Wrath Of The Jabberwock

by Mr. Grimm

The Atrociable Attack

A horrendous noise echoed through the night, sounding off from the dark, forbidding forest that stood untouched for millennia. It was a monstrous, furious roar, the sound of unrestrained, animalistic anger. The gaping maw it came from snapped shut, its teeth shearing the air it breathed. The claws flexed, their black tips shining in the moonlight. An enormous pair of flaming red eyes peered out at a small town that bordered the mighty forest. The jaws opened, sending a wailing, ululating shriek out at the world. Clawed feet began to stomp forward out of the forest towards the town. A long tail whipped back and forth behind them, sending out an earsplitting crack with each lash.

The long strides of the sinewy legs soon came to the town, which was now filled with screaming. Already the blazing eyes saw the townspeople fleeing in terror. A rumbling, buzzing screech came barreling out of the long, scaly neck. A pair of monstrous antennae twitched menacingly as the neck swayed back and forth, scanning over the rows of houses. A great pair of lungs swept in the cold night air, and suddenly exhaled with gale-force winds. There was a bright flash in the darkness as a stream of fiery liquid came spewing from the cavernous mouth.

The roofs of the town were suddenly covered in a flickering yellow ooze that seeped its way down the shingles, igniting the tar. It worked its way down the eves to the wooden structures below, running down the grains of the wood, setting it ablaze. One building in particular fell prey to the burning wrath; a large general store. Not only was it doused with the bizarre liquid flames, but strong, scaly limbs began to rain powerful blows upon it; smashing, clawing, and crushing. With a series of sharp cracks, the building toppled over into a blazing pile of beams and boards. A triumphant bellow echoed out in the night.

Spike suddenly burst into the library. His eyes were wide as though he had seen a ghost.

“Twilight!” he panted as he ran up to the unicorn, “There’s been a dragon attack in east Trottingham!” Twilight’s eyes suddenly became as wide as Spike’s.

“What?!” cried the unicorn. The words that came from her friend’s mouth made her seize up in shock. There hadn’t been a dragon attack on a pony settlement in well over a thousand years, excluding Spike’s brief rampage a few months ago. “When did this happen?”

“Just last night,” said the tiny dragon, “It destroyed a whole village!”

“A whole…” Twilight’s voice trailed off as she processed what her friend said. The unicorn paused to steady herself. Already she was remembering the book she had read not long ago on the history of Dragons, written by Oddrik The Hunchbacked, a correspondent of Starswirl the Bearded who specialized in magical beasts. In the earliest times of Equestria dragons would regularly raid towns, and considered ponies to be nothing more than pests. It wasn’t long before a war was fought, resulting in a bitter stalemate that caused great losses on both sides. In the aftermath a treaty was forged, and it allowed relative peace between the dragons and the ponies for thousands of years. Or at least, it had until last night.

“Spike, do you know if Princess Celestia has heard about this?”

“I don’t know,” replied the dragon, “The news just got here this morning by Pegasus Express. They’ve been sending their fastest flyers to get the word out.” Twilight felt slightly relieved upon hearing this. If the Pegasus Express had been sent out, there was no doubting the news had reached Canterlot. But she still felt nervous. The attack on the village had breached the treaty. Something like that couldn’t be ignored. For all she knew, the Dragons could have been organizing a takeover. Though such a scenario was unlikely, Twilight wanted to have some sort of verification. She needed to know more about the treaty.

“Spike,” she said, “I need to go out for a while. Could you please keep an eye on things while I’m gone?” The small dragon gave her a quick nod.

“Sure thing, Twilight.”

“Thanks. I’ll be back in a bit.” The unicorn left her work area and made for the door, pausing for a moment to pick up her bag.

Twilight felt a palpable uneasiness presiding over Ponyville and its residents as she trotted down the street. The normal cheer that usually took hold during the early morning was missing, and in its place was a dark cloud of fear. Twilight saw ponies she knew sitting together and talking very quietly. Dragon attacks were serious business, and even if this particular case was simply an individual gone rogue, it could still do a lot of damage before it was stopped. If it even attacked again, that is. As she walked toward her destination, Twilight began to wonder if all this fear she had was justified. All she had heard was that a village was destroyed. She had no idea if anyone was actually hurt. It could have been the work of a rowdy juvenile looking to cause trouble. That was probably way more likely than what she had originally suspected. Still, Twilight couldn’t rest without finding out more about the treaty. She would need to know all about it to make sure that other more subtle agreements were being broken.

“Good morning, Twilight.” Twilight was snapped out of her thoughts by a familiar voice. She looked up to see Rarity walking toward her. As always she had some sort of fashion accessory, in this case, a stylish bag covered in gems.

“Oh, hello Rarity,” said Twilight. It was a bit of a surprise to see the white unicorn out and about, seeing as she had been very busy lately supervising the production of her new perfume, Odeur Du Printemps. The scent had become all the rage over Equestria, and its high demand meant Rarity needed to spend more time working.

