Chapter 1: Beastly battle
A Serpent Situation
Chapter 1: Beastly battle
It was around mid-morning in the Everfree forest. The sun shone down across the wild forest’s trees, with an occasional beam piercing the thick canopy. In one such tree, a large, jet-black serpent lay across an outstretching limb. His coils hung lazily down from the branch as he basked in the sun’s beams. He had found a cockatrice nest not too long ago, and was quite content with indulging himself on the cluster of eggs. And wouldn’t you know it, the mother returned just in time for the main course.
The lump in the serpent’s coils shifted as he recalled his good fortune. Now all that was required of him was some rest while he digested the recent meal. His forked tongue flicked out, ‘tasting’ the surrounding air. Having not tasted any immediate danger, the serpent closed its eyes and dozed off to sleep.
* * *
“Ugh, are we there yet,” Scootaloo groaned with impatience. “I feel like we’ve been walking for hours.”
Applebloom huffed. “Well we coulda’ taken yer’ scooter if ya’ hadn’t broken its wheel in one of yer fancy stunts. Besides, we’re almost to Zecora’s.”
“Tell me again why we’re going to her creepy old tree-house again?”
“To see if we can get potion cutie marks,” Applebloom said excitedly.
“Oh yea! Potions are pretty cool, I guess. …What do they do again?”
“Potions are like magic for earth and pegasus ponies,” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “They are created with natural, magical substances and are used like a spell would.”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Fine, little miss dictionary.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not a dictionary, you dodo!”
“Stop calling me things that don’t exist!”
Applebloom turned to her friends. “Both of you stop it. We’ll never get our cutie marks if we keep on bickering like this!”
Scootaloo put a hoof to her chin as she thought. “Bickering cutie marks?”
“What would that even look like,” Sweetie asked. Scootaloo just shrugged.
“Beats me.”
The three paused for a moment before continuing their trek. As they made their way down the path, they steadily grew nervous. Even though it was daytime, there wasn’t much light. The thick tree canopy cast an eerie, splotchy shadow across the forest floor. If nothing else, what little light there was only seemed to make everything look worse. Soon the fillies became aware of many strange shapes and sounds coming from their surroundings. They had been so engrossed in conversation before, that they had not noticed.
The canopy began to thicken, casting even less light on the trail than there already was. Soon a deep, yet quiet rumbling began to grow distinct as they continued into the darkness. As they came to a large boulder in the middle of the path, the three paused to listen more intently at the rumbling.
Applebloom turned to Scootaloo. “Please tell me that’s your stomach ah hear,” she whispered. Scootaloo shrugged.
“No way. I had two cupcakes for breakfast.”
“What kind of a breakfast is that? Don’t you know how unhealthy that is,” Sweetie whispered to her friend.
“Hey, it was all I could get, ok? Besides, we’ve got bigger things to worry about,” Scootaloo replied, trying to get the topic away from her and back to the mysterious rumbling. Suddenly the rumbling paused before snorting loudly. As they listened, they began to recognize the rumbling as snoring. By the sound of it, whatever was making the noise was on the other side of the boulder. The three fillies pressed their backs against the large rock, hoping to avoid startling whatever the creature was.
But something felt funny about the large boulder. It felt almost like it was… hairy? Applebloom was quick to assume it was moss, but it was too brown. On top of that, it had been much to warm for moss recently. She tapped the hairy rock quizzically. The boulder shifted as the unknown creature snorted again, this time sounding more like it was waking up. Applebloom froze in place. She slowly brought a hoof to her mouth, signaling her friends to not say a word. They nodded in silent agreement. The three backed away from the rock as carefully as they could. Applebloom was beginning to realize that the boulder was not a boulder at all…
* * *
The serpent was roused from his slumber by a tremendous roar that shook the very tree he was in. Had he not tightened his coils around the tree limb, he might have fallen. It sounded like there was a manticore nearby. The sound of trees being twisted and ripped apart echoed through the forest. … And it sounded pretty pissed off as well.
The serpent knew it was a wise decision to stay clear of the enraged beast, but he first needed to know where in the forest it was. He flicked out his tongue several times as he tasted the air for the manticore’s scent. It didn’t take him long to sense the beast. But not only did he taste the manticore, but three other animals as well. He tasted the air again to try and make out what the other three animals were.
