Episode 221: Primal Instinct

Hot flows of raw pain threatened to drown out Spike’s consciousness. He flailed, without limbs, without body, in a churning froth of agonized sensation. There was the pressure of motion, even if he couldn’t tell where, and all he could do was struggle to keep his thoughts together, to focus on the singular notion that he had to endure this so that he might be able to help his friends. It was no easy task, every moment stretching out to an unknowable length, all of it filled with a feeling like his very blood was cooking in his skin, while he lacked even a throat to scream with. Soon enough, the only thing that he could think of to focus on was the image of Twilight he kept in his mind; his most treasured memory.

Cold and hunger, paws hurting, fear making his tiny heart beat swiftly as he shivered under a car for shelter. No notion of family. No memory of parents save the most fleeting scrap of a mere memory of warmth, then just the cold, starving wandering of streets. It was all dark, and he thought of sleeping forever in the cold. But then he’d gotten warm, so very warm, and all he could do was blink at a face of wide, sparkling eyes hidden behind wide glasses. Held in arms that were themselves small, a young girl in glasses picked him up and warmed him as she wrapped a winter scarf around his small body.

Spike didn’t have words then, but a dog knows a loving home when one has found him. Instinct was more than enough to guide him along, growing and learning and ever following the girl who gave him that home. There was nothing he would not do for her, or those she cared about.

Compared to that image, the pain he was enduring was itself soon to be just another memory.

Memory...

Spike was no longer in his own body. He felt tall, strong. His fur was black as the night sky above. Around him, a field of ice upon a cold, dark shore. The ocean beyond broiled with waves and flashes of otherworldly light. The sky thundered with clouds and lightning, the wind howling with the ferocity of warring gods. Spike stood against it all with an iron stoutness, and felt his hackles rise, his throat rumbling in a deep growl. In the darkness of the frothing ocean his eyes, like two yellow torches, could see clearly the battle of titans.

A serpent, its long, sinuous body so vast its coils looped over and over again through the waves like individual islands, snapped jaws as large as ocean liners upon the shoulder and arm of a gargantuan draconic foe nearly as large. The sea serpent’s scales flashed a lighter blue upon its dark blue hide, showing countless finned ridges breathing with coils of lightning thicker than trees. The storm born might burst through the serpent’s jaws and into the body of the draconic foe, who roared and fell back, scraping mighty claws that shattered the air upon impact with the serpent, knocking it in turn from the dragon.

The dragon’s own body was a long, powerful form, like some ancient and mountainous snake given legendary proportions and covered in dark, ridged armor and scales, bearing many limbs of thick claws. Its head opened jaws that rivaled the serpent’s, and from it dark purple flame erupted in a destructive torrent. In response the immense sea serpent expelled a thousand storms of lightning from its jaws, flame and electricity mixing unnaturally between the battling pair and an explosion so vast and bright that Spike had to turn his head away even as the frost coated land beneath his paws heaved.

“They’ll destroy half of Nifliheim’s coast at this rate,” said a female wolf beside Spike, dark as he was, only slightly slimmer in build, her eyes blue moonlit jewels in the darkness. “But I still place my bet upon Leviathan conquering our upstart sibling.”

Spike found himself speaking without thought, the body he was in acting as if he were but a passenger within it as massive black paws clenched the earth, gouging it beneath him, “You have never held much love for Jormungandr, have you, sister?”

The she-wolf growled deep, spitting to the side, and unusually human gesture in Spike’s eyes. “And you do? He has ever been a humorless, dour one, who listens to no one. We both warned him against this course, and still he would make war upon his High Chieftain, all so that he may pursue a most foolish quest.”

Upon the sea the storm of flame and lightning parted as the dragon, with vast beats of his powerful wings, propelled himself into the bulk of the sea serpent. Jormungandr clawed and bit upon the larger Leviathan with blows that would shatter castles and bring low great fortresses. Rivers of blood flowed from blue scales, but still Leviathan had the power to retaliate, wrapping Jormungandr’s body up with his own insanely large bulk and sinking his own jaws into the dragon’s neck. The two rolled over in deadly embrace, both vanishing in a tsunami of water beneath the waves. The water flashed and boiled with the intensity of the battle continuing in the depths, and Spike found himself sighing.

“Jormungandr truly believes the Soul Queen’s surviving children have defiled Yggdrasil. You have seen the changes Glory herself has wrought. I do not fully trust her word that there will be no long term repercussions...”

“The pact between us needed to be sealed, Fenrir. We lost too much getting involved in their squabble, and you know Tirek, had he won, would not have stopped his conquest with Midgard. Glory has kept her word and not allowed any to set foot upon our realm without invitation. Yggdrasil is eternal, brother. Ragnarok is a fool’s notion.”

A rumble vibrated deep in Spike’s gut, “Bold words, Fenris. There are many that believe in it, as Jormungandr does. It is how he gained enough support to openly challenge Leviathan like this. If he wins, he’ll have enough to muster an army to face our Tribe and the Tribe of the Sky.”

“He would be stopped,” Fenris replied with utter confidence, “We will stop him, together, dear brother. You may sympathize with that ice-brained dragon, but you would never let him tear down Yggdrasil.”

“No...” Fenrir said, Spike’s own mind sinking deeper into the wolf lord’s memories, “No, I would not. But I worry... about Hel...”

Once more Spike felt the drowning rush of pain as he was carried away, but this time he was even more focused, his mind able to claw and drag at the current as if he was keeping his head above the proverbial waters. This was Fenrir’s memories. His memories. Of the war Jormungandr began so long ago, just after all of those god-like children of the Soul Queen had their own apocalyptic spat. Spike had only heard a bit about it from Twilight, but he lacked a lot of context. So Glory, that crazy Zero Division lady, really had done something to Yggdrasil? And the Beast Realm Tribes had let her, in exchange for some kind of pact. Jormungandr had clearly disagreed... vehemently. Enough to kill Leviathan and make war on the rest of the Beast Realm.

And I, Fenrir, fought him alongside my sister. We were siblings, me, her, Jormungandr, and...

Smoke and flame painted the air like oil upon a canvas. Blood matting his fur and dripping from his claws, Fenrir strode across a mountain slope chocked thick with corpses. The dead came in every shape, from mighty bears as big as buildings, to packs of wolves roasted to the bone. The buzzing, chitinous forms of thousands of Alfar filled the air even as the insectile fey’s dead made carpets on the golden slopes. Burning feathers rained from the sky, as every avian and skyborn being who still fought in the burning skies fell to dot the landscape. Dragons roared, bled, and died in the hundreds, some corpses so large they were like spiked ridges bleeding waterfalls of crimson.

Somewhere above, the Golden City was on fire, the boughs of the World Tree Yggdrasil charring from the conflagration that mightily consumed. Yet Fenrir knew that Yggdrasil would live this day. For all the blood, all the bodies, all the sacrifice, Jormungandr’s army was breaking. Most, be they dragon, troll, giants, or any number of Beasts from a hundred traitor Clans, were already in retreat. The unnatural rivers that had been summoned forth to bring forward the Tribe of Sea’s oceanic might were already receding, leaving embankments of dead serpents, sea predators, and crustaceans. The dragons still in the sky were falling back, roaring in despair at having come so close to their goal, but been denied.

