The Greatest Day of Her Life

by Mannulus

Chapter 3: A Bad Decision

Chapter 3

A Bad Decision

“Stop her!” Deathray screamed.

As Derpy flew over the courtyard, every statue she had earlier seen came to life at once. The enormous cat statues leaped at her, slashing with claws like knives. The pegasus and bird statues took flight to pursue her, the earth pony statues ran beneath her, and the unicorn statues fired balls of light which exploded into pale purple fire and lightning all around her. Miraculously, she was able to dodge the magical onslaught.

As she cleared the outer wall, taking the moment's reprieve from the magical artillery to stuff the diamond into her saddlebag, she saw the earth pony, unicorn, and cat statues simply break down the gate and continue to follow her. As Derpy flew, her pursuers dashed up the crater's slope. Worse, the pegasus and bird statues were closing the distance with unnatural speed.

“Oh, come on!” Derpy moaned. “Their wings don't even have feathers or skin or anything. This isn't even fair!” Looking back to check her pursuers, she saw Deathray boarding his strange, old airship. He would soon join the chase. Derpy struck at the sky with her wings and propelled herself downward as she cleared the crest of the crater, using the dive to put distance between herself and the bizarre, rusty golems that hunted her. Soon, she was above the treetops.

This was, without a doubt, the second or third worst day Derpy had ever had. She was tired and hungry, and everything in the world seemed to want to eat and/or kill her. If she was overtaken by the iron pegasi, she'd be knocked to the ground. If the fall didn't kill her, she'd be ripped to shreds by the statues below. To make matters worse, every time one of the unicorn statues got a solid line of sight on her, another ball of energy would hurtle upward from the trees and explode somewhere within a stone's throw of her body. The frosting on the muffin?

If I don't find some way out of this, he'll fire that thing at Ponyville! All my friends! The Doctor! Dinky!

Derpy's wings, sore and and weary, somehow managed to find more strength. All the same, the terrible statues continued to gain. They were only a short ways off her tail, now. Her mind raced, considering every option.

Can't go low. There are more of them down there. Can't go high, either. They'll catch up even faster.

BOOM! A ball of lightning exploded off her port flank, crackling as it dissipated. She caught a whiff of her own smoldering fur.

Now's the part where I think it can't get any worse, and then it gets worse.

As if in response to her thought, Derpy felt the hair all over her body standing up. She had felt this same sensation once before. It was the day she had gone permanently cross-eyed. She was helping build a simple thunderstorm, and had gotten caught in the middle of a lightning bolt. She had never forgotten how it felt those moments before the strike.

Derpy whipped her head around backwards and saw Withers Deathray, his ship now at the rear of the pack. A vortex of purple-blue energy larger than the unicorn himself was swirling around his horn, and it was pointed directly at her. Derpy was stricken with distilled terror. Then, without warning, there occurred the rarest phenomenon known to pony kind:

Derpy Hooves got an idea.

What's a safe place to be in a thunder storm?

Derpy spread her wings wide and pitched her body upwards to put on the brakes. The nearest pegasus statue flew straight towards her, and just as it lowered its skull-like, wrought-iron head to knock her from the sky, she rolled over on her back, hooked her rear hooves into its iron ribs, and pulled herself in amidst them. There was a thunderclap that seemed to make all the sky quake around her, and arcs of electricity coruscated over the iron statue that surrounded her body.

“Yeowch!” Derpy yelped in pain.

She had not been shocked. The statue had conducted Deathray’s lightning bolt away from her body. However, the electricity had heated the statue tremendously. She was more than obliged to kick herself free of it as it began to fall towards the treetops, its enchantment disrupted by Deathray's powerful spell. Her fur was blackened in several places where she had been touching the statue, but the burns weren't serious.

Well that's one; only half a dozen to go. And that's just the flyers. I won't last much longer like this.

Flying for dear life, Derpy realized that she didn't have long before Deathray charged another lightning bolt. The flying statues were no longer pursuing her so closely. Deathray, obviously in telepathic control of all his automatons, had no intention of allowing her to use the same trick to evade him twice. Another of the unicorn statues' lightning balls exploded just below her.

I can't fight this. I can't outfly it. What can I do? There has to be something!

It was then that Ghastly Gorge came back into view. The statues on the ground wouldn't be able to cross it. It was just a stroke of dumb luck, really.

I'll take dumb luck. It's the only kind I have!

Derpy dove for the opposite side of the canyon. If she could get into the trees, Deathray couldn't pursue her in his flying machine, and she might even be able to evade the flying statues.

It was a long, fast dive with a lazy trajectory, It was nowhere near as suicidal as the game of dragon chicken had been, but it was still dangerous. Derpy would have to pick out an opening in the trees and align herself with it in a matter of seconds. Even as she began to do so, she felt her mane and fur stand on end.

