The wasteland’s endless expanse of dirt and rock had been transformed into mud by the severity of the downpour, the storm’s endless fury cascading upon the land, churning the once-pristine land into a thick, porous quagmire.

Derpy pulled hard against the mud that had entrenched itself around her leg and ripped herself free with a disgusting Sluuuuurch! As her right rear hoof finally tore itself free from the bog. She stumbled forward and, pegasi instinct kicking in once more, flared her wings in an attempt to rebalance herself- only to receive a shock of pain that raced through her weakened body like a bolt of lightning. Giving nothing more than a small squeak of pain, Derpy slowly retracted her wings back to her side and did her best to ignore the continued throbbing.

It would take a great deal of time to even get used to her broken form, she realized as she walked along through the mire. A pegasus’ wings were used on instinct, often having developed their utility before the foal can even begin to walk on their own hooves. To suddenly have their usage be ripped away from her was… unsettling, at best. Worse was the sensations that now struck the empty socket that had once housed her eye. Even with the bare coverings that she had tied around her head the wind still blew through the soaked fabric, the uncomfortable coolness entering a hole where no air should ever reach.

Survival was all-encompassing now. The cuts and scratches on her body were still bare and exposed, and the eyeless void she now possessed were not just threats to her movement and her endurance, but would be threats to her life in due time. If left untreated, infection would surely set in and begin to spread. The mailmare was no survivalist, but even she knew that much.

Through the haze and fog the outline of the nearby mountain ahead was becoming ever clearer the further along she came, the craggy spire piercing through the iron veil of the skies above and giving Derpy the smallest ray of hope. Maybe, just maybe, she would be able to see a way out of this endless cloud and mist. The misery of this place was draining, sapping her of her will and energy to keep moving forward. It was as if the picturesque world of Equestria she had once known had been irrevocably destroyed, torn away only to be replaced by this stifling bog.

SQUEEEEEELCH! Her next footsteps took an eternity as her right rear hoof became entrenched once more, the mud clinging to her and pulling her back. Gritting her teeth with effort the young mare pulled herself free from the earth’s grasp and stumbled forward- stumbling so greatly that she became tangled in her own hooves and fell face-first into the swampy ground.

Derpy felt a sucking sensation on her face as she righted herself and felt the slimy dampness of the mud clinging to her cheeks. She shook herself as hard as she could muster in her tired frame, trying to rid herself of the disgusting substance, but to no avail. Most of her lower body was caked in grime and filth.

The mailmare could hardly take it any longer, her movements coming to a halt and she plopped her hindquarters down into the mud- instantly regretting her decision as now her flanks were covered as well! She could feel tears beginning to form in her one good eye, and a big fat drop rolled freely down her cheek. This was absolutely, utterly wretched! She was hurt, exhausted, filthy and miserable beyond anything she’d ever known –she couldn’t even sit down!- and all she wanted was to go home! Unable to bear it any further, Derpy stood where she was and sobbed like a child, the tears flowing like a salty waterfall from her good eye, soaking her stinging cheeks and tearing through the mud that still remained on her visage. The young mailmare was utterly despondent.

Give up, you should just give up, said a small voice inside her head, a thin sneering thing that clutched at her ears. You will never make it, you must know this. This is what it’s all led up to, all that heartbreak- it was just the beginning of YOUR funeral march.

Derpy gave a series of hiccups, her breathing barely under control as she tried to wipe away the flow of tears, something to staunch it. She’d heard that voice before, she knew she couldn’t listen to it…

How hard it must have been, to suffer through all year long, just for this, said the voice. All the guilt and wondering if you could’ve done something to stop it, and here you are- proof that it was your fault…

“I can’t listen to you,” Derpy said weakly, her throat constricted and making her voice thick. “I can’t listen, I’m not supposed to listen…”

You always wondered if you should have done something differently. If perhaps you’d made a ‘mistake’ or worse- you caused it to happen. What if this is your punishment? What if this is how eternity feels?

“But- but then I’d be-” Derpy gasped.

The voice returned again for a fleeting moment. “Perhaps you are already dead.”

Derpy’s tears ceased, the flow ceased by a horrifying, brutalizing thought so awful that it could quite possibly be true. The storm and its aftermath, this awful miasma of fog and rot, the devastated environment… what if it had all been inside her own mind? She’d heard tales from older pegasi of death during flight- a quick heart attack or an unseen, unfelt lightning strike and then no more. What if the storm had been her mind ushering her body into the afterlife, this new world of gray and brown? It would certainly explain the unrecognizable environment, a different Equestria that she had never seen before. If the voice had been right, then that might mean…

Perhaps it was a shift in the wind. A chill in the air, or simply her senses working into overdrive- Derpy never knew the answer. But something made her filthy hide stiffen, her ears to perk up. She turned about and stared out into the mist…

Something else was out there.