The only one left still truly fighting was Jormungandr himself, and a handful of his elite Einherjar. Fenrir knew Fenris was at the gates of the city, still battling with several of them, while Quetzalcoatl was commanding her forces from the sky to keep the bulk of the dragons in route. He had pursued Jormungandr when the dragon had fallen down the slope. His intention was to end this matter before Jormungandr could rally his forces and regroup them for another push.

Past mounds of the fallen, Fenrir leapt with great bounds down the slope, the shadowed roots of Yggdrasil piercing the mountain around him like great fingers. He could smell Jormungandr’s blood thick in the air, and did not need to see through the fog of flame smoke to know his foe and kin were dead ahead. Rather than pounce through that smoke, he cleared it, bellowing forth a mighty Howl of his Anima in a silver sheen. His voice pierced the air in the most literal sense, bright silvery Anima flowing off of his fur and from his howl into a great gleaming wind sharper than any blade forged by even the great Dwarves of Svartalfheim. The immense dark fog of smoke cleared as if cleaved by a singular towering sword, and from its parting was revealed the enormity of the new High Chieftain of the Tribe of Sea.

Jormungandr rose from the slope, body awash with so many wounds his black scales glinted red with blood from end to end. Yet proud strength still pulsed in every muscle of that roiled and rippled from the dragon’s movements, his claws slamming the ground and his Anima pulsing forth in a dark violet wave of conjured scales. Fenrir’s Howl of biting silver wind collided with the wall of scales, cracking with an impact that split the mountain slope further, generating a growing gulf between him and Jormungandr that Fenrir bounded over like a soaring raven in a single leap.

Jormungandr whirled his body around, his physical tail a hurricane of destruction supported by the conjuration of several more Anima tails that coiled together as one. Fenrir howled again, wrapping himself in hardened silver wind that redirected the titanic force of Jormungandr’s blow and only served to knocked Fenrir higher into the air before another hard howl of wind propelled him down with claws sinking into his brother's snout. Fenrir was nowhere near Jormungandr’s size, but the clash of their Anima’s was as equals as Fenrir’s claws, wrapped in gleaming wind blades, tore, and Jormungandr’s eyes blazed hot as he shook his head to dislodge Fenrir in a swipe that sent the wolf flying into the mountain with an impact that bent bone.

Roaring with such intensity it made nearby boulders split, Jormungandr slammed a talon down on Fenrir, trying ot pin the wolf lord down, his voice echoing from every cliff and crag, “Must you make the world wait to die, brother!? Must Yggdrasil suffer for the perversions of the Soul Queen’s children!?”

Fenrir sucked in a breath, his Anima echoing through him in a storm gust as he howled once more and poured that sharp wind into a singular cut along Jormungandr’s talon, scales splitting like severed rope, blood spurting forth in great gouts. He clawed himself free of his brother’s talon and jumped up, aiming jaws to Jormungandr’s throat, growling all the while, “Yggdrasil is not so weak as to perish on any other’s whim! Ragnarok will come on its own, natural time, not when you decide! Cease your madness and return to Niflheim, or stay and force me to send your spirit to Yggdrasil’s roots myself!”

He almost got his jaws around Jormungandr’s throat, but the dragon’s Anima was nothing if not potently versatile beyond any Fenrir had encountered before. A cavalcade of claws from a dozen different species emerged from the base of Jormungandr’s throat, purple light flashing in a thousand instant slashes that Fenrir could barely dodge of block with gusts of his own Anima, and he felt the tearing at his hide from all directions. Only with a cutting cyclone of silver wind did he slice through the claws and leap away, landing some distance from Jormungandr, who gazed at him with infuriating pity.

“I may lose this day, Fenrir. I know my army is failing. Even if I am to slay all of you by my own claw, I will fall to the numbers of the combined Tribes of Land and Sky before I can put Yggdrasil out of its misery.”

“Then why continue to fight, brother? Surrender and be done with this.”

Jormungandr lowered his head, but not in a bow of surrender, but to meet Fenrir’s gaze on an even level as his snarling lips pulled back in a sad yet somehow still mocking grin, “The Midgardians have an amusing saying, Fenrir. Our shared father taught it to me, long ago. Something along the lines of there being many ways to skin a cat. I’ve never tried to skin a cat, so I confess I can’t confirm the saying’s veracity, but it did make me think I should have more than one plan in mind, should this war go against me.”

He raised a claw and carved a rune circle in the stone slope, pouring Anima into it. Fenrir recognized the runes of a portal circle, and blinked in surprise as the flickers of purple flame filling the runes burst forth to conjure an occupant, teleported from elsewhere. She was dirty and pale, as if she hadn’t been allowed sunlight in ages, and her dark green hair was twisted and frayed. The black robes she wore were equally tattered, and while her tall frame still had an element of her deific strength, much of that was tarnished by the wild fear in her eyes as she looked around.

“Hel?” Fenrir gasped, having not seen his half-sister since the worst of the war between the Soul Queen’s children. He knew she had been a supporter of Glory’s, but had heard nothing from her since the war’s end.

She met his eyes, her own shock at seeing him clear, but in that same moment he heard her shouting in warning, “Fenrir, no! It’s a distraction!”

His own instincts, powerful and honed, had already had him moving before she’d even opened her mouth. But in this one instance his instincts had been a fraction of an instant too late. Jormungandr had moved first, and faster. In the end, it was his Anima that was the deciding factor, able to take on other aspects at will, becoming the type most suitable to countering Fenrir’s Howl by forming into a field of Venom-type Anima that had been infecting the entire slope since their first clash. Fenrir’s howl of conjured wind blades to protect himself as he leaped back was pierced by a thousand draconic talons that rose from the ground like a field of impaling spikes. Each talon dripped with the corrosive quality typical of Venom Anima, reducing the potency of Fenrir’s Howl infused silver winds. He still shattered many of the deadly, purple talons, but the ground heaved under him, exploding upwards in chunks that revealed more cutting claws of fierce Venom-type Anima, which rapidly pierced through and overcame the storm of cutting winds around him.

It wouldn’t have worked so effectively had Fenrir not been momentarily distracted. Even with the type advantage, Jormungandr wouldn’t have been quick enough to catch Fenrir with that many blows. But Fenrir knew he was fatally wounded by now, his body pierced almost every inch over by wounds that bled a dark stream onto the mountain slope. Yet even so, he moved to try and retaliate, coughing blood as he howled and formed the gleaming silver wind into a bolt to try and pierce his brother’s heart. Through a haze of blood he almost saw it work, saw the swirling bolt of Anima infused wind impale Jormungandr’s shoulder, the dragon having sacrificed a claw to deflect the bolt just enough to miss his heart.

Clouds parted for miles beyond where the bolt still flew after leaving a five meter hole in Jormungandr’s shoulder.