After a quick double take, he faintly recognized the three as two fillies and a chicken. No wait… That wasn’t right. It was two fillies, and a third filly that smelt very heavily of chickens for whatever reason. How odd.
Another thought came to his mind, dispatching the idea of some crossbreed of chicken and pony. With a manticore on the rampage, the three young ponies must be in danger! A sudden worry came over the serpent, as well as a glimpse of personal hope. Perhaps now, after all this time, he had a chance at redemption! Finally, he would be able to make up for all those horrible deeds against ponies.
Filled with new confidence and motivation, the serpent disregarded the digestion of his meal and slithered down the tree. He had a vow to fulfill, and nothing, not even a manticore, was going to keep him from completing it!
* * *
After they had realized that the giant rock had in fact been a sleeping manticore, the crusaders had backed away as quietly as possible. That is, until Sweetie Belle stepped on a twig, resulting in a surprisingly loud snap. The Manticore, having already been slightly roused, awoke with a furious roar before giving chase to his awakers. After several minutes of being chased through the forest, the fillies ran behind a nearby tree and took several deep breaths.
Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief as she wiped her brow. “Whew, I think we lost em’.”
Without warning the tree was ripped in half with an ear-splitting crunch, sending the two halves soaring on opposite directions. The three turned around slowly, coming face-to-face with the livid manticore. Its nostrils flared, sending out a wave of hot air across the filly’s faces.
“Hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Applebloom began, “but ah don’t think we lost em’.”
The manticore unleashed another tremendous roar in the filly’s faces. They responded with a terrified shriek and bolted away through the brush. Like before, the manticore gave relentless pursuit, leaving a trail of devastated forest behind it.
Soon the fillies burst from the brush into a sizable opening in the trees. When the sounds of the forest being trampled behind them ceased, Applebloom looked behind them while managing to keep running. There was a hole ripped into the wall of trees where the beast had exited, but there were no further signs of it.
Suddenly the manticore came soaring down from the sky, landing with a loud thud at the opposite end of the opening. The three fillies tried to stop as fast as they could, but they only succeeded in tumbling over each other. They finally came to stop in a twisted pile of hair and legs a few yards from the manticore. They untangled each other quickly and began backing away slowly, making sure not to take their eyes of the beast. Their retreat was halted, however, by a large hollowed log.
The manticore, seeing that its victims were trapped, crouched low to the ground and slowly advanced; as is the instinct of large, predatory cats. The three crusaders knew that if they broke eye contact or tried to run again, the manticore would pounce.
Neither party noticed the loud rustling of nearby bushes until a massive serpent burst out from the brush. The giant snake that looked to be about two feet thick and twenty feet long slithered in front of the three fillies, coiling up in a defensive manner. The manticore was briefly taken aback by the sudden intrusion, but quickly recovered. It roared in the serpent’s face, causing it to recoil its head a bit, but the serpent remained steadfast in its position. It hissed loudly in response, warning the beast that it was going to strike.
The manticore ignored the warning and swung one of its massive paws at the snake’s head. The snake, however, dodged the attack and launched itself forwards. The serpent clamped its jaws tightly on the manticore’s neck and wrapped around its midsection before it even knew what was going on.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders, having been frozen in a mix of shock and fear up to this point, dashed inside the hollowed tree. They found a gash in the side of the trunk, and watched as the two colossal beasts battled it out.
The manticore reached up with one of its paws and slashed at the serpents coils wrapped around its midsection. The serpent ignored the pain, taking advantage of the manticore being on only three of its legs. It twisted at the manticore’s neck suddenly, sending the beast tumbling to the ground and tightening its coils.
The manticore was growing desperate for release, and took the risk of slashing at the serpent’s head. The serpent caught on to the attack and moved its head before the blow, causing the manticore to slash open its own neck. The beast let out a horrifyingly painful roar that shook the very ground as blood began to pour from the gaping wound. The serpent clamped its jaw into the manticore’s neck above where it had torn into itself, and continued to tighten its coils.
