Blight of The War Horse (Reforged)

Barely managing to tilt herself to the side, the warrior narrowly evaded the crushing jaws of the Hydra's middle maw, following up by charging forward, her sword poised to pierce clean through the beast’s rotting gut. However, her path became blocked as the left head of the Hydra coiled under the middle one's neck, attempting the same attack. Forced to react swiftly, she ducked to avoid the deadly snap, the head passing over.

Due to her momentary disadvantage, the center head circled underneath. It bit down on the warrior, uncannily twisting and raising its neck, hoisting her high into the sky to swallow her.

In the grip of the Hydra's merciless jaws, the warrior's body contorted with pain, her likely fractured legs held together by the tightness of her strained legs pushing against the mouth’s roof. The stench of death and sulfur assaulted her overworked airway, her blood’s coppery scent soaking the fur around her mouth as she gasped sharply upon a sudden pain.

One of the sharpened teeth speared her side, inadvertently striking a vital organ that caused her to release a torrent of oral crimson. Despite the searing pain breaking the herbal mix’s wall of numbness, the warrior’s fury only grew along with the grip on her sword. Pulling her head back, the warrior swung at the tooth with all her strength, but, at her angled, her sword only cracked the surface. Nevertheless, it gave the desired effect, the hydra roaring in pain as its jaws opened, releasing the warrior.

Now freefalling and leaving a trail of blood, the warrior choked back her pain and twisted to her right, letting off a muffled shriek as her sword planted firmly in the middle head’s neck.

Having no way to stop their opponent, the left and right heads were forced to watch on as the neck of their middle brethren was cut in half lengthwise, starting from the center to their shared collarbone.

As for the warrior, her body crashed against the snowy ground like a sack of potatoes, blood staining the surrounding snow.

Pain, in its most basic form, was the signals sent throughout the nervous system to alert the body of any problems or damages. For any creature, this is the sole reason survival was invented, to preserve life by avoiding that pain, no matter how severe. A stab from a blade, or a paper cut, nopony voluntarily wants to introduce agony in their day-to-day lives, even somepony like Storm Breaker. Sadly, the vanguard cared little for such trivial things; they’re warriors, it makes sense.

But that wasn’t really pain- it was the fear of it. To run away…like a coward.

It's what these ‘modern’ ponies became accustomed to. They never truly knew what it was like to experience pain and not cower away, pushing past it to reach a goal. To get run through by a spear and kill the one using it. To get burned by a unicorn’s spells and cave in their face. Licking your wounds when the day is over and being ready for more the next, all because it’s become a part of your life.

Admittedly, to an experienced warrior like Storm Breaker, she felt the same way most of her life after joining, always dreading the moment she’d not see tomorrow's sunrise. But one does not simply give into pain and fear when in the vanguard- quite the opposite.

THEY EMBRACE IT!

Smashing her front hooves into the ground, a grinning warrior pushed herself off the ground and onto her hooves. All the while, the right head of the Hydra brutally ripped off the now limp middle portation, leaving a torn stump of a neck as its remains flopped uselessly against the ground. Both fighters, animalistic in their own rights, locked gazes for the longest time. In actuality, It only lasted a solitary moment before they charged again; this time, the warrior was ready and chose to run around for what seemed to be a flanking advantage. With the beast tracking her movement, the warrior leaped past the beast, crashing through the window of a house behind the Hydra.

Roaring, the confused scaly monster thrashed its remaining heads, reducing the standing structure to rubble in its path. However, it spotted the warrior running away from the home's opposite side and repeating her previous jumps.

Now the chase was on. Echoing another roar, the Hydra stampeded after the fleeing warrior, destroying any houses as the large mare mixed things up, now rushing in and out of alleys.

She will end this quickly, but the constant faltering and stumbling made it difficult for the warrior’s swimming, rage-fueled mind to do so. Crashing into objects- crates, wagons, signs, etc. -she dodged death’s scythe and the Hydra's attacks more than once with every mistake. Inviting herself into another home, a group of huddled survivors screamed as the hulking mare broke down their wall and the giant reptilian’s foot caved in their roof.

Nonetheless, her plan was working; the unmistakable sign of weakness was looming over the beast’s underside, and it would be only a few more homes until-

“Hey, big and ugly!” The farmer's voice shouted from somewhere behind the warrior, followed by the sound of magic striking flesh.

Stopping her run by digging her hooves into the snow and turning around, the warrior’s jaw dropped in disbelief. Swarming the Hydra like a bunch of flies eating garbage, slinging spells and spears, the guards were attacking in full force, the farmer distracting it with insults. The Hydra shrieked, trying to defend itself by bashing its heads at the smaller ponies, but missed as they used their miniature frames to dodge easily.

Suddenly, a subtle weight pulled her right foreleg, and looking down with a dilated eye, Olive Branch was the culprit. “Storm breaker, we need to run away, now!” He whispered, glancing at the fight and back.

What?

“I-I’m not trying to say you’re weak, but you’ll die if this keeps up! We have to get back to the town hall and patch you up. I don’t know where in Equestria your escorts ran off to at a time like this, but these boys here and the elements are doing their best.” He said, the pink pony shooting a spray of shredded, colorful paper in the Hydra’s face out of a blue cannon.