She heard the thunder only a moment after the foliage swallowed her up. She felt the heat and heard the shattering of some tree or other as the lightning vaporized the water inside it. Her ears rang – had been ringing since the first of the energy balls had exploded around her back at the mansion. All the same, for the first time since she had taken that diamond in mouth, she thought she might have a chance to get away.

She rocked and rolled and zigged and zagged between the trees, never looking back. Occasionally, she would hear the loud smash of one of the winged statues plowing into a tree trunk.

They might be fast, but they're not so nimble, are they?

After some time, the crashing noises stopped. Derpy chanced a quick glance back, and was very nearly rewarded by hitting a tree, herself. She was indeed alone, however. All of the statues were gone; probably scattered through the forest in a thousand pieces. Relieved, she allowed herself to glide downward, and once it was within reach, she touched her hooves to the ground and jogged off her inertia.

She knew better than to let herself be seen above the treetops. Deathray was still up there, somewhere. She would have to walk west until she emerged from the forest. It would take at least twice as long as flying. She wasn't excited about the prospect of trudging through this dark, dangerous place, but there was no other option.

* * *

Derpy walked westward for at least an hour, her stomach growling all the way. She kept hoping to pass a bush with some berries on it or some sort of a fruit tree, but it seemed that such things simply didn't grow in the Everfree Forest. With no sun reaching the forest floor there wasn't even any grass for her to graze – and right then, she would have, degrading or not.

“What do the animals here eat?” she asked no one in particular.

Just then, she heard a sound. It was a staccato thump that seemed to be growing slowly in volume, and it was coming from behind her. A leaf on a nearby tree quivered with each distant, hollow whump, and Derpy herself was beginning to notice the vibration. She didn't know what kind of creature was coming this way, but she knew one thing: it was big.

Images of every colossal creature rumored to inhabit the forest flashed through Derpy's mind; hydras, dragons, giant apes, Ursas, great boars that stood twice as tall as Princess Celestia. Derpy's pulse quickened, her chest heaved, and she strained to keep her composure. She could run or she could hide.

I'm too tired to run, anymore. I'd never get away, she thought. Fueled by adrenaline, Derpy quickened her pace as much as she could stand, and scanned the forest for anywhere that might serve to conceal her from whatever it was that was coming her way.

The thumps grew louder, and the ground began to quake with each footfall. Frantically, she looked around for a place to hide. A small cave in the side of a low, eroded hillside caught her attention. It was just big enough for a pony to fit inside its entrance. Hopefully, the creature wouldn't be able to follow her inside. She tucked her wings in close to her body, and wriggled her way through the tiny opening.

The cave was cramped, dark, and musty. Roots hung from its ceiling, and its walls bore the soft, eroded remains of old claw marks. It had been the den of some kind of animal, once. A little ways in, Derpy found a small chamber where there was just enough room for her to turn around and get a view of what was outside. Once she had, she wished she hadn't, for what she saw was more awful than any Ursa or hydra.

It was the remaining statues. Somehow, they had gotten across the canyon. A great cat prowled by, followed by an earth pony statue and a skeletal, iron wolf, but most horrifying of all was what brought up the rear. It was Deathray's airship. Its balloon was mysteriously gone, and it was stomping through the forest on a pair of mechanical, bird-like legs.

Derpy ducked back as far into the tiny cave as she possibly could. As she backed up, her right rear hoof landed on a rock the size of a grapefruit, and it rolled out from under her. She fell back on her chest, belly, and haunches, and just lay there, frozen in fear. The rock sat mockingly in front of her quivering, yellow eyes. She couldn't run. She had nowhere to go. Her mind was empty of ideas, and her body empty of energy. All she could do was wait and hope she had not been heard.

The thudding of the flying machine's chicken feet stopped. For a moment, Derpy was certain she had been discovered. Then she heard Deathray's voice.

“I can sense the diamond. It's somewhere around here. Look for it, you idiots, and if you find that google-eyed gray pegasus, bring her to me!”

Derpy gritted her teeth and rolled her face in the dirt, a silent gesture of frustration. He knew a gem-finding spell. Of course he knew a gem-finding spell! He was an old unicorn who had spent his entire life studying magic. How could he not know a gem-finding spell? And of course he was more than powerful enough to levitate the statues over the gorge. Hiding in this cave had guaranteed she'd be caught. Derpy had never felt so stupid in all her life -- and that was impressive.

“Come out, come out, Ms. Hooves! I believe I've found you!” Deathray punctuated his gleeful declaration with a kick above the cave's entrance from one of the machine's giant feet. Dirt showered from the ceiling, and Derpy squeaked in surprise and fear.

There was no hiding herself, now.

Comments

[BenRG]

Yes, Ponyville is in danger and Derpy is the only person to stand in the way!

Be afraid.

[Inferno demon Dash]

YOU CAN DO IT DERPY, JOIN THE DARK SIDE! WE HAVE MUFFINS!!!!! Also, she's smart but this is going to get crazy!!!

[Silver Flare]

This was, without a doubt, the second or third worst day Derpy had ever had.

I laughed way too hard at this!