The manticore’s movements slowed as it not only bled to death, but was suffocated as well. Eventually, after its roars and groans grew more quiet and more few, the mighty manticore’s head slumped over, dead.
* * *
The serpent waited a moment to make sure the manticore was truly dead before unwrapping himself from around the beast and slithering a short distance away. He looked over himself, noting several gashes that were bleeding quite badly from where the manticore had slashed him. Now that the natural adrenaline of combat was wearing off, the pain was beginning to kick in. He ignored the pain as best he could and flicked out his tongue, tasting the air for the three fillies.
He followed their scent back to the hollowed log before popping his head in the open end. There, huddled back against the tree’s stump, were the fillies. They were scared and trembling, from him no doubt, but they were unharmed. The serpent grinned as best he could despite the pain, and retracted his head from the tree-hole.
He reluctantly looked back at the multiple gashes covering his body. He judged that he had a day or two tops before he bled to death. Was this really worth the lives of three little fillies? To him, it was. In fact, his death would probably do the ponies well. That way, there wouldn’t be that risk of him becoming a murderous psychopath against ponies, like his mother had been.
Reassured by his actions, the serpent coiled up beside the fallen tree and closed his eyes.
* * *
The three crusaders held each other tightly in fear as they watched the open end of the hollow log. They expected the huge snake to come back any second now and eat them. But the more time passed without the snake returning, the less scared they became. Eventually, they stopped trembling entirely.
“You think it’s gone,” Scootaloo asked, breaking the silence. Applebloom gulped.
“Ah don’t know.”
“Should one of us go check?”
“Not me,” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle answered unanimously. Scootaloo rolled her eyes.
“Fine,” she continued as she stood up, “I’m no chicken. I’m not afraid of danger.” She paused. “…much.”
She quietly tiptoed to the gash in the side of the log, trying to make as little noise as possible. “Be careful!” Sweetie whispered. Scootaloo nodded and looked out the gash. There must have been something blocking it however, because all she saw was blackness.
“I can’t see anything,” she whispered to the others.
“Try the openin’,” Applebloom replied. Scootaloo nodded again and continued quietly to the open end of the log. She poked her head out of the opening and looked for any signs of the giant snake. Upon seeing no immediate signs of the serpent, she stepped out of the log and looked out at the opening.
“Sweet Celestia…” Scootaloo murmured in shock when she saw the dead manticore lying in a small puddle of blood. Then she noticed a trail of blood leading away from dead beast. It led under her, to the log, and then to… she froze …and then to where the giant snake had curled up beside the tree they were hiding in. she let out a quiet “eep” before dashing back into the tree.
“Its right beside the log!” she whispered in a panicked voice.
“Did it see you?!” Sweetie whispered back.
“I don’t know!”
“What are we going to do now?!”
Applebloom brought a hoof to her chin in thought. “…We could try to out run it?”
“I don’t think that would end well,” Sweetie replied.
“Hmm… try and sneak away?”
“Maybe, if Sweetie Belle doesn’t step on any more twigs,” Scootaloo commented. Sweetie crossed her forelegs.
“That wasn’t my fault. I didn’t see it in time, that’s all.”
“Well whatever the reason, that’s what woke up the manticore and got us in this mess.”
“Hold up a sec’,” Applebloom interjected. “Ah just got a crazy idea.”
“Well let’s hear it.”
“What if…” she paused to gather her thoughts. “What if, the snake doesn’t want to eat us?” Scootaloo and Sweetie stared at her blankly. “…As in it was friendly?”
Scootaloo blinked. “You’re right Applebloom.”
“Really?”
“Yea, that really IS a crazy idea!” Applebloom removed the hoof from her chin and slapped it to her forehead.
“Ugh, just think about it for a sec. The snake literally put itself in-between us and the manticore, as if to protect us from it.”
“Yea,” Scootaloo continued, “Protecting us so it could have us all to itself.”
“But no animal is desperate enough to face a manticore head on just for three little fillies,” Sweetie noted. “It just doesn’t seem logical.” Scootaloo’s jaw dropped.
“You too?!”
“Well, Applebloom does seem to have a point.”
“Ok, fine. If you two want to risk getting eaten by a giant snake, count me out. I’m staying right here,” she concluded as she plopped her rump down with a quiet thud. Applebloom rolled her eyes.