His strength spent, Fenrir was unable to dodge as Jormungandr’ grasped him in another claw, hauling him up while he used another of his many limbs to grab Hel, who struggled in seeming futility. Fenrir looked at Jormungandr’s cavernous jaws, but Jormungandr just breathed out a seemingly tired laugh, “Do not fear. I will not consume you as I have so many others, despite how potent your Anima is. I respect you just enough to leave your body for Fenris to find. Just know that it will be our little family that still ends Yggdrasil. Hel here will help me, to atone for her own part in poisoning our World Tree.”

“I don’t want this... I don’t want this...” Hel was saying, shaking her head, “Jormungandr, I thought Glory was fixing things. Protecting everyone. I wanted to help, to be... the one who kept all of you safe.”

“Oooh, poor, poor little sister,” Jormungandr made a soft shushing noise as he gazed pitilessly at her, “You will. But for that to happen, you have to suffer. Beginning with watching our brother die.”

Fenrir felt Jormungandr’s claws squeeze down on him, crushing with their immense weight and power, like being smothered by all the mountains of Jotunheim. He heard Hel scream and plead, but he could not speak for the air being crushed from his lungs. All he could do was meet her crying gaze, and manage a small smile, hoping to remind her to be strong, and that death was never truly the end.

Then, a sensation of all being cracked at once, pain, a flash, nothingness.

Spike. He was still Spike, in the throbbing avalanche of memory. Fenrir’s death was like a tar he was drowning in, while in his heart something was beating fiercely like a caged beast clawing at his heart. If he couldn’t contain it, if he couldn’t swim back to the surface of consciousness, he instinctively knew he’d be consumed by whatever was awakening in him.

So Spike fought, clawing and pawing at the void.

Rainbow Dash ran, swift as her legs could carry her. So much fear chewed at her heart she wasn’t questioning why she didn’t fly, or why no matter how much lightning born speed she used to zip through the dense jungle, the towering dark growth of trees and vines only ever seemed to continue closing in on her. She could hear the rustle of the brush behind her, the gliding rush of fur on leaves, and knew the panther was chasing her, somehow fast as she was, if not even faster.

As she ran, the tableau of shadows filling the jungle around her seemed to bleed into scenes and images, imprinting on the retinas of her mind as they flashed by.

The first struggles against the Hollows, her wings first blooming in thunder, yet unable to so much as mark Grogar’s skin in their first confrontation with the Espada, forcing Adagio to sacrifice herself so that the rest of them could escape. The intense and losing clash with Hurricane and his Bankai, treating them all like children, Fluttershy’s blood coating the ground as Rainbow Dash was powerless against those immense winds. Battling her mother in the skies, barely able to keep pace with the woman she’d born such a long held resentment for, and was even then forced to confront the possibility her mother had her reasons to do as she had. Even then, in the triumph of completing her Fullbring, Rainbow Dash could see herself falling short of her mother, let alone being able to stop Starlight Glimmer.

She shook her head as she ran faster and faster, branches scraping her as she moved through the jungle, yet the harder she tried to run, the faster she tired to move, the more it felt like the panther’s breath was getting closer, warm and hungry on her neck. And still the shadows of the jungle taunted her, twisting every contribution or victory into a failing, just another instance of the “awesome” Rainbow Dash coming up short and her friends having to carry her weight.

The hydra at Everfree, only beaten and driven off with Applejack’s help, while the rest of her friends fought mightier foes. Even against Gaia, had she brought anything of value to the table? Could the girls had managed without her? Even as she mentally tried to deny it, she saw the image of Rarity’s soul chain, proof of her friend paying with her own life the deficit of Rainbow Dash’s lack of ability.

I should have been there and I wasn’t. I should be stronger, but I’m not. I’m scared. I’m scared of failing them all again and again. I can’t trust myself.

She saw her Aunt Windy, someone she thought she could trust to look after her dad in the absence of her selfish mother. Yet another failing, misplacing trust. Another swing and a miss for Rainbow Dash. Even here, in the Beast Realm, her contribution was to cause her friends more trouble. She saw herself trapped in the webs of the troglodytes, needing to be saved. She saw herself failing to grasp Sonata’s ability and coughing up blood from her lungs as ice tore them from within.

Even now she somehow knew her friends were protecting her while she lay there like a useless lump. Easy prey, dragging down the rest of the pack.

She felt the impact from behind, felt claws rake her back. The armor of her Fullbring took the brunt of it, but Dash still felt warm, wet pain from cuts on her shoulder as she went rolling across the damp jungle ground. She threw herself up, barely dodging the slicing form of the dark furred panther that slashed past her. Breathing hard and ragged, Rainbow scrambled to her feet, backing away as the panther wheeled about and stalked towards her, its eyes shining like fresh blood. It’s growl took on words, meaning that pierced Rainbow’s mind.

Weak prey. Unworthy. Easily run down. Disappointing.

“Sc...Screw you!” Rainbow Dash said, raising her double-spear, which crackled with electric sparks that seemed weaker than they should, as if her will couldn’t ignite them to their usual stormy blaze. She jabbed at the panther, but it easily glided out of the way like a blink of pure shadow, and continued to stalk around her, its voice scratching at her mind and heart.

Nothing but fear. Reeking of doubt. No fight left. An easy kill.

The words hurt more than the sting of the panther’s claws, and Rainbow Dash yelled wordlessly as she charged, trying to prove the beast wrong. She swung her spear, cutting cobalt streaks of lightning at it. It wove through the blows, leaping close and clamping teeth around her left ankle, yanking her off her feet. Dash shouted in pain as she fell, and for a moment she grasped a flash of instinct, a hot rush of pure desire to survive making her body light up in indigo bursts of electricity.

The panther growled as it let go of her, darting out of the way as Rainbow’s wings flared and fired a twin blast of prismatic light through the jungle depths. With only slightly more caution did the panther circle her, looking for an opening as Rainbow Dash hopped to her feet, her left ankle torn and bloody.

“Not such... easy prey now, huh?” she said past clenched teeth, “I... I won’t go down without a fight! I don’t care if I’m weaker than everyone else, or whatever! Rainbow Dash doesn’t quit, you hear me, kitty-cat!?”

The panther’s growl rumbled forth, hungry, but almost carrying a note of approval.

Good. Prey tastes better after a struggle.

With that, the panther rushed her once more, faster than liquid darkness made of claws and teeth.

Spike’s struggles brought him to the shore of another memory, or at least he thought it might be a memory. A full moon hung high over a gorgeous meadow of white flowers, all glittering silver from the moon’s light. Mountains ranged all over, like white capped waves on a frozen ocean. In the great distance was the golden glitter of a tree, so large it coated the clouds with the light reflecting off of its leaves.

He saw a pack of wolves lounging in the meadow, cubs playing on the fringes. He recognized two of the cubs by their dark fur, Fenrir and Fenris. There was a young girl with them, watching the two cubs chase each other while making a wreath from the flowers. Another figure was nearby, using a rocky outcropping as a bed, dark scales rising and falling in lazy sleep, smoke pouring occasionally from his draconic snout.

The two wolf pups in their playful chase ended up bounding towards the sleeping dragon, using his snout as a springboard as they clambered up his scaled back, running along the spiked ridges as they tumbled into one another. The dragon snorted, opening one eye to watch the cubs, who both wrestled on his body before falling off and sliding down his wings.

“Come, brother, play with us!” said the young male cub.

