was halted, however, by a large hollowed log.
The manticore, seeing that its victims were trapped, crouched low to the ground and slowly advanced; as is the instinct of large, predatory cats. The three crusaders knew that if they broke eye contact or tried to run again, the manticore would pounce.
Neither party noticed the loud rustling of nearby bushes until a massive serpent burst out from the brush. The giant snake that looked to be about two feet thick and twenty feet long slithered in front of the three fillies, coiling up in a defensive manner. The manticore was briefly taken aback by the sudden intrusion, but quickly recovered. It roared in the serpent’s face, causing it to recoil its head a bit, but the serpent remained steadfast in its position. It hissed loudly in response, warning the beast that it was going to strike.
The manticore ignored the warning and swung one of its massive paws at the snake’s head. The snake, however, dodged the attack and launched itself forwards. The serpent clamped its jaws tightly on the manticore’s neck and wrapped around its midsection before it even knew what was going on.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders, having been frozen in a mix of shock and fear up to this point, dashed inside the hollowed tree. They found a gash in the side of the trunk, and watched as the two colossal beasts battled it out.
The manticore reached up with one of its paws and slashed at the serpents coils wrapped around its midsection. The serpent ignored the pain, taking advantage of the manticore being on only three of its legs. It twisted at the manticore’s neck suddenly, sending the beast tumbling to the ground and tightening its coils.
The manticore was growing desperate for release, and took the risk of slashing at the serpent’s head. The serpent caught on to the attack and moved its head before the blow, causing the manticore to slash open its own neck. The beast let out a horrifyingly painful roar that shook the very ground as blood began to pour from the gaping wound. The serpent clamped its jaw into the manticore’s neck above where it had torn into itself, and continued to tighten its coils.
The manticore’s movements slowed as it not only bled to death, but was suffocated as well. Eventually, after its roars and groans grew more quiet and more few, the mighty manticore’s head slumped over, dead.
* * *
The serpent waited a moment to make sure the manticore was truly dead before unwrapping himself from around the beast and slithering a short distance away. He looked over himself, noting several gashes that were bleeding quite badly from where the manticore had slashed him. Now that the natural adrenaline of combat was wearing off, the pain was beginning to kick in. He ignored the pain as best he could and flicked out his tongue, tasting the air for the three fillies.
He followed their scent back to the hollowed log before popping his head in the open end. There, huddled back against the tree’s stump, were the fillies. They were scared and trembling, from him no doubt, but they were unharmed. The serpent grinned as best he could despite the pain, and retracted his head from the tree-hole.
He reluctantly looked back at the multiple gashes covering his body. He judged that he had a day or two tops before he bled to death. Was this really worth the lives of three little fillies? To him, it was. In fact, his death would probably do the ponies well. That way, there wouldn’t be that risk of him becoming a murderous psychopath against ponies, like his mother had been.
Reassured by his actions, the serpent coiled up beside the fallen tree and closed his eyes.
* * *
The three crusaders held each other tightly in fear as they watched the open end of the hollow log. They expected the huge snake to come back any second now and eat them. But the more time passed without the snake returning, the less scared they became. Eventually, they stopped trembling entirely.
“You think it’s gone,” Scootaloo asked, breaking the silence. Applebloom gulped.
“Ah don’t know.”
“Should one of us go check?”
“Not me,” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle answered unanimously. Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
“Fine,” she continued as she stood up, “I’m no chicken. I’m not afraid of danger.” She paused. “…much.”
She quietly tiptoed to the gash in the side of the log, trying to make as little noise as possible. “Be careful!” Sweetie whispered. Scootaloo nodded and looked out the gash. There must have been something blocking it however, because all she saw was blackness.
“I can’t see anything,” she whispered to the others.
“Try the openin’,” Applebloom replied. Scootaloo nodded again and continued quietly to the open end of the log. She poked her head out of the opening and looked for any signs of the giant snake. Upon seeing no immediate signs of the serpent, she stepped out of the log and looked out at the opening.
“Sweet Celestia…” Scootaloo murmured in shock when she saw the dead manticore lying in a small puddle of blood. Then she noticed a trail of blood leading away from dead beast. It led under her, to the log, and then to… she froze …and then to where the giant snake had curled up beside the tree they were hiding in. she let out a quiet “eep” before dashing back into the tree.
“Its right beside the log!” she whispered in a panicked voice.
“Did it see you?!” Sweetie whispered back.
“I don’t know!”
“What are we going to do now?!”
Applebloom brought a hoof to her chin in thought. “…We could try to out run it?”
“I don’t think that would end well,” Sweetie replied.
“Hmm… try and sneak away?”
“Maybe, if Sweetie Belle doesn’t step on any more twigs,” Scootaloo commented. Sweetie crossed her forelegs.
“That wasn’t my fault. I didn’t see it in time, that’s all.”
“Well whatever the reason, that’s what woke up the manticore and got us in this mess.”
“Hold up a sec’,” Applebloom interjected. “Ah just got a crazy idea.”
“Well let’s hear it.”
“What if…” she paused to gather her thoughts. “What if, the snake doesn’t want to eat us?” Scootaloo and Sweetie stared at her blankly. “…As in it was friendly?”
Scootaloo blinked. “You’re right Applebloom.”
“Really?”
“Yea, that really IS a crazy idea!” Applebloom removed the hoof from her chin and slapped it to her forehead.
“Ugh, just think about it for a sec. The snake literally put itself in-between us and the manticore, as if to protect us from it.”
“Yea,” Scootaloo continued, “Protecting us so it could have us all to itself.”
“But no animal is desperate enough to face a manticore head on just for three little fillies,” Sweetie noted. “It just doesn’t seem logical.” Scootaloo’s jaw dropped.
“You too?!”
“Well, Applebloom does seem to have a point.”
“Ok, fine. If you two want to risk getting eaten by a giant snake, count me out. I’m staying right here,” she concluded as she plopped her rump down with a quiet thud. Applebloom rolled her eyes.
“Fine then. Ah guess there’s only one way to find out,” she continued as she started towards the log’s opening.
“Be careful,” Sweetie whispered. Applebloom nodded and poked her head out of the log. She craned her head around the edge to see the snake, but without revealing herself entirely. She looked over the mass of tar-black coils, noticing several severe gashes as she tried to find the snake’s head. After a second of looking, she found it turned to the side. It looked to be large enough to swallow her whole. …and it was staring straight at her.
A frightful chill ran down Applebloom’s back as her gaze met that of the snake’s. After several minutes of still, silent staring Applebloom broke the silence. “H-Hello…” The snake blinked. Applebloom gulped as she gained the courage to speak again.
“Do… do you understand me?” It nodded slowly.
“D-do you want to eat us?” It shook its head ‘no’. “I hope he’s tellin’ the truth,” she thought to herself. Suddenly she remembered the multiple gashes across its body.
“You look hurt. Do you need help?” It blinked again. Applebloom thought to herself quickly. “This snake just saved you; the least you could do is help with its wounds. …but you don’t know how. Hmm…” An idea suddenly popped into her head.
“Fluttershy! She’s good with animals, maybe she can help you!”