Forest Fire

Spitfire let out a sigh as she continued to walk, although at the moment the term seemed generous at the moment. She barely lifted her hooves off the ground, the edges stroking across the dirt and through the grass before dropping again. Her steps were more of an exhausted shuffle that moved slower than she should.

Since she had escaped the cave with the bear-like creatures, the pegasus mare had been walking for what seemed like hours. At first she had trotted at a pretty rapid gait, wanting to get away from the cave and hopefully the timberwolf as quickly as she could. As Spitfire got further and further from the cave, she felt herself feeling a little calmer and less threatened. Her pace slowed down, taking a more relaxed speed that would be easier to maintain for a great length.

Unfortunately she did not know for how long it would be. Spitfire had walked, and walked... and walked some more. It had been so long, she was feeling exhausted. As her steps slowed and became heavier, her mind began to wander. Was she going the right way? What if instead of making her way out of the forest, she was inadvertently going deeper into it? Or worse, what if there was no way out? Was it possible that there was some spell that caused the woods to fold around on themselves, making it impossible to leave? That is if it was a real forest to begin. Maybe it was not? Maybe she was lying somewhere in a coma and the whole thing was actually a dream from which she will never wake? The last was extremely unlikely, but it was also the scariest. After all, if this were all a coma dream, how would she ever know? And how would she ever get out of it?

A sound like the crow of a rooster caught her attention. The mare raised her head up, ears perking at the sound. A thrill of excitement sparked through Spitfire, causing her to lift her hooves up properly once more and pick up her pace with renewed excitement. After all, nopony kept just a rooster. If there was a rooster, there were hens. And where there were chickens, there had to be a pony to feed them. So if there was a rooster crowing, there had to be a pony's home nearby that had chickens.

Spitfire's hope and excitement came to a screeching halt as she tried to do the same with her hooves. The creature before her was not a chicken, much less a rooster. It had the head of a chicken, and the feet, but not the body. It had the general shape, but covered in scales. There was a thick, reptilian tail sticking out from the back, and small dragon-like wings. What she had thought was a rooster was a cockatrice.

It turned to look at her.

The mare quickly looked away, keeping the creature in the edge of her vision. She had to watch it just in case it tried something. At the same time, she had to be careful not to look it directly in the eye. Doing so would put her at risk of being caught in the cockatrice's power and being turned into stone.

She saw the movement of the creature. It was starting to stalk towards her. She could see the talon-toed feet moving closer to where she stood. It made a slight cluck-clucking as it approached.

Spitfire stepped away, trying to match the pace of the cockatrice. Each step the foul fowl made toward the pegasus was matched by her taking a step away. She tried to move slowly as she did, not wanting to provoke the creature.

This time, it did not work. Flapping its wings, the cockatrice took a flying leap at Spitfire. Instinctively, the mare reared up on her hind legs. She lashed out with her left front hoof, striking the creature. There was a loud wet cracking sound as Spitfire struck the thing in the chest, shattering the breast bone.

The cockatrice let out a gurgling squawk as it fell back, slamming against the ground. Flapping and kicking, the creature finally managed to right itself. Beak wide open, it lunged at the pegasus mare once again. This time it caught her unprepared, biting down in the foreleg.

"MOTHERBUCKER!" Spitfire screamed as she felt the teeth sink into her flesh. She kicked and bucked as hard as she could, shaking the horrible creature off. There was a flash of pain as the monster's teeth tore strips of flesh from her front leg, leaving long bloody gashes. The mare reared up again, this time slamming her good leg down on the cockatrice's head. There was another wet crack as she smashed its skull in, sending shards of bone into the gelatinous mass of what had once been its brain.

The mare found herself breathing heavily as she stared down at her hoof and the crushed mass of flesh beneath it. Her chest rose and fell as she found herself breathing heavily. Her body began to tremble as the adrenaline started to burn out of her system. Spitfire stepped away, taking slow, shaking steps as she turned from the scene of battle.

The Wonderbolt Captain vomited.

The Wonderbolts were a military force. While most of the time they performed aerial stunt shows for ponies to enjoy, they were also an air force when necessary. It was not a duty on which they were often called to perform, but it was one that she had done. That had mostly required flight and aerial combat however. While she had been trained in hoof to hoof combat, she had never actually used it in the field before ending up in the Everfree Forest. She certainly never killed anything, to say nothing about doing so in such a brutal and grotesque manner. Now having done so, she felt sick to her stomach.

There was little for her body to expel as she had not eaten since she had woken up and began to walk. Now she was somewhat grateful for that fact.

Once the final heave had passed, she tried to wipe her mouth with her leg, and found she could not move it. Turning to look down at it, she felt a whole new feeling of shock and fear. Her leg, the one that the cockatrice had bitten, was now stone. From the hoof to the shoulder blade, it had become petrified. The creature's bite had a venom that had been able to do what its gaze could not. While Spitfire was not aware of it, she was fortunate in that it was not enough to petrify her fully. She also was not feeling very fortunate since she now had a leg made of solid rock.

Turning, she caught sight of the remnants and again felt sick. Spitfire felt a massive urge to escape, to get out of there and as far away from the scene as she could. It was not as fast as she would like, or very fast at all since she was forced to drag one leg, but she did the absolute best that she could.

Movement was now slow, tedious, and exhausting. The stone leg dragged, leaving a furrow in the dirt as she tried to pull it along with her. It was also incredibly and unexpectedly painful. Each move caused the spots where the rock attached to her body to pull at her skin and muscles, making it feel like they would rip and tear any second.

Reaching her limit, and not making it as far as she would have liked, Spitfire collapsed. It was more of a fall, landing on her side with the weight of the stone leg pressing against her. It caused discomfort in her chest, but she could not bring herself up.

A shadow moved over the prone mare's form. She tried to look up, and saw something vaguely in the shape of the pony above her.

"What is this I see before me?" a voice asked. "'tis a strange and injured pony that I see."

"Help," Spitfire said, her voice nearly a whisper.

"So many injuries, and a leg of stone. Seems miraculous you made it this far alone."

"Please," the pegasus said again, "I need help."

"Yes in deed, help is something you do need. Close your eyes and get some rest, and helping you I will do my best. I can carry you to my home, and find a potion to reverse the stone." The figure moved, lifting Spitfire with ease. "Then while you sleep and begin to heal, I shall go and get assistance from Ponyville."

Ponyville Spitfire thought. Something about the name sound familiar. For some reason, she could not place her hoof on it at the moment. She felt her weight settle across somepony's back. Tilting her head, the mare caught sight of a black and white pattern, and what looked like a sun. Before her eyes, the black lines seemed to grow thicker and connect, before everything finally went dark.