“Can I not enjoy a quiet snooze for at least an hour?” the dragon said past a yawn, while the female cub swatted at his snout with a paw.

“Not when you’re visiting us! We don’t get to see you at all anymore.”

“Lord Leviathan keeps me busy. Even a young drake like myself has no shortage of work to do, especially with shoring up Nifheim’s defenses in case Surtur joins with the Hollows.”

The young woman, pale gray skin gleaming like marble and her ethereal green hair billowing in a soft breeze came up with a gentle laugh, tossing the wreath she was making onto one of the dragon’s large, swept back horns, “Come now, Jorm, let’s leave talk of war for another day. Play with your siblings, why don’t you?”

“Hmph, very cheeky of you to tell me not to talk of it, when you visit Midgard more and more often of late, Hel.”

“I have every desire to avoid an escalation, just like Glory wishes for, and I try to mediate disputes where I can... but come now, we’re here to enjoy the company of family, as unusual as ours is.”

“Hah... as you wish. Come then, Fenrir, Fenris, show me this game of yours.”

The dragon rose upon many legs stretching out over his long body, the wolf cubs howling with delight, while the girl, Hel, chuckled airily. Then all froze, as if made into a still painting as real as life itself. A deep, strong voice rumbled across the meadow.

“I have so few memories of all of us being happy together.”

Spike spun, shocked to find himself in his own body, and facing down the hulking black form of the full grown, adult Fenrir. The wolf felt as if he eclipsed Spike in every fashion, an air of power and nobility cladding him like his own black fur. Red eyes regarded Spike with both curiosity and sadness, “You’re smaller than I would have imagined. Can you really carry the burdens you wish to shoulder, little one?”

With a sardonic cock of his head, Spike looked at Fenrir eye to eye, “Dude, haven’t you ever seen Star Wars? Size matters not and all that. C’mon, I got my best friend to stop tripping on magic with just my handsome puppy dog eyes. I can handle whatever you’ve got to throw at me.”

“Hah, bravado. I used to have that, too,” Fenrir lowered his head, eyes narrowing as he got nearly snout to snout with Spike, “You will need more than that to protect what you hold dear, pup. In the blood and flames to come, only instinct will guide you true. Do you have that, I wonder?”

Spike reared up to plant his little paws on Fenrir’s huge snout, glaring right back into the wolf lord’s eyes, voice dead serious, “Try me.”

“So be it,” replied Fenrir, and Spike felt a strong, cold wind explode forth from the giant wolf, bowling Spike over and making him roll back a few dozen yards across the meadow. As Spike got his paws under him and stood, he saw the black wolf was covered in a shifting swirl of glowing wind streams as bright as slivers of the moon, as if he was painting the air in metallic silver. The wind rushed in a scraping, metal whistle so ringing that it felt to Spike like his ears were ready to bleed from it.

“We shall find out what you are made of, Spike of Midgard, loyal companion of Twilight Sparkle. Are you more than just a hound? I, Fenrir, High Chieftain of the Tribe of Land and Wolf Lord of the Silver Wind shall test your mettle!”

Spike had no weapons here, and no powers to claim as his own. The Gunwolf was back in the real world. The winds were fierce as they bit at the air around him, Fenrir’s mere presence, the strength held in his own memories, such that it made all the air vibrate with that sharp sense of pressure that pressed in on Spike’s body. He knew, however, that backing off or backing down was not an option! Whatever happened, he had to endure it, and find a way to break through.

“Let’s do this,” he said under his breath, and charged across the meadow at Fenrir. He didn’t exactly have a plan in mind, but this was all about instinct, and in his gut he felt like having a pan was probably antithetical to what was called for, here. He needed to grasp that inner animal within him, the very force epitomized by the towering black wolf in front of him!

He leaped, mouth open to bite. Fenrir let out a breath and with a single slight jerk of his chin created a silver wind of piercing barbs that slammed Spike from the side, spinning him like a corkscrew to face plant across the meadow like a bouncy ball. Pain cracked through his skull and Spike groaned, flailing his legs to try and right himself as he wobbled upright.

“Okay... let’s try that again, this time with gusto!” Spike said in a half daze, turning around to begin charging Fenrir, only to find the wolf had jumped into the air and was now sailing down at Spike from on high! A howl of gale force billowed forth from Fenrir’s jaws and silver streams of cutting wind formed a set of tornado formations around his claws.

“Ohcrap!” Spike yelped and threw himself to the side as Fenrir impacted, shattering rock and scattering meadow leaves in a thick cloud. The impact shockwave left Spike spinning and rolling up the slope, losing his breath in the process. Gagging for air, he clawed himself to his feet once again, and saw huge black paws in front of him, and he looked up into Fenrir’s eyes of glowing red coals.

“Do you think instinct is mindless, pup?” Fenrir growled, “It is wisdom born of eons of nature’s growth, the fruit of Yggdrasil’s truths ingrained into the souls of every Beast. You will never succeed if you cannot unite mind, body, and soul to hear that wisdom speaking its truths to you.”

Black jaws descended with sickening speed. Spike hurled himself forwards, between Fenrir’s four legs as the wolf’s jaws snapped shut on the air the dog had just occupied. Driven forward on scampering legs, Spike rushed and leaped to strike with his own teeth at the only target he could see; Fenrir’s tail. Shockingly, he managed to get his jaws clamped onto the thick, fine black fur and even felt flesh underneath. If the bite hurt Fenrir at all, the wolf did not show it as he growled and flicked his tail, breathing forth a low howl that formed a powerful gust of gleaming wind that hammered Spike in the gut and sent him skyward.

Flying up into the air from the wind’s impact, Spike heard Fenrir’s voice.

“You cannot fight like a wolf, because you are not a wolf, Spike of Midgard. You are trying to force instincts that are not there. Listen. Feel. Think. Your instinct is not mine, it is yours. What is it telling you, pup?”

“I...” Spike gasped, reaching the apex of his upward climb before gravity over, his slow descent back towards Fenrir beginning. He could see, past the haze of pain covering his body, that Fenrir was preparing a swirling tornado of slashing silver wind, ready to finish the job once Spike fell all the way back down. If he was going to turn this around, he had to do it now.

Who was he, really? What was he? A dog that could talk, via an accident of magic? Twilight Sparkle’s loyal friend, through thick and thin. Yes, he was a dog. Some people might have looked down on that. But to Spike, he was proud of it. Proud that he could be there for the person who mattered most to him, to comfort her when she was sad, be excited for her when she was happy, and stand at her side against whatever tried to hurt her.

What the hell was I doing? Being a wolf was never my style. I’m one hell of a good dog, and that’s exactly what I WANT to be! That’s... what my instincts have been telling me! A dog protects!

There was a pounding in his heart and his blood grew hot in his veins. Spike’s body glowed with silver light, a slightly darker hue than Fenrir’s, yet somehow no less potent. He felt power well up from within, like a beast being uncaged, yet focused rather than wild and untamed. A bark hammered out from his throat, strong and proud, and by the time he hit the ground he felt larger, heavier. When Fenrir’s tornado of biting silver wind shot forth and impacted Spike... he did not get blown away, or even cut. The winds broke upon him, and billowed away to nothing, as Spike stood in the epicenter of it.