The mists obscured her vision as the endless stream of vapor spread its way across the plateau, a thin yet impenetrable haze that hid all from her sight except the faintest of outlines. Derpy squinted her one good eye, watching for whatever had brought about her anxieties- something had stirred her fears, yet she was not certain as to what. A change in the wind? A broken branch shifting? She held her breath… and listened.

There it was! A faint sound barely audible to Derpy’s wind-struck ears. An overdrawn, mournful sound that set her teeth on edge. A mixture of an animal cry and the crackling sound of trees falling, the most ghastly sound she had ever head. And yet nothing could be seen except rock and mud, limbs and trees that had been tossed about by the storm’s power-

A small movement alerted the mailmare to her visitor. A quick, subtle intake of… what was it, a beast? A tree? A rock, perhaps even her imagination, spawned by the pain she had endured? Its body was bulbous, a pear-shaped frame attached to a long, reaching neck. Across its back were a series of spines just like a porcupines, the ragged quills clacking against one another with every shift of the creature’s body. Its arms were small and frail as twigs yet its fingers were sharp as knives and flickered back and forth in a mad frenzy. The neck, so extraordinarily long, bore fruit to a wicked head that bore a pair -no, three eyes, a toxic green, all of it crowned by a pair of mighty wooden horns as powerful and as intimidating as a bull’s.

Derpy took a step back, wary as this anomaly slowly approached. What in the wide world of Equestria was this thing? In all her travels across this land she had never come across anything like it. To a land that bore dragons and hellish beasts and eels the size of skyscrapers, even monstrous hydras, not once had she seen anything the likes of which now stood so close by, or something that had so filled her with dread. Something was very, very wrong, and- and those eyes! Those haunting trio of eyes that seemed to dart this way and that as its head waved back and forth like a pendulum on its rangy neck, always whistling away that disquieting sound.

The creature ceased its slow, awkward movement and settled its gaze upon the young, injured, bloodied mailmare. It cocked its head and peered at her, the sound it made suddenly coming to an end. As Derpy stared at it, it stared right back, the snapping and popping of its erratic twitches and tics the only sound to be heard. The trio of eyes, that wicked green burning all the brighter, were suddenly turned into slits as it scrutinized her.

Derpy gave a gasp- like a cat with a mouse. Prey.

The creature opened its mouth and shrieked towards the heavens, that quiet whistle replaced by the roars and thunderous booms of a storm in a forest, and the creature threw itself on all fours and slithered towards its prey like a snake-

Derpy gave a shriek and turned tail to run, astounded by the horrifying speed of this beast- something so frail and awkward could move so quickly! Her footsteps slowed by the thick quagmire betrayed her to the more powerful beast, sliding effortlessly over the muck with the aid of its barklike flesh-

“No! No, please!” Derpy begged, opening her wings to take flight and flee- only to come crashing down into the mud! Panic was all that helped her keep right and on her hooves, the pain erupting across her entire body and her vision blackened-

No! Not now, I can’t black out now! She panicked, stumbling over a fallen log that suddenly appeared before her. Maybe it would slow that thing-

A thunderous crash and the monster only broke right on through, slithering across the plains and creeping ever closer to its prey-

Derpy’s breathing was hard and fast, each gulp of air rapid as she tried to escape- but how to escape, and to where? Her gaze focused on the mountain ahead, the mists beginning to clear as she came closer- maybe a place on that mountain where she could run away and lose it!

That bone-shattering roar echoed through the wastes and Derpy dared a look behind her-

Those eyes! It was almost right upon her, its foul gaze bright as the moon in the night sky, focused solely on its foul prey that lay just out of reach, perhaps only for a little longer-! She could hear it breathing, harried and hungry, see the sap dripping from its open maw- a flicker of movement within that blackened hollow it called a mouth and Derpy could not bear another moment looking at such a foul, awful sight-

“Whaah!” The ground before her began to peter out, finishing at a thin outcropping of rock! Derpy ceased movements and slid to the edge of the rock that overlooked a massive drop- straight towards the base of the mountain. It was a monumental drop, a dizzying, terrifying one that could easily leave her crippled-

Snap! A trio of something foul and sticky found Derpy’s right rear hoof and a searing pain stole her breath away- something was pulling her back! She fell into the mud and looked back to see the creature sitting with a bright pleasure in its eyes as a series of vine-like tongues, jagged and marked with thorns, had erupted from its maw and were latched onto her leg, digging in to offer no chance of escape and dragging her towards its open mouth where death awaited-

“NO! NO, NO, NO, NO!” Derpy shrieked, panic erupting like a volcano within her mind. She was going to die, she was going to die! She scrabbled across the ground for a way out, something to hold on to, anything that would spare her from this thing!

