Anima Mea Tenebre

by Nixus

Fight and Flight

Coppa woke as the first rays of sunshine broke through the tree line. He turned himself over so he could stare at the sky as his head began to pound. He looked around to see that he was surrounded by an orchard of apple trees. He looked to his side to see his axe embedded into soft ground. He grasped the weapon and with a soft tug, pulled it out of the ground. Shaking the last bits of dirt from the blade, he scanned his surroundings looking for any signs of his classmates. He groaned when he realised he was alone and began to rack his mind for reassurance while staring at the sky.

“Ok, I can do this, I’ve woken up in stranger places than this!” he said to himself as he looked at the trees. He let out a breath as his stomach growled and looked at the red fruit hanging from the branches. “First thing first, time to eat.”

He slung his axe onto his back as he climbed the tree. Grabbing a low hanging branch, Coppa propelled himself onto the tree limb with minimal effort. It bent slightly under his weight as he edged closer to one of the ripe apples. Grabbing the fruit, he gently plucked the red orb from the branch. He inspected the apple for any worms or bruises before polishing it on his shirt. Satisfied with its condition, he bit into the fruit with a loud crunch as his teeth punctured the skin of the apple.

An explosion of delicious taste filled his mouth as a line of juice dribbled down the side of his chin. With a few more bites, the apple was gone and replaced with a core that Coppa chucked over his shoulder. He wiped his mouth and gave a satisfied burp as he turned to reach for another apple. A sudden shaking of the tree made him pause as he looked down to see a horse bucking a tree with its hind legs, causing the apples to rain down from the branches.

What in the hell? Coppa thought to himself as he peered through the branches that hid him.

An orange coloured pony was busy collecting the fallen apples while a younger yellow pony helped her. Coppa chuckled as he saw the Stetson that graced the orange one’s head and the three red apples that looked like they were painted on her flank. The younger one only had a large pink bow and a bare flank. The orange one was busy talking to the yellow one, but Coppa couldn’t understand a single word they were saying.

Coppa opened up his bag and rummaged through it as he watched the two ponies. He stared intently as he watched the orange one rear and buck the tree with a crack. He made a mental note of every movement as he watched the orange pony repeat the motions a few more times. He looked down as he felt the cool stone in the depths of his bag, and withdrew a blue stone.

“Always knew this would come in handy,” Coppa said as he popped the small blue stone covered in various runes into his mouth. He smiled sadly as he felt the stone warm as its magic started to take hold. “Thanks dad.”

“An’ that’s how ya buck a tree Applebloom!” the orange pony said with a smile as she panted slightly. The yellow filly nodded her head as her sister sat down. “Now you try.”

“Okay sis!” Applebloom exclaimed as she trotted to the tree. Coppa smiled at the excited filly as he watched from the tree. Applebloom reminded him of his own sister. She had the same happy expression and determination that Coppa had always seen on Ferra’s face. He watched as Applebloom reared her hind legs and gave a light kick.

The tree slightly shuddered as the yellow hooves made contact with the bark but no apples came down. The yellow filly gave her sister a sad look that nearly caused Coppa’s heart to seize as he saw her large eyes. “Nothin happened Applejack. Ah’ll never get it right!”

Coppa chuckled as he heard the name. He silently crept from the branch and jumped onto a nearby tree still loaded with apples. A rainbow blur caught his eye as a cyan pegasus landed in front of Applejack. Coppa looked at the rainbow maned mare as he bit into another apple.

“AJ, we need to get to Ponyville quick! Twilight said she needs us!”

“Hold on there Rainbow Dash!” Applejack said as she patted the anxious mare on the back. Rainbow took a breath as she regained her composure. “Ah’m teaching Applebloom here how to buck trees. What do ya need?”

“It’s about the spell from last night!” Rainbow said as she noticed the yellow filly staring at them curiously. Coppa’s ears twitched as he heard the mention of a spell. He saw Applejack’s expression turn from confusion to a grim realisation. The orange mare turned to her sister with a sad expression.

“Applebloom, ah need ya to go on back to the farm.” Applebloom’s ears flattened as the sad expression came back to her young face. “Please, ah’ll be back soon and we can get back to buckin then.”