He was standing on top of the Gunwolf, but it wasn’t quite the same machine that Twilight had built. Its edges had smoothed out, its joints more organic, filled in with liquid silver metal. Runic carvings ran up and down the armor’s legs and flanks, glowing green like Spike’s eyes. Spike didn’t need to open the hatch. He simply flowed into the robotic armor, as if merging with it. When he did so, its own eyes took on his green glow, and blades of silver extended out from its forearms and tail, curved and also emblazoned with runes.

“Well done,” Fenrir said, sighing as if letting go of a long held burden, “Well done indeed, Spike. You are you, and I can let go of the fragment of what I was.”

He looked at the still image of the wolf cubs, Hel, and a much younger Jormungandr together in the meadow, “I don’t ask you to do anything for them. You have your own to protect, but...”

“Relax, dude,” said Spike, his voice stemming naturally from the Gunwolf with no robotic connotation, “If I can, I’ll save her. We’ll save her. Me, Sunset, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, all of us.”

“Thank you. I’ll leave it to you, then, young canine of Midgard. Save your friends, and fight well in the battles to come.”

With that, the last fragment of Fenrir’s memory vanished into silver light within Spike’s subconsciousness, and Spike felt himself rising back to the surface of wakefulness. Hopefully, in time to help his friend.

Rainbow Dash was used to fighting at ridiculous speeds by now. But only now did it really become clear to her that she’d never truly went up against something that was as dedicated to speed as she was. Even Gaia Everfree, powerful as the ancient Arrancar had been, wasn’t as focused on speed as what Rainbow Dash fought now. Was it simply because this was taking place within herself? She wasn’t the brightest bulb, sure, but even she’d sussed out by now that she was somehow locked in her own mind, or soul, or... whatever. She didn’t get all this weird inner spiritual world stuff. But the way the jungle was like an embodiment of her fears, and this panther stalking her within it, was clearly connected with the Anima she, Applejack, and Sunset had begun tapping into.

And apparently her Inner Beast wanted to kill her.

The jungle trembled and quivered with the rapid succession of dozens of impacts and flashing streaks of lightning blasting across its dense canopy. Rainbow Dash was going all in on offense, her body little more than a constant, searing blitz of crackling electrical after images as she tried to slash and stab the panther with a mind boggling assault that never used the same direction twice in a row. Despite this, the panther was faster, an oily smear of ever moving dark fury and claws that somehow was always a step ahead of Dash’s blows while striking back with equal intensity. Claw marks were slowly appearing on Rainbow Dash, one after another, the endless exchange of hundreds of slashes between her and the panther as they rampaged across the jungle accumulating a bleeding toll upon her, while leaving the panther unmarked.

Flaccid rage. Masking just more fear. You are no predator.

The panther’s declaration was followed by a roar of open jaws, velvet black speed rushing past Rainbow Dash as she tried to fly up to evade. Pain ripped her side, fangs biting a chunk from her armor and flesh, and with it she felt as if the panther took more, as if it had eaten a piece of her own spiritual energy. Not wanting to miss a beat, she jabbed the lower end of her dual-spear backwards and sent a cascade of scintillating lightning bolts spreading out in a wide pattern, trying to catch the panther with the wild expulsion of power. A good sized portion of jungle evaporated into burning chunks of wood and foliage from the powerful display, but the panther was nowhere to be seen.

“That’s it. Let’s see if your fuzzy butt can fly,” Dash spat and streaked upwards, leaving an electric and rainbow trail in her wake. She flew straight up, slashing through dense tree branches that felt like they covered her like a net. She knew she was flying so fast that she’d be crossing state borders in seconds if she was cruising like this in the real world, yet no matter how high or fast she flew, the trees didn’t end, they only grew more dense.

“Oh for the love of-! Why is my mind a messed up infinity jungle!? Arrgh! How does Sunset put up with this crap!?”

She landed on a branch about as wide as a parked car, and felt her bleeding side. The panther’s fangs had gouged right through the dark blue chest armor she wore, and blood seeped from the lacerations underneath. She tried to tell herself this was all just in her head, but the pain sure felt real enough. She looked around, knowing with dead certainty that the panther was still coming after her. She couldn’t sense any reiatsu, exactly, but she had a chilling sensation that made her hair stand on end that told her that she was still being hunted. She began to back up towards the trunk of the tree, putting her back to it to limit the directions the panther could attack from. Her mind raced, trying to come up with some kind of tactic or strategy.

She really was more of a “hit things until you win” kind of girl. Rarity was the one who had a head for all the fancy, smart plans. Fluttershy could love anyone into submission. Pinkie Pie got by on pure crazy. Sunset was pretty well balanced between raw power and quick thinking. Really, Applejack was the only other one who just muscled through things like Dash did, relying on pure strength... but maybe even that was wrong? Could Applejack have really gone toe-to-toe with big powerhouses like her mom and dad if she relied solely on strength?

Again doubt crept into her, making her wonder if she was the only one among her friends who didn’t have any skills outside of just rushing headlong into things. She wasn’t going to beat this Beast by trying to overwhelm it. It was too fast, and could slowly bleed her until she couldn’t fight back any more. Just prey to be finished off.

What did Asena and Simurgh say...? Something about instinct being important? I always thought I did listen to my instincts. Every time I’ve gotten onto the field to play a game, I’ve used my gut to win.

Of course she always had a team to work with, just like when she fought alongside her friends against the bad guys. Even if her ego sometimes got her thinking of herself as the star player, no game was ever won by just one person. Every battle she and the girls had fought had been a team effort, even when they were apart, tackling different baddies in different spots.

She felt like she was on the cusp of understanding something, but a terrible growl that ran like ice water down her back made her look up. The panther was above her, climbing down the very tree trunk she’d put her back to, its black fur blending with the shadowed bark of the tree.

“Oh fu-” she gasped, zipping forward as the panther flashed down, obsidian claws raking down in cutting lines of severing force so potent that the thick branch under Dash’s feet was diced into pieces by pressure force alone, and she felt the lashing cuts of the claws on her back, even having avoided them by several inches. Her armor parted and blood ran down her back from cuts that splattered both the tree and the panther with dots of red.

Rainbow Dash, breathing heavily through the pain, turned and the bright prism light of her wings focused into twin orbs that fired crisscrossing beams above the panther’s head. She cut the tree in half with the beams, then streaked up, raising a leg and kicking it down right onto the falling trunk and make the whole severed tree crash down at the panther. She didn’t expect to hit it, but she was hoping to force it back for a few seconds and remove one of its routes to climb after her. She needed time. Even just a handful of extra moments to think would help. She was close to something, she could feel it... instinct, instinct, her friends, her role, her fears...

The panther didn’t give her an inch or a moment, bursting up from amid the vines and leaves of the falling tree, leaping so fast and far it might as well have been flying. This time Rainbow was a bit slower on the dodge, and the panther tackled into her midsection, blasting air from her lungs and sending them both catapulting through further trees and branches with explosively crashing force. As she felt tree after tree shatter upon her wounded back, Dash also felt the panther’s jaws go for her throat. She got her left arm up in time to block, taking the teeth on her forearm instead, feeling the hot crunch against muscle and bone as the panther dug its fangs in.

