15. Plant vs Ponies

"Okay, I'll cover the archives, focus on mythological monsters and plant life to begin with, and spread out from there." They had gathered in the main part of the library which looked out over Canterlot, now moving off to their designated areas. Twilight knew her way around best, hence her going for the archives first. And while it would speed up the process if they brought other ponies in to help, they didn't want to cause panic based on suspicion alone.

"Weeeeeeee!" Pinkie Pie was already off down the stair railing towards the botanical section of the library. Fluttershy soon followed out of worry about what she would probably find in the other section. Being swallowed by the monster was bad enough, reading about hundreds more she could definitely do without. Pinkie however wasn't doing much to alleviate her fears, chattering on about all sorts of different creatures that gobbled up ponies whenever they woke.

"Come on, let's go show some plants who's boss!" Rainbow Dash led Rarity and Applejack into the darker section of the library. Some of the books had magical locks on them that only a unicorn could undo. At a guess, they didn't need to look in books like that, which significantly improved the speed of their search. Things went quickly from there; any index that didn’t cover plants was ignored. Until Rarity took one look inside the cover of a book and began backing away.

"On second thought... I think I'll go help Fluttershy." Dash and Applejack watched run off in fear, the former moving to take a look at what had scared her so much. After a few lines of reading, the urge to laugh hysterically was strong, but she continued to fight it. Rarity was close now, and it would hurt her feelings to mock her irrational fears. A few shakes of her head dispelled the giggles before she placed the book back again.

Applejack watched her behaviour, catching a glance at the open page. A smirk appeared, nothing more, however Dash's aversion to laughing audibly made it a smile. Things were working out for them after all, through Rarity's obsession and her reluctance. Now it seemed that the situation at hand was really beginning to show the inner side of things.

Rainbow Dash turned her head with a slight start, surprised to see Applejack looking at her. "It's uh... a monster that eats hair. No big deal, pretty funny but y'know..." Returning the subject of her eyes to the array of books, they flicked about nervously while she did her best to ignore the awkwardness. Rarity was making her soft, and much as she tried to convince herself it was uncool, some part of her refused to accept that. Rarity was becoming more important than being cool all the time.

"Hey Dash, this look promisin' to you?" Applejack pulled a green bound book off the shelf, the title 'Sentient Flora: A Guide to Plants that Bite Back' printed on the front in gold lettering. Dash was there instantly, not even bothering to hide her growing skill for flicking book pages as she hurried through the chapters. Applejack jumped as Dash suddenly pounded her hoof down onto the open page, lifting it up timidly to see the deep impression in the paper.

"Here. Tendriculos, an omnivorous plant native to the Wastelands. In the early stages, feeds on fruits and other smaller sources of food to sustain growth. Can capture live animals for the purpose of foraging more food for the main plant. Able to move across ground at a slow speed, made possible through use of vines and two larger tendrils. Can grow in size up to..." Her hasty readout of the passage stopped there, eyes moving towards Applejack in fear. She had been reading along with her, and had come to a similar reaction.

"Several hundred metres tall and wide... We need to find Twilight."

*

"Rarity, I didn't expect to see you here." Fluttershy had become somewhat absorbed in a book about how butterflies pollinated flowers when she tread into the aisle slowly. Seeing somepony more on edge than herself was supposed to be something that didn't happen, yet it seemed to be happening right now. Rarity jumped upon hearing her, causing the book to fall as she too flew back in surprise.

"Fluttershy! Don't scare me like that, do you realize there could be a hair eating monster lurking around at this very instant!?" She proceeded to examine the area around Fluttershy before searching again. "Now, have you had any luck in locating books related to the tendriculos?" Pinkie poked her head out of the shelves at that moment, a book clenched in her mouth. Rarity dived down behind Fluttershy in a moment of terror.

"Found something!" Tossing the book down, it opened up to a page on common pests. Among fruit bats and parasprites, the plant in question was clearly labelled out. "So can we party now?" Popping out from the books, Pinkie Pie prepared to fire her party cannon, conveniently produced from another alcove in the shelves. The other ponies were too occupied with reading to respond.

