The Beckoning of Nature

by Dragonborne Fox

Chapter 3- Searching for Survivors

It was late afternoon, and the group of stragglers were standing before the alicorns. They were talking about how they were going to deal with this mess they've found themselves in. What was this thing? Where had it come from? Why did it wreck three nations in less than two hours?

The group of alicorns were talking about what the best approach to take was.

"We've come to a decision." Yuuki said, causing the stragglers to turn to her.

"That being?" Shining asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Three of us will go with either Cadence, Chrysalis, or Gilda back to their respective nations. Each one of us is personally responsible for the safety and well-being of those afflicted by the carnage." Yuuki replied. "The rest of you must stay put."

"Alright. But will we teleport?" Asked Chrysalis.

"Yes." Rekka nodded.

Gilda stood next to Rekka, Cadence with Koto and Chrysalis with the tan stallion. Soon, a flash of light enveloped all three of them, and when it faded, they were gone.

----

Gilda and Rekka stood in the ruins of the Gryphon Kingdom. The fires had died down, and all around there were bodies of Gryphons unceremoniously scattered across the ruined landscape. Many bodies were bloodied, others flat-out squashed. But nothing that indicated the 'thing' was left behind other than the death and destruction that lay around them. Buildings lay in complete shambles, not even resembling a city. It looked like there really were no other survivors.

Both did everything in their power to avoid throwing up. In the distance, the Gryphon Palace was still holding up, though there were fires on the roof.

"No time to waste, Gilda. We have to head to the Gryphon Palace!" Rekka shouted, spreading his wings. He started to race to the kingdom.

"Wait up, dweeb!" Gilda shouted, following behind the alicorn.

----

Cadence was digging through the remains of a ruined house. Tears streamed down her face. The whole Crystal Palace was nothing but a pile of shattered gemstones. All possible bodies were buried under rubble. Blood lay scattered throughout the carnage in puddles, splatters and the like.

"Koto! I found something alive!" Cadence called, lifting something up from the rubble.

"Alive?!" The blue alicorn said, rushing to the pile of rubble Cadence was digging through.

It was a crying filly. She was scared to death.

"It's okay, we're here now." Cadence whispered, trying to hold back tears.

"It hurts!" Shouted the filly.

"We have to look for more survivors. Cadence, tend to the filly while I check the surrounding area." Koto said as she ran off to search through more rubble.

----

Chrysalis and the tan pony, Tenmei, were standing in the walls of the wrecked hive. Green Changeling blood littered everything in sight, giving off a soft glow. Bodies were crushed against the walls like a giant flyswatter hit them. Some of the green goo dripped onto the floor like water.

"I hope we can find another survivor. This place is a mess." Tenmei said, clearly disgusted by the carnage around him.

"What did the thing do to my precious babies?!" Chrysalis wailed.

"We can't stand here. Let's start searching the hive." The alicorn said, casting a dust shield to prevent any goo from landing on him.

Chrysalis nodded, and both headed off in different directions of the hive walls.

----

The insides of the Gryphon Palace fared no better than the outside. Bodies lay scattered about. Chunks of blazing wood kept falling.

"Hey! Anyone alive?!" Gilda shouted.

The burning building kept collapsing.

"Gilda, keep searching!" Called Rekka's voice.

"Okay!" Gilda replied. She kept flinging rubble about, desperately searching for any signs of life.

----

"Anything else?" Cadence said, clutching the filly tightly.

"Only corpses." Koto said, shaking her head solemnly.

"Should we return?" Cadence asked.

"Yes."

----

"Nothing." Chrysalis said.

"I found a baby changeling." Tenmei said. "Let's head back."

"A baby?!" Chrysalis said, jaw agape.

"Yes." The alicorn nodded. "It's okay, just covered in goo like everything else."

----

"So, this......thing.....is a shadow?" Yuuki asked. Shining nodded.

"Yes, it can only be described as that. Unicorns tried firing their magic at it, and it only phased through."

Suddenly, a light flashed in the room, and Koto, Tenmei, Cadence, and Chrysalis had stood in the room. Koto and Cadence were covered in gem-dust, and Tenmei and Chrysalis this glowing green goo from the legs down.

"Any luck finding survivors?" Asked a drone.

"We found a hatching in dire need of a bath!" Chrysalis said. "Most of my babies, your siblings, were splattered so much the ceiling was dripping!"

"What say you, Cadence?" Yuuki asked.

"We found a filly who is scared to death. She refuses to speak." Cadence said, spreading her forelegs a bit so the filly could peek out.

"I dare say I am noticing a bit of a trend here." Said Nagare, turning to look at the drones.

"Guard!" Yuuki bellowed.

"Yes?" A guard replied. He was standing at the door this entire time.

"Head to the Gryphon Kingdom and search for our missing companions!" Yuuki said.

"Yes!" The guard replied, heading out the door. Someone was in a rush!

"Your division of guards work faster than mine!" Shining said.

"He has to. How else would he keep up with everything?" Chrysalis replied.

The filly sneezed. She was still between Cadence's hooves, looking at the strange black pony with holes in her legs.

"The four of us need a bath, and that is not counting the foals!" Koto shrieked, realizing that the goo smelled like death.

"Agreed. We shall wait for your return." Yuuki said.

----

The Gryphon Palace began collapsing at a terrific rate. If anything, the whole thing began to topple. Gilda found another hapless child under a pile of burning wood.

"I'm scared!" The child shouted.

"It's gonna be okay! Just hang in there!" Gilda replied, trying to throw the wood off the child.

The red alicorn arrived flying in.

"Gilda, we have no time! We have to leave!" Rekka shouted.

"I would get a move on if this child was not trapped under this burning garbage, dweeb!" Gilda hissed, trying to pry open the wood.

"Help me!" The child cried.

Rekka's horn began glowing a blazing scarlet. In an instant, the wood was flung out a window. The child clutched Gilda tightly.

"NOW we can leave!" Gilda said, flying downward. The alicorn followed her.

The burning building began to follow them, quickly ganging on them. The trio escaped the building and were flying back to the city entrance.

"Look!" The child shouted, pointing behind Gilda.

The adults turned around, and both their jaws dropped.

What....had happened?

A fiend born of the blazing carnage emerged from the wrecked Palace. It resembled a wyvern, wearing burning wood planks on most of its body. A low growl sounded from what must have been its maw. It raised its burning head skywards, then let off a draconian howl. The fires that were not part of the wyvern flooded to it, enlarging its wings.

A guard flew in, and he stopped next to Gilda. His eyes dilated with horror.

"W-WHAT IS THAT THING?!" Gilda shrieked.

"It's a mosnter of some sort." Rekka said. "We have to leave now"! With that, his horn began glowing. A bright crimson flash followed shortly afterward, and they were no longer there.

The blazing wyvern let off another howl, then flew away to the Changeling Hives. Each wing-beat caused burning ash to fly all over.

----

A bright crimson flash appeared in the room, and the guard, Gilda, the child, and Rekka appeared in the room.

"What kept you?" Yuuki asked.

"We were in a burning building. When we got out, it turned into a freaking wyvern!" Gilda answered.

"Is this true?!" Nagare said, raising a foreleg in shock.

"I am afraid so. It....built itself from the carnage." Rekka replied.

"A wyvern?!" Shining asked.

"Yes. You heard a dragon roar?" The guard asked. Everyone else nodded. "That was the creature that caused it."