Screaming, Dash pulled back her spear and stabbed into the panther, lighting both herself and the deadly jungle cat up in a halo of crackling electricity so bright that it forked through the jungle and turned its darkness it practical daylight as she and the panther smashed through the canopy and back to the ground many hundreds of feet below. Rainbow felt herself hit with tremendous impact, earth parting under her in a muddy crater. The panther flew off of her, leaving her arm ragged and torn, howling for the first time in pain itself.

Coughing, smoking from sizzling electricity, and the energy of her wings fritzing in and out as she felt infinitely more drained from the panther’s attacks than she knew was natural, Rainbow Dash hobbled from the mud crater she’d dug in the jungle floor and nearly collapsed at the rim.

Sucking in breath, she struggled to think. The snarling sounds of the panther made her look behind her to see the primal cat still smoking from the electric bath that Dash had given it, but she could tell the panther was far from done, already getting back up from where it had fallen on the other side of the crater. Part of the jungle had caught fire from all of the lightning bolts and energy beams Rainbow had been throwing out, and now the darkness and gloom was starting to shift into a bloody glare of flame light as the fire spread around them.

With just moments to spare, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and rattled her brainpan for an idea. She wasn’t entirely lacking in self-awareness. She knew she had a lot of ego, and liked to rush in first. She thought of herself as awesome, and any ability she lacked, she could get it by working hard and just going for it with relentless enthusiasm. But her big successes, in sports, or with her friends, were always team efforts. The many battles she and the other girls had fought up until now were no different. It wasn’t about who was the most powerful, or contributed the most, or got the most impressive one on one wins. Rainbow Dash was a loyal member of the team, and her headlong rush into the fray wasn’t a vanity-fueled grab for glory, it was her fulfilling her role as the tip of the spear... or the fang.

Her loyalty was tied to that innate instinct in her to be the first one into danger, not because she was special or better than her friends, but because being at that first moment of contact between her loved ones and danger was exactly where she knew she needed to be. To put it in the plainer terms of pure instinct, she was the one who struck first so the rest of the pack could be spared that danger. But part of a pack she was, whether fighting directly side by side with them, or serving them by taking care of what she could alone.

The panther, however, was a solitary hunter. It was the part of her that had desired that singular power of fighting and triumphing alone. Her instinct to win, pack or no pack.

No wonder they were in conflict. Rainbow Dash was doing her best to embrace being part of a team, a component in a much larger war where she wasn’t the star player. It was a conflict between two instincts, and it was time for her to show her Inner Beast that this solo predator schtick wasn’t going to work for her.

“You want to hunt alone, all powerful and crap? Too bad. That’s not me. Not here, not when there’s bigger things at stake than our ego!” Rainbow Dash said, holding her spear to the side with one sweeping gesture as electricity mingled with a humming mixture of prism light from her wings and a darker glow of indigo blue aura welling up from her. Her eyes gained cat-like iris’ and fine black blue fur covered her as she flexed her hands, raising her left one as claws grew from her fingers. She grit her teeth, fangs growing in as she faced the panther, which hissed at her loud enough to drown out the crackle of flames.

You think your pack makes you strong? They are not here. You fight alone, and I devour the weaker kitten. I show I am stronger than all.

“Hah, not how it works, kitty. If you’re my ego, it's time to put you in check. Because I sure as hell am not alone. I can feel it, in my bones, in these instincts of mine. My friends are fighting. For me, for themselves, for each other. Whether we’re side by side or not, as long as we all keep fighting, then we fight together, and we win together!”

While she was speaking metaphorically, a part of her felt in her gut that something more literal was happening. As if she could feel Applejack, somewhere, being awesome somewhere. She could feel Clover nearby, looking over her, just like Clover always tended to do for them. She even felt Spike, the sense of power exploding from the little guy making Dash want to whop with a simple happiness for him. It was as if that power was flowing right into her, making the Anima bursting forth from her feel all the more wild and potent.

She let it coalesce in front of her, following her instincts as she rushed the panther. Around her formed another panther, yet this one was made out of dark blue lightning, its fur standing on end in thick, spikey clumps as arcs of energy coursed over its body. The lightning panther had magenta eyes, solid like gems, and its tail ended in a sharp spear point of prismatic energy. Rainbow Dash knew this was the real expression of her Anima, and could move the lightning panther as readily as her own body.

And together they struck with speed beyond speed.

The dark panther moved no less fast, pure bestial fury in its every bite and slash of claws, but now it was faced with two perfectly coordinated targets that were matching it blow for blow. Where Rainbow’s spear struck, the panther evaded only to find the claws of its lightning born twin slashing its back. Wherever it turned to lash out at the thunderous panther, Dash’s spear sizzled in with a powerful stab. Again and again the trio exchanged blows, so fast, so blindingly quick and furious, that the jungle around was being torn to shreds and even the roaring flames drowned out by the impacts. Rain now poured down from above, the jungle finally parting to a sky of thunderclouds.

Amid the rain, Rainbow Dash brought things to an end as she slammed her spear down, brining down a torrent of hundreds of lightning bolts that both hammered at the dark panther, and empowered the lightning panther, whose body grew in size from the storm’s might. The two panthers rushed one another in twin streaks of light and dark, creating cutting paths of force for kilometers through the now torn up jungle. By the time both panthers landed on their paws, only the one of dark midnight fur fell.

Rainbow Dash approached the collapsed panther, her own now moving gracefully by her side. She shouldered her spear, “You done?”

In response the black furred panther rolled over and flicked its tail, staring at her with eyes that were still hungry, but no longer disdainful.

A hunt with others... is acceptable.

When Rainbow Dash opened her eyes she felt like she’d been running a marathon while somehow laying down sleeping for a week. Her whole body ached like crazy and she didn’t even want to think about the way her lungs felt! Had she swallowed a cheese grater? Did people even still use cheese graters? Coughing, she looked around, noticing she was laying her head on Clover’s lap while laying down on Asena’s shockingly comfortable, warm furred back. Spike was next to her, weirdly glowing silver, his little paws on her head.

“Uhhh... Spike, dude, did you notice you’re glowing?” she said, then immediately regretted talking as she began coughing. Clover, her hands glowing blueish green with healing Kido, held her shoulders to keep Dash still.

“Try not to speak too much. You were hurt rather badly in the lungs. It may be a bit before my Kido can help you recover properly.”

“Blech..n-noted,” she said, and patted Spike on the head, “Question still stands.”

Spike grinned, although Rainbow noted he looked pretty tired as well. Simurgh hovered nearby, Wallflower’s face peering out from over the bird’s shoulder. Asena was looking over her shoulder at them, while Cadence and Shining Armor stood together on a nearby formation of shining, colorful crystal. Rainbow Dash could tell they weren’t in the stalagmite and stalactite forest. She... also noticed Applejack wasn’t around.

“The glow is no biggie,” Spike said, sounding very satisfied with himself, “Just some freshly awakened Anima that I’m using to help give you a boost. Glad to see it did the trick. You were looking pretty bad there, for a sec.”