“Fine then. Ah guess there’s only one way to find out,” she continued as she started towards the log’s opening.
“Be careful,” Sweetie whispered. Applebloom nodded and poked her head out of the log. She craned her head around the edge to see the snake, but without revealing herself entirely. She looked over the mass of tar-black coils, noticing several severe gashes as she tried to find the snake’s head. After a second of looking, she found it turned to the side. It looked to be large enough to swallow her whole. …and it was staring straight at her.
A frightful chill ran down Applebloom’s back as her gaze met that of the snake’s. After several minutes of still, silent staring Applebloom broke the silence. “H-Hello…” The snake blinked. Applebloom gulped as she gained the courage to speak again.
“Do… do you understand me?” It nodded slowly.
“D-do you want to eat us?” It shook its head ‘no’. “I hope he’s tellin’ the truth,” she thought to herself. Suddenly she remembered the multiple gashes across its body.
“You look hurt. Do you need help?” It blinked again. Applebloom thought to herself quickly. “This snake just saved you; the least you could do is help with its wounds. …but you don’t know how. Hmm…” An idea suddenly popped into her head.
“Fluttershy! She’s good with animals, maybe she can help you!”
Chapter 2: A Friendly Physician
Chapter 2: A Friendly Physician
It was a typical mid-afternoon at Fluttershy’s quaint little cottage. Woodland creatures of various species scurried or flew about the surrounding area while the sun warmed the grass and other plants. The cottage’s equine resident, however, was resting on her favorite couch, enjoying the serene sounds of the animals outside. Between feeding the animals and tending to their other various needs, it had been a particularly busy morning for Fluttershy.
As she lay there, a steady feeling of unease began to grow in her. Soon, she began to notice that the animals outside were getting quiet. Beginning to grow worried, she lifted her head from its place in a soft pillow and looked around. The sound of her animal friends subsided entirely as she looked out to her back yard. She managed to see the last squirrel scamper up the tree in her back yard. Dead silence filled her house as seconds seemed to stretch into minutes.
The sudden knock at her door caused her to jump into the air with a shrill ‘EEP.’ Her wings unfolded instinctively and caught her before she could fall back to the couch. With a few flaps of her wings, she floated over to the front door and landed on the floor with hardly a sound.
“Um, hello?” She asked softly to whoever had knocked. The high pitched, southern accent of Applebloom’s voice cut through the silence in response.
“Hai Miss Fluttershy. It us, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. We, uh… We need your help with an animal we found in the… the woods,” Applebloom continued, choosing her words carefully. “Its cut up somethin’ awful, and we thought we should bring it to you so you could help it.”
Fluttershy felt relieved as she eased the door open and looked down at the three little fillies. She couldn’t help but smile at the picture she saw before her. Their manes and tails were in a jumble and their coats were matted with splotches of mud, as well as a few spots of something red. To most ponies it would look like the three fillies might have been through some great ordeal, but to Fluttershy and anypony else who knew the CMC it looked like just another failed endeavor at achieving their cutie marks.
Fluttershy smiled down at them softly for a moment before realizing that the animal that they must have been speaking about was not with them.
“Um, Girls, where is the animal that you were talking about?”
“Oh, he’s right up there,” Scootaloo said, pointing a hoof up above the doorway. “Come on big fella,’ don’t be shy.”
As the filly finished her sentence a large, jet-black serpent craned its body around from someplace above the door and turned its head to look Fluttershy in the eye. The world seemed to stop as the creature’s eyes locked with her own. She estimated that its head was bigger than either of the three fillies on her doorstep, and that its body was almost as thick as a young tree. Her eyes widened in shock as she cowered beneath the snake’s intimidating appearance. Despite what her brain was screaming, she remained frozen in her place.
The snake paused for a moment before it slowly began moving its head closer to Fluttershy’s terrified face. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away as it drew nearer, expecting the feeling of its massive jaws pressing into her head at any moment.
Much to Fluttershy’s surprise, however, the feeling never came. Instead, she felt something tickle her cheek.
