De Umbris et Astris

It had started off like any other day in Ponyville. With Celestia’s bright sun beginning to climb over the hills adorning the horizon, the townsponies woke up and began to follow their routines. Ignorant of last night’s troubles, some could be seen going out to the market; others went to work; small groups of foals mingled to decide on new adventures to get lost in. Yet the innocence of the scene was interrupted by loud stomping noises, still far away from town, but close enough to make the ground tremble slightly. The realisation that the suspicious noise was coming closer worried the ponies; its cause still remained unknown.

Quickly parents gathered their foals to make a run for their houses, and a group of adults assembled in the middle of the town, each shooting worried glances at one another and the direction of the sound. Suddenly a scream pierced the sky and in the blink of an eye, a green pegasus with a tower as his cutie mark shot through the clouds and landed in the crowd. Gasping for air he only was able to utter the word hydra before shock and exhaustion caused him to faint.

Upon hearing this, the surrounding ponies broke out in panic. All of a sudden the entire crowd was scurrying around, looking for a safe hideout. In their haste ponies bumped into one another, adding angry yells to the cacophony. It didn’t take long until the heavy steps came to a halt, a premonition of the gigantic creature’s arrival at the border of the town.

Some had run to the big tree in the middle of the town, trying to get its inhabitant, the alicorn Twilight Sparkle to help out with the situation. A few started calling for help while the others were hammering at the door until it broke, revealing the cold interior. At that unfamiliar sight the intruders were painfully reminded that their saviour was still staying in Canterlot with her friends. Thus rendered helpless, the small group split up again and joined the masses that fled the town. The faces of the once happy ponies were clad in masks of fear and terror; some tried to take their most precious belongings with them only to be pulled away by the more reasonable ones, leaving behind a trail of random objects.

A loud crack resounded through the town when the monstrous abomination of nature broke through the first wooden houses. Having five long snake-like heads, it indeed seemed to be a hydra, but only on first glimpse. A closer look revealed that the heads were crowned by lion’s manes, while the tail was a snake as well, making it look rather like a distorted chimera.

With a quick motion the tail threw a ball of flaming lava into a random building, obliterating it and setting nearby houses on fire.

Screams of terror came from outside the village, the streets now wiped clean; safe for one pony who had appeared in a bright flash of teleportation.

The cerulean unicorn took a quick look around to get some orientation, still being a little dizzy from her entrance. Why did it have to take me so long to get here, she thought as she began to make out the cause of the disaster. The beast wasn’t too far away from her and after positioning herself she fired a bright yellow beam of magic at it. Noticing the assault the beast turned around to see who dared interrupt its fun. Upon seeing the ineffectiveness of her spell the mare jumped out of sight behind a building, feeling moderately save for the moment. Now how am I gonna do this…?  I wasn’t exactly trained to defeat monsters that shouldn’t even exist in this world. Oh shoot! She thought and made a run for the next house as her previous cover was obliterated in an explosion.  If only I had more time to consider some options… well improvisation it is, with that thought she jumped out of cover and, instead of going for a large magic blast again, she channelled the same amount of force into a thin laser pointed right at the beast’s necks. A shrill sound and the scent of burned air spread through the town; the focused attack elicited a high pitched scream from the creature, which had lost three of its five heads in the process, each meeting the ground with a loud thump. From the stumps dropped a boiling green slime which fell on a particularly expensive sofa somepony had tried to evacuate. The fragile furniture immediately began to dissolve, leaving behind only a puddle.

Well that seems to have worked quite well; time to deal with the last two… She had barely finished the thought as the chimera’s body began to twitch. Each tremble made its way to the spots where the former heads resided, creating an ever-growing bulge. Now this is unfortunate, she thought as six necks with heads on top formed on the old one’s remains. With a quick motion of her head she teleported away from the open spot and now found herself at a safe distance from the now eight headed thing.

The trembling in her legs slowly reminded her of her exhaustion which now spread throughout her body; her mind went dark for a second as she tried to think of something that she could do in her state. Let’s recapture what we now so far… So every time I cut off one of its heads two new ones appear. Furthermore the “blood” or whatever it is has a highly toxic quality so I better not touch it. Why can’t this be easier…There’s only one thing that I can do now.

Meanwhile the chimera had made its way to the school’s playground and started to demolish it. The unicorn slowly approached the building from the other side and with as little power as possible she teleported on top of the building, nearly exposing herself. She once again got into a stable stance and started focusing every drop of magic left in her body into her horn, never losing sight of the beast. The yellow glow slowly intensified, engulfing her body, and with a loud thunder a beam of pure light erupted from her and buried itself beneath the gigantic chimera. The ground began to shake as suddenly a circle made of the same light formed on the ground; more and more mysterious glyphs added into a complex formation. Upon completion the circle rose from the ground to the height of the chimera’s shoulders.

The sudden display of power would have caused the chimera to retreat if it wasn’t for the invisible bindings immobilizing it. The beast trembled in fear in prospect of the awaiting fate, throwing its heads around and shooting a series of fire balls from its tail. The circle wasn’t to be penetrated by such weak actions; the fire was simply stopped by a containment field.

The beam of light which had begun to falter became brighter once again, lifting up the chimera and causing the circle to turn. With a last immense effort, the circle began to form a sphere around its host and gradually shrank into nothingness, leaving behind nothing but the destruction the attack had caused.

The unicorn on the roof gave a weak smile and used the rest of her strength to get down to the ground again. She felt her mind fading at an alarming rate and during her last moment of consciousness she saw a golden carriage on the horizon before she fell into a deep dark slumber.