“Hahah...nah, must’ve been some other Rainbow Dash,” she joked, if only to hide her anxiety as she looked around, trying to spot Applejack anywhere, “I just felt like taking a nice nap. Cat’s do that, right? Um, where’s AJ?”

The looks she got from that question did nothing to make her feel at ease, and Rainbow Dash forced herself to sit up, much to Clover’s protests. Ignoring that, Rainbow focused her senses. It didn’t take her too long to feel Applejack’s spiritual pressure. It was potently blazing some distance away, and moving even further away by the second. And right on her heels was the distinct sensations, if difficult to gauge, Anima’s and reiatsu of the three fishgals that had attacked them! The Sirens’ evil twins! Or, less good twins? Neutral twins? Dash wasn’t sure what the alignment chart was on this one. Either way, it didn’t take her a great deal of mental effort to guess what had happened.

“Of all the stupid things to do!” Dash sputtered, trying to stand, her legs feeling that pin-prick burst of numbness as she stumbled, “Why the hell did you all let her go play decoy!?”

“We had our arguments against it, but short of tying her up or sitting on her, there wasn’t really any stopping Applejack,” said Clover, “In fact I doubt we could have, even if we’d tried.”

It irritated her just how bluntly right about that Clover was. Dash knew full well that once Applejack got it in her head to do something, nothing short of divine intervention would stop her friend. She just seriously hoped this would equally prove true against three ticked off Nereid.

Normally it's not a good idea to drop oneself into a collapsing sinkhole consisting of tens of thousands of tons of crushing rocks. Fortunately for Applejack she had the strength and reflexes to leap from rock to rock, smashing the ones she wasn’t able to jump on, as the whole avalanche fell down into the cavern tunnel she’d sensed beneath her. She saw the Nereid falling as well, all three reacting with their own impressive methods to the rock fall. Adagio was a snarling, living buzz saw of cutting water, her scythe dicing stone like cheese, and even her legs and clawed hands becoming wrapped in slicing water that cleanly cut giant boulders to pieces. Aria threw out her cutlass and boiling dark water erupted from the tip to conjure into the shape of a pair of hulking blue sea turtles whose shells formed a barrier around her against the smashing hail of rock chunks. Meanwhile Sonata dissolved into streams of mist that froze over the falling rocks in mid-air, connecting them by a web of ice as the freezing mist billowed between them, echoing with Sonata’s laughter.

Of course Applejack hadn’t expected the rock fall itself to do the Nereid any harm. They were clearly in too high a class of opponent for that. But it was slowing them down and keeping their attention, while Applejack gained distance by blasting downward as fast as possible until she curved down the rock tunnel the hole had opened up into. She was still stretching out her new sense of the earth, brown fur growing over her arms as the Anima vibrated outward in silent waves. She could sense the openings, tunnels, and larger caverns around her. The distance of the sense was limited, and only grew if she clawed out to vibrate the stone, which she did by raking her hands along the tunnel she sped down.

She had a plan, but it was a bit of a long shot. The shapes of the caves and tunnels she was sensing, however, encouraged her. She felt she was on the right track.

Behind her, she heard Adagio calling out, “Going underground is only going to buy you a little time, Midgardian! We’re right behind you!”

“I think she knows that, Adagio,” said Aria, “Shouting it doesn’t really help us.”

“It’s called taunting the enemy! It's traditional!”

“It’s a waste of breath.”

“Oh, like this conversation?”

Applejack chanced a look backwards, which is how she managed to spot Sonata’s mists, pulling ahead of the bickering Adagio and Aria. From the mist Sonata took shape, pulling back her arms and flinging them forward. A pair of her curvy, glinting daggers flashed forward, lightning quick throws that Applejack spun in the air to try and avoid, her eyes widening as one of the glinting edges passed within a centimeter of her eye. Remembering exactly how Sonata’s power worked, Applejack closed her eyes and shot jets of energy from her back to fly down just as the daggers burst with swirls of icy water that tried to engulf her! She could feel the cold trying to dig into her armor and clog the nozzles of jetting energy, but she poured on the power and the jets grew many times larger, evaporating the water as Applejack slammed into the ground.

She kept going, drilling right down through the rock to reach another tunnel below, this one more narrow and winding. Spinning around, she kicked up with one leg then spun into a roundhouse with the other, blasting out beams of golden power with each fast kick. This detonated the ceiling of the tunnel above in flashing explosions, and brought down yet more rock for the Nereid to contend with. Applejack could hear Adagio cussing up a storm, and chuckled as she ran down the new tunnel as fast as she could.

With any luck I’m gettin’ close. Should be one more tunnel down, but gotta make ‘em follow me, can’t get too far ahead.

The tunnel twisted about at random angles, widening or narrowing while branching off into several offshoots. But she knew where she was going, and only slowed down a little to make sure the Nereid were still coming after her.

“I hate the underground, I’ll have you know!” Adagio’s voice echoed after her, “So I’ll be taking a great deal of personal pleasure burying you down here when we catch up with you!”

“Gonna have ta move yer lazy butt a bit faster ta pull that off, sugarcube!” Applejack shouted behind her, and was rewarded by a rapidly approaching howl of frustration. Well, at least one of the Nereid was successfully aggroed enough, and the other two would follow as a matter of course.

Feet cracking the stone with each rapid step, Applejack pounded down the tunnel until she reached a wide cavern that was a dead end. She needed to drill down here, but the space between this spot and her goal was thicker than before. To gain a little more time she hefted her lance and aimed it back down the tunnel, opening the lance and triggering the cylinder in the hilt. Thick spheres of blasting energy hurtled down the tunnel, detonating in swift succession and collapsing it in front of the Nereid. She didn’t waste a millisecond, millisecond, hammering her lance down and drilling into the thick rock beneath.

“Stop! RUNNING!”

The collapsed tunnel was shredded by a burst of raw power and a score of instant slashes of water that reduced the fallen rock to tiny chunks. Adagio rushed through, eyes a twin demonic burn of cold draugr light. Adagio’s scythe came down like a sharp thunderclap, and Applejack had to kick up with her left leg while still drilling down. Rocket energy flew from her feet as she kicked the side of Adagio’s scythe to deflect it, but the Nereid grinned as she changed the formation of the water her Anima formed upon the blade. The cutting water rose like razor discs from the flat end of the scythe, cutting into Applejack’s armored boot.

Applejack pulled back, leaping up on her lance as if it were a pole she was dancing on. A bit mortifying, especially if any of the other girls ever saw her do it, but it was the only way to keep drilling down as she spun around her lance and lashed out with her other leg, shooting a beam at Adagio at point blank range. The beam nearly struck Adagio, who sliced her scythe into it, blocking the beam while still being pushed back and out of the hole Applejack had dug.

With a crack, the rock beneath Applejack finally gave way and she went down, emerging into a massively larger tunnel below. So large, in fact, that it was hard to see the walls, even with all the gold light emanating from Applejack’s armor. She heard the Nereid clamoring above her, and Applejack’s boots and back erupted with gold jets as she rocketed down the tunnel at high speed.