The tickling melted away much of her fearful anticipation, and she was able to open one of her eyes. She could see the serpent’s massive head inches away from her, cocked slightly in curiosity. It flicked its tongue out again, dissolving any remaining fear in Fluttershy as she giggled at the sensation of it tickling her cheek.
When its forked tongue rescinded, Fluttershy opened her other eye and looked the serpent in the eye. For a moment, she thought she even saw it smile.
“See? He aint nuthin but a big ol’ bundle of love,” Applebloom stated, breaking Fluttershy’s concentration and causing the snake to turn its head back around.
“Yea,” Sweetie Belle continued, “A really BIG bundle of love.”
“One that can take down a manticore all on its own,” Scootaloo concluded.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy gasp as she looked back to the snake. “That must be how he got hurt so badly.”
“Yea, but you should’ve seen it! We were being chased by a manticore, and just when we thought we were goners this big ol’ fella’ comes in and rescues us!” Applebloom stated excitedly.
Scootaloo smirked. “Of course, I knew he was on our side the whole time.”
“What? No you didn’t! You were just as scared as we were when he showed up!” Applebloom snapped back.
“Nu-uh.”
“Yea-huh!”
“Nu-uh!”
“Yea-huh!!”
“Girls!” Fluttershy cut in. The two fillies stopped their bickering and turned to the yellow pegasus. “What were you doing in the Everfree Forest again?”
The three fillies looked around nervously for a second or two before Applebloom finally spoke. “We were on our way to Zecora’s, but we accidentally ran into a manticore on the path.”
“Please don’t tell our moms,” Sweetie squeaked.
Fluttershy’s concerned expression remained steadfast for a moment before fading into her usual kind smile. “Alright, I won’t tell them this time.”
The three fillies squealed happily and rushed past the serpent to give Fluttershy a hug. “Oh thank you thank you thank you!” They repeated several times in unison. Fluttershy embraced them with her wings as they continued to hug her.
“I’m just glad you three are alright.”
“Yea, me too,” Scootaloo said as the embrace ended.
“But what about Kenny?”
Fluttershy paused, bewildered by the question. “Who?”
“The snake,” Sweetie replied, “We named him Kenny.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy looked back up to the snake. “What an odd name…”
She contemplated the serpent’s name for a moment before looking back down to the crusaders.
“Alright now, you three go on upstairs and clean yourselves off before you go home.” The three fillies thanked her again before scrambling over to the stairs, arguing over who got to use which towel and other things.
Fluttershy looked to the snake again. “Ok, if you would be so kind as to come inside, I’ll do what I can to help you get to feeling better.”
Kenny flicked his tongue out and tickled her cheek again, causing her to giggle and paw at him with a hoof. Fluttershy took the gesture as a ‘thank you,’ and watched as he brought down the rest of his body from where he had been perched above her door.
Fluttershy noted several deep slashes across Kenny’s body as he slid inside, as well as a place that seemed slightly enlarged. Knowing snakes, it was safe for Fluttershy to presume that he had eaten something rather recently. While the idea made her cringe slightly, it also reassured her that he might not find himself in a position to eat any of the other woodland creatures residing at her home.
Prelude: A Bleak Beginning
A Serpent Situation
Prelude: A Bleak Beginning
It was late evening in the Everfree Forest; the time after the sun had set, but there was still sunlight scattered across the tops of the wild trees. As the diurnal creatures were retreating to their dens and places of rest for the night, the nocturnal creatures were roused from their daily slumber to go out into the dark and feed. However, there was one animal that was neither preparing to sleep nor awaking for nightly activity. It was very lost and, now aware of the coming night, began to grow ever more worried at the predicament it found itself in. This animal, a light yellow pony with a dark yellow mane, was known by most others as Lemon Drop. She lived in a quaint little town by the name of Ponyville, which was just then beginning to grow and prosper. There, she and her twin sister made their living by selling lemons and lemon related products. Their business was growing so well, in fact, that it was beginning to get business proposals from neighboring towns and villages. Unfortunately for Lemon Drop, it was one such proposal that was the cause of her being lost in the Everfree.