“Okay sis.”

Coppa watched as Applejack and Rainbow Dash sped down towards a path in the orchard. He started to move so that he could follow them, but was stopped when he heard the filly sniffle. He watched as Applebloom stared at the ground and held back a tear before she turned towards the tree Coppa was hiding in. A look of determination filled her face as she ran full speed and kicked the tree causing it to shake. When the branches settled, she opened her eyes to see that none of the apples had fallen. She sighed as she turned to go back towards the farm.

“Ah guess ah’ll never be as good as AJ,” she said as she absentmindedly dug up some soil. A snap caused her ears to swivel as an apple hit her square on the head. She rubbed the sore spot as she looked at her feet and saw an apple lying on its side. Her expression turned to delight as she happily bounced in place. “Ah did it! I got mah first apple.”

Coppa grinned as he watched the filly bounce in place. Sure it wasn’t anything large, but he couldn’t stand by and let the filly’s day be ruined. Suddenly another idea came to him as the pictures of the way Applejack had hit the tree surfaced in his mind. He grinned as he lowered himself to a smaller branch.

“You did good kid. It was a nice hit, but you still need work.”

Applebloom froze as the voice came from the tree. She stared at the tree with a look of disbelief as she backed away. “Did ya’ll just talk?!”

Coppa couldn’t help but laugh at the face of the filly as he hung under the branch, exposing his upper body as his legs hooked around the branch. Blood rushed to his head as the filly stared at him. He lost his balance when Applebloom bucked him in the face, sending his head swinging back. He cried out in pain as he dropped from the tree and fell to the ground.

“Ow,” he said as he rubbed his nose as the filly backed away from him. A faint taste of iron filled his mouth as he spat a glob of red onto the ground. He chuckled as his nose stopped stinging. “If a hoof to the face is your way of saying hello, then it’s nice to meet you too.”

Applebloom stared incredulously at him as she looked back to the apple by her forehoof. “You dropped this for me? Why would a diamond dog do that?”

Coppa grinned as he scratched one of his ears before he gave a confused look. “I only helped; it was mostly you who did it. Wait, what’s a diamond dog?”

“Well ain’t that what ya are?”

“No kid, I’m a dwarf.”

“What’s a dwarf? Who are you? An ahm a filly!”

“Names Coppa, nice to meet you,” he replied as he extended a hand. The filly cautiously placed her hoof in his palm and shook the furred hand slightly. A smile came to her face as he stood up. She came to about the middle of Coppa’s thigh and stared in awe as he cracked his neck. “You got a good pair of legs kid. I’m surprised you didn’t dent my skull with them cannons.”

Applebloom giggled as she instinctively flexed a leg. Coppa motioned her to come closer as he knocked on the tree. She approached him without hesitation as she watched him kick out with a leg and land a blow on the trunk. A few apples fell from the tree as she stared at Coppa.

“Here’s a tip ‘bloom,” Coppa said as he knelt beside her. He pointed to the area where he kicked. “When you buck the thing, snap your leg out like this.”

He took her leg and extended it until it touched the tree. Applebloom looked at him but Coppa gave a nod. Summoning her strength she lashed out at the tree and heard a loud crack. She waited a moment before a few apples dropped from the branches. She gave an excited squee as she wrapped her forehooves around Coppa’s waist in a hug. He laughed at the filly hanging from his waist as he picked up another apple and took a bite out of it. A sudden sound turned both of their attentions to the side as Applebloom let go of the dwarf.

“What was that?” Applebloom asked as she started to head towards the noise. “It sounded like a big frog.”

Coppa’s eyes widened as he grabbed Applebloom and threw her out of the way as a long pink tongue smashed into him, sending him flying into a tree. He groaned as the filly screamed when the large body of the Bullywug emerged from the trees. It croaked as it saw its target and sent its tongue arching at the prone dwarf. Coppa used his arms to propel himself out of the way as the tongue smashed into the ground. He noticed the empty hands of the Bullywug and guessed that the creature had lost its blades when they were sucked into the vortex. He saw Applebloom cowering by the tree with a look of horror on her face as Coppa swung his axe and cut deep into the monsters leg.

