Junker's Travels

by JunkerRabbit

Chapter V: The Serpent's Snare

Chapter V

The Serpent's Snare

"One: There are three of us, so we vote on decisions and majority wins." Junker already didn't like where this was going. He started to interject, but Alder continued, not phased by him.
"Two: We are a group. We stick together, eat together, sleep together, and don't leave each other behind.
Three: We share the food, and everything else for that matter, EQUALLY between the three of us.
Four: There will come a time for us to part ways. Splitting up will be a unanimous decision, and we stick together until we all agree it's safe."

Junker knew he was right. There was no doubt in his mind. He had always trained his senses to look for incoming food back in the garden. Alder and Hazel were beyond wrong in every single way. Yes, the path that the train took LOOKED like it went back up towards Canterlot, but it winds back down onto ground level after a little detour, following a huge forest until going off somewhere else. Junker couldn’t sense further, but it had to lead to civilization, seeing that it was the only way the train could’ve gone. The path that Alder and Hazel took . . . It didn't seem very natural. Well, none of the tracks were NATURAL, but the one the squirrels had taken didn't seem to be made by ponies. Junker had strained his senses to try to see what laid beyond it, but something had blocked him; clouded his vision. He had no idea what it could have been, but he had brushed it aside as nothing.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Alder and Hazel walked with a sense of regret. They were certain they had chosen the right path to walk, but they weren't sure they had chosen the right decision to make.

"Are you sure he'll come back to us again, brother?" Hazel asked.

"Of course, Hazel," Alder said, "Junker is a pretty predictable bunny. Give him time."

"But what if he was right?" Hazel asked, "What is he comes back, gives in to our persistence, and all three of us end up following the wrong path?"

"I've thought about that," Alder said firmly, with a hint of darkness in his tone, "and I've come to a conclusion. The path he took, if wrong, will most likely lead us back to Canterlot. The path that we took, if wrong, will likely not lead us anywhere where food will be readily available, and we'll die of starvation. Even if we manage to get back to Canterlot from his path AND avoid Philomeena for the rest of our lives, we'll still have done all of this for nothing. Quite frankly, I'm tired of that forsaken garden, and would rather die than go back to living that kind of life."

Hazel was shocked. What her brother had just said was really, really dark. Alder was usually a pessimistic squirrel, but this was depressing even for him. Hazel hugged her older brother. "I really wish I could make things better for us. For you."

Alder looked solemnly at his younger sister. "I wish I could do the same for you," He said.

Suddenly, a shrill, unfamiliar cackling filled the mountainside. It echoed around the hollow tunnels sent chills down the spines of the two startled squirrels.

“Aw, what a touching little scene,” A scratchy, otherworldly voice said with oozing amounts of sarcasm, “A brother and sister who have made a terrible mistake have set out to find a new home. It’s a shame you’ll never find one.” The voice burst out into its unpleasant laugh again. It scared Alder and Hazel out of their wits.

“Wh-wh-who are y-you?” Hazel managed, trying to hide her fear but failing miserably, “WHAT are you?”

“Oh, how cute,” The voice responded with a mocking and condescending tone, “It appears the little bookworm has misplaced her guide to mythological creatures. What a pity. I thought you would be able to take a good guess. Apparently you’re not nearly as smart as you come off to be.”

“SHOW YOURSELF!” Alder screamed.

“Why, I thought you’d never ask.” The air grew colder around the two squirrels, and a brightly glowing mist that stood out against the inky night sky swirled around them, enveloping them in it.

Slowly, as the voice’s cackling grew louder and crazier, the mist began to take form. A gust of wind slapped Hazel and Alder’s faces, but the swirling mist seemed unaffected. The mist gradually became a long, rope-like shape. At the end of it, two piercing eyes popped up, and it opened up to form a jaw, showing a formidable pair of fangs. It started growing scales and losing transparency until there was no longer any mist in front of Alder and Hazel.

Instead, a giant, 10-foot long, glowing snake the color of the pale moon in the night sky sat before the two horrified squirrels with a huge, menacing grin stretching across its face.

Suddenly Hazel realized what they were dealing with.

“A . . . Pandora Serpent . . .”

The snake cackled again. “In the flesh,” He said.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Alder shook his head and said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up, you two. What exactly is a Pandora Serpent?”

The snake slithered around Alder. “A beast of the night,” He said, “Directly from the bitter, dark crevices of Tartarus.”

“They feed off of the virtues of others, turning them into bad people,” Hazel continued, “However; they can’t take your good traits away unless they get you to show your bad traits.”

“Very good,” Said the serpent, “Might you care to elaborate?”

Keeping her eyes fixed on the otherworldly snake in case it made any sudden moves, Hazel continued, “Pandora Serpents are also good at knowing a lot about their prey from just a glance. They build dens for themselves that exist in dimensional pockets in space, and create openings for careless souls to stumble into. Once it catches something, it won’t let them out until it’s been drained of everything wholesome in its body.”

“So . . . Are we those careless souls?” Asked Alder nervously.

The Pandora Serpent lunged at Alder, stopping only a few hairs from the terrified squirrel, “Exact-a-mundo!” It exclaimed happily, “Now I get to have a little fun with you! Man, I haven’t had a meal in years!”

“Alder!” Hazel cried, “Don’t let it get to you! It’ll play mind tricks with you, but you have to resist!”

The Pandora Serpent locked its gaze on Alder as it circled around him menacingly. “You can call me Doubt,” Said the giant snake to its hostages, “That’s what everyone calls me. Of course, when I say everyone, I mean me. No one likes giving names to heartless, reptilian beasts from the depths of hell, you know?” It gave a playful pout as it said the last sentence, knowing full well it wouldn’t get any sympathy from the squirrels.

We might as well humor this thing, Hazel thought, Maybe I can even trick him into opening a path back to the mountains if I play my cards right. “So . . .” She began, “What’s a Pandora Serpent like you doing so far away from home? I thought you guys lived further down south.”

Doubt took the bait, indulging his prisoners in his story. “Oh, you’re right about that, my dear rodent,” He said, “but I myself am a bit of a traveler. I want to see the world, and diversify the range of creatures whose lives I make miserable. Canterlot seems like a very nice place. Lots of unsuspecting ponies to prey on. I’ve hoping to catch an entire train of them,” Doubt’s eyes burned with hunger as he spoke, “Wouldn’t that just be fantastic?”

“I don’t think so,” Hazel said, carefully thinking about how she worded each sentence, “More victims means more of a chance you’ll fail. Pandora Serpents may be powerful, but against enough ponies, they might take you down. Especially if they were unicorns, skilled in magic, they could pry themselves out.”

“Not a chance!” Doubt exclaimed.

“Hazel, what are you . . .” Alder tried to ask before Hazel shut him up. Her plan was going too well to be ruined by her worrisome older brother.

“Oh, really?” Hazel inquired, “You think you’re that good? What exactly would you do if they managed to open up an escape?”

Doubt fell for Hazel’s plan, hook, line and sinker. “Why, I’ll tell you,” He said, “If some sharp little unicorn was lucky enough to both find and exploit a way back, I would close it on them immediately. Perhaps, if I’m just as lucky as the unicorn, I would catch them halfway through their little getaway, and snap their bodies in half, setting an example for the rest of the little ponies.”

“They so do not close that fast,” Hazel said, a cocky smirk concealing the giddy smile she was attempting to hold back. Her plan was working! She and Alder would be out of this deathtrap!

As Doubt opened the pathway back to the Bogie Mountains, Hazel grabbed Alder by the arm and bolted out faster than Doubt could react. Well, that is, that’s what she would have done if it hadn’t been for something on the other end of the opening that caught Hazel, Alder and Doubt all off-guard.

Junker was there; ever so slightly tattered from hiking, and clasping a sharpened rock that had been fashioned into somewhat of a spearhead in one hand. He stared at them back with equal astonishment on his face. However, unlike the other three’s, his surprise quickly melted away, replaced by a smoldering rage, unlike any anger Alder had ever seen in all his time working for the rabbit.

“NO! NOT THEM!” Shouted Junker at the very top of his lungs. Screaming, he charged towards Doubt, who was still in shock from seeing him on the other end of the portal. Junker lodged the spearhead he was carrying into the cranium of the Pandora Serpent. Doubt tried to stop him, but seemed to be crushed beneath Junker’s fury. The rabbit repeatedly thrust the spearhead into Doubt’s skull, causing the giant and once-intimidating snake to shriek in pain over and over again.

“MERCY! MERCY!!!!” Doubt pleaded.

Junker ceased stabbing for a moment to lean in. “Let them out,” He growled, “NOW.”

Doubt opened the portal further, allowing the three critters to leave a whimpering and near-dead Pandora Serpent behind them. Hazel and Alder were taken back by the rage that was now quickly fading from Junker.

“Come on,” Junker commanded. The two squirrels followed without making a sound.

They didn’t even take the spearhead out.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Comments

[JunkerRabbit]

842308 Really happy to know people enjoy this!

[JunkerRabbit]

842264

Suspension of Disbelief.

but srsly. The best explanation I have is that everyone else fears Junker, and everyone else thinks they're a minority in this sense. Hazel is the only one brave enough to do anything, and she isn't very good with ideas.