“Did you hear the news?” asked the fashion diva.

“Yes,” replied Twilight, “Spike told me.”

“Dreadful, isn’t it?” Rarity said with a shudder, “I know it happened across the country, but I’m still feeling a bit nervous. Speaking of Spike, how is the little fellow?”

“He’s been good,” said Twilight, “We’ve been working on some new spells lately.”

“Ah,” said the white unicorn, “Well, I really hate to run off like this, but I need to go get some more flower petals for the perfume.”

“I understand,” said Twilight, “It’s alright. I was heading somewhere too.”

“We should all get together when we have more time,” Rarity said wistfully, “Oh well. Tata, Twilight.” The white unicorn trotted down the street behind Twilight.

After walking to the other side of town, Twilight finally saw her destination standing at the edge of the Everfree forest. A circular hut made of large blocks of granite, topped off by a tall, conical, weathered roof. It was the kind of roof that belonged on the tower of a gothic-styled castle. This feature made the hut look like a very short tower. Twilight started down the road towards the peculiar structure. It took her only a few minutes to reach the doorstep. Up close, she could see the stone blocks were covered in lichen and moss. The roof was covered in areas of slightly brighter shingles where it been patched up over the years. Twilight walked up to the heavy oak door and knocked. A quiet rustling came from within the building, followed by hoof steps and the click of the doorknob as it turned. The door creaked on its hinges as it was pulled open.

There stood an orange unicorn, with an uncombed brown mane, and a pair of glasses on his face. His mark was the image of a book.

“Hello Twilight,” he said in a very quiet voice, “What are you--” He stopped for a brief moment as though he were checking himself, then continued. “I mean, it’s nice to see you.”

“Good morning, Oddball,” said Twilight, “How are you today?”

“Good.” He smiled sheepishly. Twilight always noticed he looked sheepish or nervous around other ponies. “Would you, uh, like to come in?”

“Yes, please.” Oddball stepped aside and pulled the door open. Twilight stepped inside and looked around the circular room. She glanced up at the ceiling, which was flat instead of conical like it looked from outside. In one part of the room was a wooden printing press, and on a nearby shelf were several bottles of ink Like her own home the house was full of shelves of books, but rather than neat and organized, they seemed haphazardly arranged. Twilight guessed that they probably couldn’t be organized very well on account of that each book was about a different and often obscure subject. Oddball’s library was rarely visited by the denizens of Ponyville because they mostly went to Twilight’s, which held a vast wealth of relevant information. But in the event that someone needed to know about the weird, or needed to find an old legend, they could generally find what they were looking for in Oddball’s collection.

“I’m, uh, sorry about the mess. I don’t have company that often.” Twilight looked over to see him trying to straighten out a pile of papers on his desk.

“Oh, that’s alright,” said Twilight as she looked at the books, “I was just wondering if you have that book I borrowed last week.”

“Of course,” said Oddball as he stiffly walked over to a shelf on the other side of the room, “It’s right where I left it.” He pulled it off the shelf and walked over to Twilight. “Here you go.” Oddball handed Twilight the a thick, ancient looking book. It smelled incredibly musty, but Twilight didn’t notice. She was only focused on the cover: A Historie Of Dragons.

“Thank you,” said Twilight.

“You’re welcome,” said Oddball, “Is there anything else you need?” Twilight was about to decline his offer, when she suddenly thought to ask him something.

“Well,” she said, “Do you have any other books on dragons?”

“Nothing, uh, factual, I’m afraid. I have lots of books on legends about them, though. May I ask why?” For a moment Twilight was surprised that he hadn’t heard about the dragon attack, but then realized that he probably hadn’t been to town today.

“There was a dragon attack in East Trottingham.” When she said this, Oddball’s eyes grew very wide.

“East Trottingham?” he said in his perpetually quiet voice, “That’s where…” His voice trailed off as he seemed to be checking himself again. Twilight knew by the look on his face that he wanted to say something, but seemed very reluctant.

“Where what?”

“Well, uh, there have never been any dragons in East Trottingham to my knowledge, but…” He trailed off again. “Do you believe in ghosts?” Now it was Twilight’s eyes that grew wide.

“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked as she raised an eyebrow. Oddball gave her another sheepish frown.

“Well, uh…I may just be speaking as a folklorist here, but I…uh…Hold on.” He suddenly trotted back over to his shelves and pulled out a book, paged through it as though making sure it was what he wanted, then returned. The book he held was nowhere near as thick or heavy as the other one he had given her, but looked just as old. He carefully handed it to Twilight. In turn she was careful in handling it, for it was terribly fragile.

“What’s this?” she asked as dusted off its cover.

“A precaution,” answered Oddball, “It’s, uh, about…well, you’ll find out.” Twilight raised an eyebrow as she read the cover: Jabberwocky.

Comments

[Neo-00]

I can tell this is a story that is well written for the first 10 lines, I'll keep my eye on it

[Reader Wolf]

Okay, I'll say it:

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch."