Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Blood Bones and Rust

The forest was angry. Unquiet. Disturbed by something or someone.

Luna's axe swung down hard and bones splintered beneath the force of the impact, as the large twisted mass of guts and limbs wailed in pain. The head was that of a pony, but everything else was unrecognisable. A second strike, aimed at the neck, and the creature's cries stopped.

The alicorn looked up. The creatures weren't the only thing growing more twisted. Pillars stretched from one side of the forest to the other, tunnels weaved in and out of it, and the horizon now curved upwards to merge with the other side rather than simply being mirrored. And even as she watched, the terrain seemed to shift and mutate, the overall shape of the forest growing more convoluted.

The air had grown darker, and not merely the darkness that night brings. Even with her eyes, she still had trouble piercing through the muddy blackness that seemed to permeate the forest, like smoke or water in a bottle.

The forest was scared. Nervous, on the edge. Its creatures afraid of something even they couldn't see clearly. But they could feel it coming. Rage, fear, instincts, it all bled together and warped the world around them.

And whatever was coming would be even worse.

But Luna could only wait and carry on her hunting duties. So long as the creatures of the forest didn't have a clear idea of what they were scared by, all they could provide her would be vague ghosts and fantasies, more akin to their own fears wrapped onto the skeleton of the looming presence than to the presence itself and its true form.

More screams echoed around her. Choked, sputtering croaks, guttural howls, and deep roars of pain and anger. Luna pulled her weapon back, and cleaned the blade from clumps of blood with her hoof. The night was still young, the hunt just at its beginning.

More would come. That night, and in the nights to follow, and things would get worse with time for a while, she knew that. But she could take care of it. She could keep going, and as long as things didn't grow out of proportion she could still keep them in check by herself. And she could hope that, once they finally knew what was causing all of it, they could go directly at the root of the problem and put an end to it.

The cracking of trunks and branches snapping under the weight and force of a charge came from her right, but she was ready. As soon as the creature broke through the last line of trees and into the small clearing, her legs sprung and pushed her upwards and out of its reach. She landed on its back, the mangled assembly of organs and jutting bones screeching as it tried to claw at her with its malformed appendages.

Her axe came down again, splitting its skull in half, and the body went limp under her. Retrieving her weapon, she took off, and began to scout the forest from above the trees.

Author's Note:

Proofreading by IncongruousAndHarmonious

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

I hadn't expected any of the petrified villains to break out, but on top of everything else, I shouldn't be surprised.

And Luna really needs to get out of the forest while that's still physically possible. At this rate, she'll end up a genie in a Klein bottle. And the mutants only have to get lucky once...