“Applebloom! Run!” Coppa shouted as he was launched back towards the trees by the monster’s leg. The filly didn’t need a second command as she bolted towards the nearby house as fast as she could. Coppa watched as she disappeared before he looked back at the croaking Bullywug. “All right ugly! Let’s dance!”

*****

“And then I got it to chase me here!” Coppa said as he jumped over the swinging arm of the Bullywug. “I mean, what are the chances I’d lead it to a populated place!”

“Coppa, as much as we want to hear your stupid story of how you lead a giant monster into a town,” Moe yelled as he shot a few more arrows into the thick flesh while Dante and Sam distracted the beast with magic and a flurry of sword swipes, “now is definitely not the time!”

“Fine! Then I’ll just finish this!” Coppa said as he jumped up onto a balcony from his spot on top of a pile of crates. He readied his axe as he leaped off the platform and onto the Bullywugs fat neck. He raised his axe and slammed the blade down into the thick flesh. The monster gave a gurgled cry as it fell to the ground with Coppa latched onto its folds. “Are you happy now?”

Twilight looked at the newcomer as he argued with Moe in perfect Equish. Unlike his companions who were mostly furless, Coppa was covered in light brown fur with a mane of spike red fur on his head. Around his forehead sat a pair of goggles that stood out from the rest of his blood stained clothing. In fact, the majority of his body was covered in the monster’s black blood as he wiped them on his pants. He wore the same sort of clothes as the other three, a simple blue and white shirt with green pants. He gave a grunt of annoyance as he turned to the waiting mares and gave them a bow.

“The name is Coppa ma’am,” he said as he rose he took a look back at the motionless body of the Bullywug. “Sorry about the mess.”

“What the hay happened here!” two new voices spoke in unison as they joined the group. Rainbow Dash looked at the monster and the four visitors. “Who are you? What is that?”

Dante gave let out a breath of exhasperation as the air was filled with a million questions before raising his hands. The mares quieted as he leaned on his staff. Each of the four put away their weapons as they turned away from the Bullywug. “I know you have many questions, but now is not the time. Could we possibly do this after we dispose of the Bullywug?”

“Yes. I believe that would be the best idea right now.” Celestia said as she stared at the four students. She hadn’t seen an a fight like that for the past thousand years. She paused as the sad memories flooded back before she addressed the four. “How do you intend to dispose of the body?”

“Well first, we got to move it out of the town before it poisons the ground,” Coppa said as he continued to wipe the blood off his arms. “Then we burn the body. I’m sure you ponies don’t want to smell that so that’s a second reason.”

“Trust us, it’s not a pleasant job,” Moe said as Sam nodded in agreement. Twilight and the other mares all looked in horror at the monster who had begun to shake. Fluttershy let out a small sob as she watched the body twitch in pain, her kind heart even going out to the repulsive creature.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but is it supposed to be doing that?” Rarity said as she gave a toss of her mane and pointed at the Bullywug. The four turned and just as a croak escaped from the now rising monster. Blood spurted from the axe still lodged in its neck as its mouth opened and the tongue shot out.

Watch out!” Dante shouted as he pushed the curious mares away from them with a gust of wind. The tongue wrapped around the four and pulled them into the monsters waiting mouth. Twilight and her friends watched in horror as the monster swallowed the four whole. It gave a happy burp as the lump in its throat travelled down before it turned its hungry eyes on the surrounding ponies.

"Oh no..."

Author's Note:

Ok so here's another chapter! This is the last of my pre written chapters so there may be a bit a time between updates. Sorry about that. If there any questions don't hesitate to either message me or leave a comment.

Criticism is greatly appreciated!

Edited by JeffCVT

Comments

[Nixus]

2608438
Thanks I'm glad you enjoy it. I just need to tweak a few things but the next chapter will be up soon.

[TheChronicler]

static.ylilauta.org/files/eb/orig/kmzjxcdh/holy.jpg

[Fluffy-Boi]

5730704 !!!! Doc Brown!! You can't cuss at us.