Risk Of Epic

The sky remained a gloomy red, space debris continuing to rain down upon Equestria. Most of the meteorites burned up, long before reaching the surface of the planet. But there were those few ones, that despite their tiny size, managed to make it to the planet, more or less intact. This was not by mistake, for their true nature was disguised among the frequent meteor showers.

An oblong metal pod fell at unfathomably high speeds, the hull glowing orange as it streaked downwards ever closer to the ground. Within seconds, it broke through the cloud cover, tearing a hole where it has passed through. The pod almost seemed to set the air around it alight it was moving so fast. The atmosphere grated against the exterior, trying to slow it down, but to no avail.

The capsule smashed into the ground, sending up dust and rock all around, before it began to sink. It had landed in the waters of a murky bog, the serene water cascading up into the air in fountains when the pod had made contact. Servo arms scrambled out of the ports of the pod, trying to cool it down with liquid nitrogen. One such arm got snagged on a branch, the weight of the beat up, sinking pod ripping it off as it sunk. The other three arms quickly sprayed the hull of the vehicle, freezing it in ice, along with the water immediatley surrounding it.

The entombed shell sunk to the bottom of the bog, arms retracting inwards. The pod sat still for several moments, nothing happening as the ice began to ever so slowly dissolve. But then, a beam of cerulean energy ripped through the side of the pod, gouging the hull open, and shattering the ice.

A decidedly female figure burst through the opening, water flooding the pod. She initially was thrown back against the interior of the vehicle from the force of the water, but once it had filled completely with liquid, she was able to force herself out of the opening. Clutching a glowing cerulean compound bow, she swam to the surface of the bog, the thick and dirty water smudging itself onto the curved and semi-form fitting plates of her armor.

With a final stroke, the Huntress thrust her head out of the water, her red helmet slick with the muddy waters of the bog. Scanning the area for shore, she hurriedly pulled herself onto land, the tall grass embracing her battered body. She collapsed onto the grass, still sopping wet. Checking her red and grey armor plates, she set down her bow for a moment checking the scanner in her gauntlet.

The device was scratched and worn, but it was sufficient for the task. It displayed a readout of any potentially threatening biological lifeforms within 1000 meter radius, and oh boy was it lit up like a christmas tree. A splotch of orange tint, normally relegated to defining enemies took up a good chunk of the screen. Her scanner was always malfunctioning, so the Huntress just glossed over the dot. The Huntress sighed, cursing her luck before looking into the murky waters of the lake.

Considering going back for more of her gear inside the wrecked pod, she elected to simply meet up with the Commando as soon as possible. Jumping to her feet, a bit of muck still staining her black jumpsuit, she looked eagerly into the treeline. That's when the scanner let out a high pitched whine.

She looked down at it, quickly grabbing her bow, the scuffed screen reading: IMMINENT THREAT DETECTED. Suddenly the waters of the bog violently exploded upwards, the mass of water being thrown up splattering the Huntress. She observed the surfacing creature angrily, taking her stance, and conjuring an energy arrow the same eery color as her bow into existence.

Four serpentine heads rose out of the water, each one eyeing the humanoid with malicious intent. The jaws of the beasts oozed saliva, as row after row of sword like teeth prepared to grind their new meal to a pulp. The hydra, covered in filthy muck, prepared to strike, each head rearing back in unison.

An energy arrow flew through the air as it did so, spiraling straight into the eye of one of the heads. The arrow seared the flesh around the socket, as the jelly of the eye was vaporized. The arrow didn't stop there though, piercing right through the skull of the head, shattering bone easily, and eviscerating the brain inside. The gray matter and cranial juices shriveled and evaporated from the intensity of the arrow, which had finally lodged itself in the back end of the skull before disintegrating into nothingness.

Howling in utter agony, the beast reeled backwards, nearly falling back into the swamp. But just as quickly as the destruction had been wrought, the creature's wounds began to repair themselves, the eye mending itself, while the flesh grew back into place. With a look of burning desire in their eyes, the heads snapped their maws , in an attempt to frighten the Huntress. She wasn't buying it.

With a sudden lunge, two of the heads thrust themselves at either side of the Huntress, hoping to catch her in the crossfire of two mouths filled with teeth that thirsted for blood. At the last second, she leaped backwards in an arc hanging in the air for a second or two, the pair of heads slamming into each other, dislocating the jaw of one, and tearing the flesh of the other. Blood dripped from the face of the creature, even as the beast began to regenerate and snap the jaw back into place.