She had been overseeing a branch of her business that had been established in the closest town, when she received word from her sister to return to Ponyville Immediately. Apparently some very bad occurrences had been taking place in and around her hometown, and she was needed to help ensure the businesses’ safety. The word was that some kind of horrible creature had begun to terrorize the town, and there were already multiple ponies missing.
After hearing this terrible news, Lemon Drop decided to take the quickest way back to Ponyville; the trail through the Everfree Forest. Her plan seemed like a good one at first, but as more time passed, the more her plan had gone awry. By now she was totally lost, tired, and even a bit scared. She had lost track of the trail hours ago, and was about to give up the hope of finding it when she found a possible escape from her predicament. In the thick of the trees and bushes she had found a small and windy trail about three to four feet wide, just big enough for her to walk along.
About an hour and a half had passed, and now it was growing dusk. Lemon Drop knew that it would be a near impossible task to follow at night time, and soon she found herself bolting down the path as fast as she could. As she ran, the thoughts of the horrible creature raced through her mind. In these thoughts she found one disturbing truth; the fact that such a creature could only live in the Everfree Forest. The very same Everfree Forest she found herself dashing wildly through. The sounds of wild animals could be heard echoing through the trees, seemingly increased in volume by the pony’s fright.
It was growing ever darker now, and Lemon Drop’s fears were becoming a reality. She could barely make out the path now. Her hopes of escaping this nightmare began to grow dimmer now, and so did what little light was left. But just as she was about to give up all hope, she saw a slight twinkle of light through the trees.
Could it be?
Could it possibly be?
Yes, it had to be!
It was her sweet home of Ponyville that Lemon Drop saw through the thick forest now. Hope and strength were rekindled by this discovery, as she lost track of where she was putting her hooves for just an instant. That was all the time it took for her to miss the obstacle in her way and trip over it, resulting in a very hard fall to the ground. As she looked back to see what had tripped her, all she saw was a long and slender object lying across the pathway that looked to be about three feet thick. Being so dark, she couldn’t make out any details; assuming there were any details at all. But her attention was drawn away from the mysterious thing as she heard rustling in a nearby bush. Lemon darted her eyes back and forth around her to see what, if anything, was causing the noise. However, when her eyes finally fell back to where the object was supposed to be, it was gone. Whatever it was that Lemon Drop had tripped over was no longer in the path.
Scared senseless now, Lemon Drop tried to pick herself up off the ground as fast as possible and make a mad dash for the lights past the trees. As she ran, however, she became aware of a very loud noise following her. The terror of being chased by the creature she had heard of was too much for her. By the sounds of rustling bushes and snapping twigs behind her growing louder now, it was obviously catching up. Lemon could now see that she was almost to the edge of the forest. All she had to do was make it to the edge of the tree line, and she would be safe…
Too late.
Lemon didn’t even get a chance to yell before she felt an unnaturally powerful set of jaws clamp down on her neck as a long, smooth form could be felt wrapping itself tightly around her body. She began to hyperventilate as both the jaws and coils steadily grew tighter and tighter. No matter how much she tried to struggle, there was no escape. Soon breathing was hindered from her lungs being crushed. The jaw clamped harder at her neck, preventing any air from making it to her lungs. All she could do now was lay there, caught in the coils of this creature, and slowly have the life crushed out of her body.
And to think, she had almost made it…
The darkness of not only the night, but of death as well, consumed Lemon Drop as she breathed out her dying breath.
In an overhanging tree, a very young serpent watched as its mother slowly crushed her victim’s body until it was limp and lifeless. It found itself very uncomfortable watching its mother heartlessly kill this helpless creature. But, in a way, it was his fault the animal was dead now. He had refused to claim the life of another animal earlier, and his mother was now showing him how to survive in the world. Every step of survival, even the slaughter of innocent beings for food. This thought tossed and turned in his mind as another thought harshly made battle with it. How could he be feeling remorse for these animals? It went against all of his natural instincts, and yet he continued to feel sorrow for the victims. It just wasn’t natural!
He winced as his mother began to swallow her freshly killed meal. The sound of its bones cracking as its body was compressed to fit the large serpent was sickening to her offspring. He thought back to when he had sworn to himself never kill such creatures, but inside he knew that one day he would eventually have to if he was to survive.
It was, after all, the natural way of things.