Embracing pain is a pillar of being a vanguard knight, along with sound of body, endurance of the mind, and awareness of your surroundings. All these culminate into a singular being capable of achieving great feats, like taking on armies alone and barely stopping. No pony can possibly achieve this in full, not even an alicorn. It was a slight exaggeration made by ponies not related to the vanguard out of fear and foolish respect for them. But the thing was, that was the beauty of pony ingenuity and desire of everlasting advancement, to break the limits of nature and life itself.

Goddess Locks was its name, the bundle of herbs she took. A little 100-year-old family recipe from a ‘friend’ in the Vanguard three thousand ago that went a long way. A bit of something to keep yourself going for that tiny bit longer on the battlefield.

Who needs junk like a sound body and mental endurance when a few mushrooms and leaves completely negate that and all pain receptors in your brain?!

Pulling her foreleg back out of the old stallion’s grip, he had a moment's time to back away as the warrior’s hoof came at his face. Luckily, he involuntarily staggered back, landing his rump in the snow as her hoof, inches away from his privates, landed. Looking up, he didn’t try to hide the fear on his face, the warrior’s visage blasting the full force of her rage towards him. “S-S-Storm Breaker?” He whimpered as her sword unceremoniously dropped.

“U-Unicorn~~.” She snarled, her eye rolling back into her skull.

The old stallion pushed himself away, “Hey D-Darling, let’s not do anything we might regret.” He said.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was blindingly clear to Olive Branch that Storm Breaker wasn’t all there; her eye- or lack thereof -spoke volumes. Whatever was within that stuff Storm Breaker ate messed with the mare’s head in a nasty way- it looked more like a clump of grass than anything, so what happened? Well, one thing was for certain, he definitely ticked her off.

At first, he believed her deteriorating mental state was related to stress brought forth by the last month and a half, plus their current predicament. However, due to her bold nature, she didn’t look like a pony to crumble this badly under mere stress.

A few times as a full-time royal guard in his younger years, he’d seen the common pony submit to the worst things imaginable and leave a shell of their former self; Torture, murder, cannibalism, and more brought on by griffon savages. But, depending on the type of pony or creature, there is that period where a reaction to a scaring event occurs, either to yourself or others. Kick and scream in defiance. Thrash around in terror. Or give up. In memories too horrible to revisit, Olive Branch was no different from the others he found himself stuck within those awful times.

Now: he saw something similar in Storm Breaker. It was neither fear nor an act of defiance in the face of death; it was more of an explosion of pent-up hate and anger. No, it wasn’t that either, something he’d seen once.

It…was worse than he could ever hope to imagine- a state of mind he never thought a pony could achieve, at least, a pony of this era of peace.

At this point, he didn’t know who the beast was, the Hydra or her.

That’s when a gut-wrenching noise snapped him out of his thoughts, the sight of Storm Breaker’s broken body snapping and twitching in a jittery pattern. Incoherent mutters spewed from her lips, blood pouring from her wounds, and foam building out of her maw. The old stallion looked on as she switched from him to the Hydra; then, out of nowhere, she seemingly disappeared in a flash as she went headlong toward the beast.

Snapping off his shock, Olive Branch scrambled to his hooves, “W-Wait, you forgot your sword!” He shouted.

His out-of-place concerns went ignored as the warrior bolted forth with a snarl, smacking and bucking any guards unaware of blocking her path. Applejack almost suffered the same fate if it weren’t for the fact she turned away to distance herself from the Hydra, her tail clipped by the warrior’s bloody hide. In a resounding impact, the warrior-turned-living rocket struck the beast's stomach with her right shoulder with enough force to knock it off balance.

That’s when the old stallion’s attention was caught by a sound akin to snapping ropes- he spotted exposed muscle near the Hydra's knees tearing apart.

Bits of glass and brick embedded themselves into the rotting flesh, falling out as the beast’s sturdy joints bent to the side in an unnatural direction. He, the guards, and Applejack observed in astonishment as the several hundred-pound Hydra fell, its knee joints popping out of their sockets. The ground underneath them shook tremendously once it landed, kicking up piles of snow, the warrior stumbling back with a snarling grunt.

“Dear Celestia.” He muttered. Whether she did plan it or not, the houses she ran through- and the Hydra destroyed -damaged the latter’s legs due to its height. Her plan made the knees weaker and easier to damage.

Now, she had the advantage.

Like a wild lion, the warrior was back up and lunged at the Hydra, landing on its bruised stomach. The left head went to eat the warrior but met a powerful buck that sent it snapping back like a whip, purple blood flying from its mouth. Becoming her newest target, it had no chance of returning an attack as she latched onto its neck at the skull’s base, squeezing it tightly and locking her legs together. Olive Branch pitied the beast as the warrior withheld precious oxygen from entering its airway; the head turned sideways, grinding her into the ground as it tried to retaliate.

Its feeble attempts were useless in the face of the warrior’s wrath as the head was nearing its end, letting out a gargled whine. Luckily, the left head was seemingly saved by the right, who regained consciousness and rushed at the warrior with its mouth open.