The huntress let loose a volley of arrows, each one hitting with deadly accuracy. Two arrows were fired at each head, and invariably each arrow gouged the eyes of each face out. With the smell of burning flesh and cauterized blood reaching the Huntress, she knew it was time for the killing blow as each head lay limp, the long necks of them dangling awkwardly as the behemoth tried to heal itself.

She had seen creatures similar to this one in her travels, and with a flash of bright blue light, she was suddenly atop a tree behind the creature, the vulnerable necks in full view. Gripping her bow in one hand, she grabbed a small disc from her belt, clicking a button in the center as energy sheathed blades sprung outwards.

Homing in on the best point of impact, the Huntress prepared to throw the laser glaive, her arm coiled back, ready to let loose. With a display of astounding power, she hurled the glaive to the right of the outermost right neck, the glaive curving in an arc, spinning straight towards the easy target.

The blades shredded the neck tissue easily, breaking bones without pause, before slicing through the neck completely. Not ceasing, the laser glaive continued to shred through each neck, torrents of blood spewing from the stumps. The water around the hydra began to take on the same shade of red as its blood, the severed heads splashing into the water, sinking.

Curving back around and completing its circular flight path, The Huntress held up her right hand in anticipation. The device's blades retracted, as it landed gently in the owner's hand before she clipped it back onto her belt. Not wasting any time, she drew her bow once again, pointing it towards the base of the necks, where they all joined the body. The flesh had begun to reform, slowly getting longer, but the Huntress was anticipating this.

Snatching a small metal arrow off her belt, she notched the top heavy arrow into her bow, making sure she wouldn't miss. With assurance of hitting, she released the arrow as it barreled towards the beast. In midair, the front of the bulky arrow exploded off, revealing a titanium tip with a small cylindrical bulge behind it. It penetrated deep into the flesh of the base of all the necks, imbedding itself tightly in the sinews and flesh.

The Huntress slung her bow over her back, and in another flash of bright light appeared where she had been earlier on the shore of the bog. She turned away from the creature, walking calmly away from it as the first two heads took shape, regaining motor control. The heads shot the back of her helmet a look that could kill, the snarling mouths of the enraged hydra ready for a revenge they'd never see.

The arrow exploded in a burst of blue energy, incinerating the hydra from within, and utterly hollowing out the insides of the creature, spirit fire engulfing the organs. All of this happened in a split second, the beast thrashing for a moment before limply sliding back into the water. The Huntress didn't pay the beast any mind, not even glancing at the awesome power of the explosion.

She simply walked into the forest nonchalantly, the corpse of the hydra touching the cold floor of the bog's depths. Checking her scanner while heating her armor up a bit to cleanse any filth that still remained attached, she shook it a little. The screen still read: IMMINENT THREAT DETECTED. Frustrated, she rebooted it, but the message still remained.

The orange splotch on the normally black screen only furthered her belief that it was on the fritz again, but as she walked through the forest, a vibration shook the ground. She stopped for a moment, analyzing her scanner as another wave of shocking rocked the ground beneath her her feet. She had been so blind, not even paying the orange tint taking up a fourth of the screen any mind until now.

She readied herself, clutching her glaive in one hand tightly. The orange tint wasn't an indication of faulty technology, oh no it was something much, much worse. Another shock wave rattling her, the Huntress tried not to believe the scanner's reading, telling her that there was a threat of immense size extremely close to her.

Gathering herself, she attempted to push the memories of "The Planet" out of her mind, engaging her teleporter, and blinking instantly atop a tree to get a better view. She shut her eyes when she saw the behemoth, trying to believe it was just a dream, a bad case of PTSD. But as it reached down into the forest canopy, prying the trees apart, the Huntress' eyes bolted open.

She reminded herself that she'd defeated it once, and she wasn't about to lose. She stared up at the side Colossus' head that was arched slightly downward. It was looking at something through the hole in the forest canopy it had made. Sensing the opportunity for the first strike, she began to draw another hefty metal arrow from her belt, but she stopped before she could.

Back when the Huntress had defeated the Colossus, it was only with the aid of the rest of her team, and even then, not everyone made it back. Hesitantly, she plucked the arrow off her belt, trying to convince herself to shoot it. Willing herself to notch to arrow on her bow, she aimed carefully, taking her time, trying to pick out the golem's weakest spot.

A passing flock of birds disrupted her aim, but not for long, as she decided on the spot. Still unsure of what to do, she looked around, frantically searching for any trace of her team. With a sigh of frustration, she steeled herself for the battle ahead.

"Ain't no cavalry comin' big guy, just you, and me," she said nervously. "The way I like it ..."

She lied.