The creature, perhaps sensing her terror, fell onto all fours once more and dug its clawed hands into the ground like the roots of a tree, cementing its position and opening its mouth ever wider to swallow its prey whole-

“NO, PLEASE! SOMEBODY HELP ME!” screamed the mailmare, her voice cracking as her final moment came even closer, there was nothing, not a thing to save her from that awful blackness and those horrible eyes!

The mouth opened even wider as Derpy felt the tongues tightened their grip, droplets of blood squeezing from beneath their grasp and falling onto the ground, and she watched in utter horror as her leg began to slip down into the creature’s maw! Derpy flung herself this way and that, floundering about like a fish with all her might in the vainest, smallest of hopes that maybe she could finally break free from this vile creature’s grasp! She kicked, she writhed, she screamed, praying to the highest of heavens for a way out-

Perhaps the heavens smiled upon her or perhaps it was luck but in the midst of her panic, a strong, blustering kick found its mark, crashing into the monstrous beast’s head- a powerhouse strike that was enough to stun it. The thing gave a quaking scream of pain as one of its jagged horns shattered like a tree hit by lightning, the tongues relinquishing their grasp and slithering back into its maw. Derpy fell and flopped her way back as far away as possible, trying to get back on her feet and running-

She stumbled, her injured leg barely able to stand her weight. Adrenaline kicked in and she managed to stagger to all fours, hobbling away as the creature still writhed and shook itself. It wouldn’t be long before it would be eager to enact revenge, and Derpy stumbled as quickly as she could manage, finding the edge of the drop yet again- there was no choice in the matter. With one quick breath, Derpy opened her wings and jumped.

The crash was effective and immediate, the drag from her wings enough to soften the fall, despite the excruciating pain it brought. The drop was slick, and the young mare instantly began to fall, losing her balance and tumbling end over end over and over again until she finally crashed in a heap at the base of the mighty mountain that towered into the sky. She tried to get to her feet and begin her ascent, perhaps able to lose her pursuer-

CRASH! the mud behind her exploded and Derpy could hear the swinging, writhing sounds of the creature behind her, obviously having chosen to chase her down the drop and having fallen just as she had.

Derpy wasted no time and hobbled as quickly as she could ever hope, finding footing on the rocky mountain base, made slick by moss and the rain from the storm. It would be a perilous journey even on simpler days, but this was suicide-

A shrieking roar and the sound of wood sliding across mud. Derpy took her chance and began her climb, leaping upwards like a goat and ignoring every sting of pain and agony her body brought upon her- ignoring the sounds of her pursuer following her up this craggy peak of rock and mud…

Must go faster, must go faster, faster, FASTER! “FASTER!” Derpy screamed, not daring to look back this time, only moving upwards and forwards as quickly as she could-

Her leg fell and with a shunk! She found a hole in the rocks. Stuck! “No, please- no, no!” She quaked, writhing and pulling with all her might. She couldn’t fail now, not now, not now!

With a shrieking effort, Derpy pulled herself free from the mountain’s grasp- and the rocks that had trapped her suddenly came loose, sliding down the mountain and catching the beast unawares, striking it straight in the belly and sending it toppling down the mountain base until, with a sickening Crunch!- the beast lay trapped underneath a massive boulder, the beast’s limbs and neck writhing about in agony as it cried out a series of horrendous, watery gurgles of agony.

Derpy took a moment to grasp what had just occurred. But this was her chance. Hobbling upwards as rapidly as she could bear, the gray mare ascended the deadly peak, leaving a most monstrous beast behind her.

Author's Note

Sorry for the overly long wait, but... yes, I am back writing again. After an absolutely exhausting November filled with extremely long days, little food, and a lot of time in the field, I'm finally able to relax for a few days. I'm sorry this took so long, I was really stuck on how I wanted to present this beast. I hope I did it justice.

Well, comments and corrections below as per usual. Thanks for being patient with me...

Fuck, I don't wanna do this anymore. I've been in this hellhole ages, I've only seen a tree once in the past six months. This place is synonymous with death. I want to go home. I want to go HOME home! I haven't seen my family since early this year and I won't be able to see them again until maybe mid next year if I'm lucky... I want to go home.