The Devil You Know

Meadow Grass turned as a loud crash came from the bridge. One of the statues on the far end had suddenly collapsed, destroying the bridge completely.

Even the Umbra ceased their attacks to stare at the growing dust cloud.

“Wow,” Brummbar commented, pulling Umbra spines from his shoulder with his teeth.

“What was that?!” Meadow exclaimed as more masonry tumbled into the abyss.

He chuckled, “Our pink friend, I imagine.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “At least they’re safe for now.”

“Not sure I can say the same about us,” he said grimly.

These two were all that was left. Their companions had been dragged away and torn apart one by one. Meadow had known some of them personally or at least by reputation, but there were a few she never learned the names of.

To die strangers was a sad fate indeed.

The Umbra were beginning to recover from their stupor, chittering between themselves as they turned to face their prey once more.

Meadow was shocked at just how many there were here. Sunset and her knights should have drawn them off, yet more and more seemed to be coming at them. Were the Umbra here for the same reason as they were?

“Let’s make it one for the songs, my friend,” she said, giving him a smile.

He grinned, turning to face the oncoming horde and hefting his ichor-soaked hammer up. He was covered in wounds across his body, an ear torn and bloody, yet he remained resolute. Meadow Grass could only marvel at the earth pony’s determination.

She would have to show the same resolve.

Drawing the last of her magic, she pulled every stake she had left from her quiver, hovering them above her head like a jagged cloud. Her horn glowed brightly with overcharge as she readied herself for the assault.

Yet it did not come.

The Umbra’s heads jerked from side to side, as if listening to a distant sound, before slowly backing away. Meadow and Brummbar could only watch in confusion as the horde that had been close to overwhelming them receded.

“I don’t like this,” Brummbar said, eyes narrowing as the Umbra returned to the shadows. “They don’t just retreat, unless…”

Her eyes widened in realization as the loud crash of collapsing trees echoed through the woods.

They tensed as the sounds grew closer, the trees swaying before being batted aside by some massive force.

From the gloom of the woods, a solid wall of shadow advanced towards them. It ploughed inexorably forward, tearing through trees, bushes, and stone alike. Somehow, it made no sound as it approached; there was no roar or chittering like its smaller brethren—just an empty, swallowing silence.

The other Umbra silently awaited its arrival, creating a cordon around the bridge to stop the ponies from escaping.

Meadow Grass swallowed hard, feeling an icy chill grip her heart. The stakes hovering above her head felt so heavy all of a sudden, a few bobbing in mid-air as she struggled to maintain control. Even Brummbar was stock still, a forehoof raised as he fought his own battle against his fears.

Eventually, the tide of formless black shadow slowly oozed into view. The trees and plants around it withered and shrivelled in its presence, the thick stench of death permeating the air.

“We’ll take it on together,” Meadow said, steadying her voice as they spread apart. “I’ll try and draw its attention to me, then you hit it from the right.”

Brummbar nodded, shifting his position as they spread out.

The shadow awaited them, seeming to suck everything into that endless black void. All Meadow could hear was her own heartbeat thumping in her ears as she prepared herself.

“Excandescunt!” she yelled, a blinding flash of light exploding before the shadow, making the other Umbra recoil.

Brummbar launched himself forward, putting all of his strength into one powerful swing.

Meadow launched as many stakes at the beast as she was able, aiming for a slight bulge at the top where its ‘head' might be.

They simply bounced off the beast’s black hide, clattering to the ground as it shifted in place.

Brummbar’s roar was cut off as a black tendril emerged from its body, impaling him from above. He cried out, his voice becoming a gargle as blood spurted from his mouth. His hammer clattered to the ground as he fought to stay standing. Blood ran thick onto the ground as the tendril tugged and twisted within him.

“Brummbar!” she cried, intensifying her attacks, throwing everything she had left at it. Spells exploded around the monster’s body, yet they had seemingly no effect.

It hefted Brummbar up, dangling him in the air, before another tendril grasped his forelegs and began to pull. The hardy earth pony resisted briefly, struggling against the pressure building in his body. Then came the popping of limbs coming out their sockets and the sound of tearing flesh. His strangled cry was cut off as it ripped the earth pony in two, his blood splattering against Meadow as she watched in horror.

“No!” she cried, tears in her eyes.

It dangled his severed remains there for a moment, shaking his front half to be sure he was dead. His limp head bobbed up and down like a marionette with its strings cut, watched hungrily by the horde. Then, seemingly bored now, it tossed Brummbar’s remains to its eager minions that fell upon them in a frenzy.

It then turned towards Meadow, moving at an agonisingly slow pace.

She backed away, her horn firing off spell after spell that did little to faze the approaching horror. Eventually, she felt her back hoof reach the edge of the chasm.

She swallowed as she spared a glance down into the mist-shrouded depths of the ravine and its promise of a quick, clean death.

Panting, she pulled a locket from beneath her armour and kissed it gently. “Don’t worry, Morning Dew. Mommy’s coming.”

She turned and leapt.

Only for a tendril to burst out from the beast, driving its way through her flank and punching out the other side. Searing pain blossomed from her sides as the tendril coiled itself around her hindquarters.

She screamed as she dangled over the chasm, her forelegs desperately reaching for the escape that had been snatched from her.

“No!” she cried desperately, writhing in vain as it began to reel her back in.

The darkness split in the centre of the beast from below upwards to reveal multiple rows of jagged, grasping teeth as she was lowered slowly inside.

A forlorn lance of light shot from her dimming horn, but it only served to illuminate her doom one last time before being smothered by the darkness, fizzing into nothing.

The shadowy maw fell upon her like a black avalanche. Her screaming was quickly swallowed up in the inky blackness as it pressed into her, teeth driving themselves into her flesh as the mouth closed around her, plunging her into total darkness.

Agony shot through her body, the last dregs of adrenaline pushing her onwards. She writhed and struggled as her life blood splattered within the creature’s maw. Then, with one final jerk, she blacked out as she was drawn into the beast’s gullet.