Her spiritual senses were ringing, telling her what she was looking for was close. In fact, listening, she could hear the loud clacking noises of it, echoing down the tunnel. The Nereid, mainly Adagio, were still shouting after her as they chased her into the giant tunnel. Perfect.

Taking a deep breath, Applejack aimed a palm forward, and started firing golden beams into the darkness in front of her. She flew as fast as she could, firing over and over again, listening intently. After only about ten or so seconds she heard the rumble of something ahead, and the growing loudness of hundreds of clacking sounds. She could see, far ahead, her gold beams explode on something moving, briefly illuminating a truly monolithic shadow.

Smiling, Applejack, immediately reversed course, coming to a halt and then rocketing backwards at tremendous speed. The Nereid not all that far behind her, all halted with shocked looks as the girl they’d been chasing sudden went flying right past them, going the opposite way.

“What the-!? Hey! You little coward, get back here!?” Adagio said, but then paused as Aria grabbed her arm, looking back the way Applejack had come from.

“Adagio, we’ve got a problem!”

“Ooooh,” said Sonata, peering ahead with gleaming eyes, “That’s big!”

Flying right back to the hole in the roof of the tunnel, Applejack glanced back and tipped the brim of her stetson, “Enjoy yer new dance partner, gals! He’s a biggun!”

Adagio turned, and groaned, “I hate Svartalvheim...” just as the form of a titanic centipede the size of several skyscrapers came barreling down the tunnel, highly pissed off and with huge clacking, bladed legs and mandibles.

Applejack heard the shouts and noises of battle echo behind her as she navigated her way back up the tunnels towards the “surface” she’d left. She didn’t really doubt the three Nereids could survive fighting the kaiju-sized centipede, probably even defeat it, but that would take them some time. Time enough for her to get back to her friends, and for all of them to get well clear. She was wounded and exhausted as she flew free of the initial sinkhole she’d made, and could feel the ground quaking from the fight taking place beneath. Without waiting to catch her breath, Applejack flew onward, rushing to catch up with her friends, and hoping she’d bought them enough time.

Several hours later the large sinkhole in the ground rumbled, and rocks were thrown aside. With a growling gasp, Adagio clambered out of the hole, followed by her two sisters who dug their own way out of the piles of rocks. All three were covered in dripping orange goo from the massive centipede, and a number of their own caustic burns from the creature’s acidic sprays and bites. The thing wasn’t even dead, just driven off. The titanic denizens of the Beast Realm were difficult to kill at even the best of times, least of all when fighting them on their own ideal turf, but it was a testament to the trio of Nereid sisters that they’d inflicted enough grievous injury on the titan to make it finally flee rather than continue its aggression.

However...

“Ffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-” Adagio began to yell after a deep suck in of breath, only to be unable to finish the drawn out curse as her yell turned into a series of rough coughing as she spat up some good,”-ugh... yeah... that girl has definitely gotten on my bad side.”

“You have a good side?”

Adagio made a rude gesture at Aria, who laughed and wiped blood from her face, sheathing her cutlass as she hopped up to the edge of the sinkhole and cast her gaze northward, “Well, looks like they got away. I can’t feel their energy anymore, which means they’ve ether gone a serious distance, or are cloaking themselves. Probably both.”

“Hehehe, that’s not biggie!” said Sonata, snapping a dislocated arm back into place without so much as a blink, “We can pick up their trail again!”

“They’re heading for the Allhammer Clan’s stronghold,” said Adagio as she joined the pair just outside the sinkhole, wringing more goo out of her braided mass of hair, “It's the only place that makes sense. They want to get to the surface. We can catch them there.”

“Except for all the Dwarves, who aren’t going to be thrilled to see us,” pointed out Aria, “In fact I’m pretty sure they’ll try to kill us on sight.”

“I’m not adverse to returning the favor,” replied Adagio flatly, to which Aria grunted.

“We can’t take both those Midgardians and the Allhammers at the same time. Not in an open fight.”

“Oooh, does that mean it’s sneaky time?” asked Sonata with excitement, “I can be real sneaky-like! Quieter than death, even more so now that I am dead, hehehe!”

“None of that will be necessary, my dears.”

The three Nereid all turned at the sound of Ofridir’s voice as it slicked out of the shadows at the base of one broken stalagmite mound, where the goat man melted into view with his snout sporting an amiably unpleasant grin, “We don’t need to do anything right now except wait.”

“Ofridir, you smelly piece of sputum,” Adagio spat, never hesitant to make known her utter distaste for her ‘master’, “What are you doing? Were you watching us this whole time!?”

He made a discordant chuckle, long fingers waving dismissively, “Of course not. I only just got here after you failed to report in at our agreed upon time. Figured you ladies must have scented our prey and gone on the hunt, and I followed my intimate tie to all of you to find you here.” As if to emphasize that tie, he made a clutching motion, making all three Nereids gasp as the flow of energy into them was wrenched most painfully, their blue draugr eyes flickering on and off.

“So,” grunted Aria, her own voice dark with her own ire, “What are you planning, if it isn’t to go after the targets Jormungandr set you on?”

“And why do we have to waaaaait!? I hate waiting!” wailed Sonata, “Ofri, don’t make me sit around!”

“Hah, if you want to entertain yourself, Sonata, the Dwarves have soldiers marching against the Diamond Dog settlements to the east. Feel free to vent your frustrations on them, if you like,” Ofridir offered, making Sonata leap up eagerly.

“Can I?”

“Just be subtle. Or as subtle as your proclivities allow. And be ready to return at my call,” Ofridir said. As Sonata did a little cappering dance of giddiness, Adagio rolled her eyes and gave the goat a level stare.

“If you’re here, why have us wait? Together we may well be able to deal with the Midgardians and the Allhammers both.”

“Indeed, but this is professional courtesy on my part,” Ofridir said, snapping his fingers and summoning his instrument to his hands, playing the bow along the fine strings in an teeth grinding note that made Adagio wince, “G’nash is there. Making use of his old friendship with the young Brogensmasher Allhammer.”

“G’nash?” Aria said, frowning, “Didn’t know that blunt faced bastard even had friends, let alone among the very people that were Jormungandr’s enemies back during the war.”

“Oh, G’nash can be more personable that you might imagine, as long as it's with a fellow warrior of ambition and low scruples,” Ofridir said, still casually playing an unnerving series of notes, “And knowing him, he’d be nothing but trouble if we interfere with his own shot at the Midgardians. He’s ‘old school’ when it comes to that kind of honor.”

“Pfft, as if you care one gaseous goat fart about honor!” Adagio hissed, only causing Ofridir to grin wider and play faster.

“Hahah! Not inaccurate. That said, I don't want to make an enemy of G’nash, and if he manages to succeed, then I have no complaints. We all serve Jormungandr. And if he fails... hah,” Ofridir’s grin turned dark, “We can sweep in and clean up the mess.”

Author's Note

Ah yes, Applejack has learned one of the oldest griefer tactics in MMOs, the mob train. Meanwhile while all this is happening, Sunset Shimmer is continuing to enjoy a pleasant nap. She strikes me as not a morning person, despite her namesake.

Anywhos, thanks for reading folks, and as ever I appreciate any and all comments, questions, or critiques. 'Till next time!