What wasn’t lucky, however, was that she saw the attack coming, letting go of the left’s neck at the last moment and making the right chomp it by accident.

Immediately, the right released its bite on the left’s neck, only for a gush of violet and hot breath to burst from several holes as the left weakly whimpered. But the time for grieving and watching the second of its head’s fall wasn’t open as the right was slammed against the ground by the warrior using the same tackle move.

Before it could register where she was, two hooves tightly gripped its upper jaw, accompanied by a pulling force. Over with Olive Branch and company, his look of fear and pity changed to an expression of sheer bewilderment at the warrior standing before the last Hydra head, facing away with her front hooves gripping the gums between its teeth. Her already bloated muscles grew as she dragged herself forward, her forelegs flesh tearing like paper.

Shockingly enough to the old stallion and others in attendance, the Hydra's body shifted in tandem with hers, then the right’s neck began to rise.

AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!!

The warrior released her bone-shaking roar while the Hydra cried out in agony, the corners of its mouth beginning to rip. In the blink of an eye, in that one split second of stillness, the warrior slammed a hind leg down while throwing her upper body ahead. Olive Branch gasped as the colossal body of the Hydra was flung overhead of the warrior, casting a large shadow as it passed, causing her footing to vanish, getting lifted into the air. And once the body hit Equus a second time, it sent a shock wave across the street and all of Ponyville; the surrounding homes instantly lost their windows, and the ponies- including Olive Branch -fell over.

A groan of pain crawled out of his throat as Olive Branch pushed himself off the ground. Thankfully, the element of generosity- also known as Rarity -came over and assisted him; all the while, the veil of kicked-up winter frost settled. Standing atop the Hydra’s unmoving corpse, Olive Branch was struck by a sense of dread when his eyes met Storm Breaker staring down the small crowd less than a few meters away.

“U-Unicorn~~.” The warrior repeated, looking at Olive Branch and Rarity, “Pe-gasis~~!” She added, picking out the pegasi guards behind them, gritting her teeth.

Now the old stallion knew what emotion he thought about earlier.

Unbridled vengeance

“Our destination is not far, but they are on par!” Zecora shouted, using her staff to smack a timberwolf away as she and Twilight’s group ran through the everfree and away from the advancing beasts. “Keep your eyes ahead and mind where you tread.” Jumping over a purple vein-like root, Zecora saw the surrounding vegetation starting to show infection. The group had been running for a few minutes now, and true to the zebra’s word, a break in the treeline slowly grew as they approached.

A flying Rainbow Dash flung a timberwolf into the face of a Manticore, causing it to trip and fall, bringing two more Timberwolves along in its downfall. “Geeze, what’s with all this funky gunk?” She groaned, avoiding hanging vines and low-hanging branches.

Bolts of lavender flew under the prismatic pegasus, striking the hoard, “It’s worse than I thought; The corruption is growing more potent. Zecora, how far is the hotspot?”

Answering Twilight’s inquiry, the break in the treeline was quickly passed by the group, leaving them temporarily blind before their eyes adjusted. What lay ahead nearly dropped the jaws of everypony- except Zecora -as the center point for the hotspot turned out to be a familiar place. “The castle of the two sisters?!” Twilight said. But instead of the usually broken architecture and moss-cover stone, the entire structure was almost buried under gigantic lumps of corruption to make up for the lost spires and castle towers. Even the bridge was constructed of the same disgusting material, which the group quickly and reluctantly ran across as the hoard continued to chase them.

“Mrs. Sparkle, they’re gaining- AH!” One of the guards began to say until a Timberwolf bit their leg, dragging them behind, leaving the sounds of pain.

Gritting her teeth at the loss of a second guard, Twilight kept her eyes forward as her horn illuminated a bright lavender. “Everypony, jump when you get close to the end!” She shouted.

As the hoard slowly gained distance toward their prey, every pony jumped a few meters across the remaining bridge length- while Rainbow Dash flew. Once the studious unicorn landed with the rest, she swiftly turned around and shot a bolt at the bridge, causing a bright light to envelope a portion of the corrupted support. Luckily, the spell worked, disintegrating the infection and ridding the hoard of their ground, letting the beast fall into the dark cavern below.

And as the echoing of flesh, rock, and wood reverberated off the cavern walls, the group collapsed in fits of exhausted coughing and sweat. “What…the hay was…that?” Rainbow huffed tiredly. Twilight turned to her friend.

“A simple dispel spell…used for warding off foreign magic.” She responded, “But I barely have enough mana left after that.” The effects of the forest were greater than she expected- it’d be a hot minute until she was ready for another. Good thing she had two unicorn guards come along. Rising to her hooves, wincing at her bad hoof as the drug Zecora gave her had worn off, Twilight faced the castle. “We can’t sit around any longer, unfortunately. There have been enough delays today.”

Zecora raised and nodded, “I agree; time to free the Everfree.” She said.

With a discomforting air swallowing the group’s nerves, they steeled their resolves and followed as the zebra shaman entered a large hole in the castle wall before them.

It was time to end this nightmare.