"... Does not react well to strong sunlight. Advised that all sources of shade be removed from area until plant is starved of food." At least they knew why it was in the overgrown part of the orchard, being darker there would be suitable for it to thrive. At least they now knew that strong sunlight was the key to keeping them at bay, a sun spell would finish the job quickly. "Well, once Princess Celestia returns, I'm sure she'll be able to get..."

The wall caved in abruptly as a giant green tendril smashed through the brickwork of the library. Fluttershy found herself being hurled away from the attack thanks to a well-placed shove from Rarity. In recoil, the tendril slid past into the glass area, revealing Twilight to be trapped in several small vines attached to the larger one before smashing out into the open once more. It was all over in a matter of seconds, not even Rainbow Dash had time to react.

"Dash, Applejack! Get back!" The damage to the upper section of the library was far more significant, now at high risk of collapsing. As what remained fell away, it opened up the view to the monster outside. They were too late; the tendriculos was virtually at dragon size now, and wreaking havoc on the castle itself. Spike burst into the room urgently before gasping at the sight of how much force the tendriculos could muster with its sweeping arms.

"Twilight found a spell that was supposed to make plants curl up and wither, but instead it made it huge!" The five remaining ponies managed to regroup amidst the ruined bookcases. With Twilight in the clutches of the plant, Rarity once again felt that she had to take the lead in this case. But she couldn't perform the spell again without risking serious damage. And on a monster that size, there was little chance it would do more than scorch it.

Biting down on her lip hurt almost as badly as the headache, but she couldn't resist. "Okay, Dash, if you can remove as many clouds as possible, that should slow it down. Fluttershy, Twilight needs to know that a sun spell is what we need to beat it, she may be able to perform it in time. Applejack, kicking fruit at it should draw attention away from Fluttershy when she moves in to tell her. And Pinkie... Pinkie?" She was gone again, for whatever reason they didn't have time to consider. "Spike, try and get a letter through to Celestia, I don't think we can do this without her, she is the Princess of the Sun after all."

Watching the group split off to their different subjects left her alone to ponder her own task. The doctors said she needed to give her magic time to recover, using it too much again would have far worse results the second time around. But if worst came to worst, there wouldn't be much difference in the end result for her anyway.

*

"Eek!" A bit of her hair caught onto the tendril as she ducked under its sweep, hurling Fluttershy along with it. Twilight seemed so far away, and with the haze of smaller vines as well as the tendrils to deal with, her task seemed impossible. Up above, Rainbow Dash was desperately kicking the clouds away to brighten up the area. And yet more seemed to be forming every moment. Was the plant so big it could produce clouds of its own?

Another sweep brought Twilight right past her again, the cries for help loudly ringing in her ears. "...shy! What... you doing?" Fluttershy chattered down on her hooves fearfully. Too much confusion, too much to deal with. Why did she always get the really hard missions that any other pony would be better at completing?

An orange almost caught her in the face, smashing into the massive body with a spray of juice. Followed by other assorted fruits, Fluttershy finally noticed Applejack with her salvo of food. "Get going Fluttershy! I don't have a whole lotta fruits to use if you didn't notice!" Applejack was supporting her at least, doing her best to keep the plant distracted and give her room. Even so, she couldn't keep her eyes open as she began the approach towards Twilight's voice.

"Please don't hurt me, big scary plant monster..." Her eyes opened for just a brief moment, enough for her to see the green of the tendril rushing up to meet her. All she could manage was a scream, cut short as the splat sound of her body overtook it. The vines were quick to pin her down, but to her relief not too far from Twilight. "Twilight! Rarity says that the plant doesn't like strong sunlight, and that you should try a sun spell!"

"Well how am I meant to perform any sort of spell when I'm trapped like this?" Her teeth were in danger of being ground down into dust as she struggled against the entanglement. The first time had been unpleasant enough, feeling it again made her recoil on top of the nausea from swinging around. "The vines are too strong; I can't get my horn free!" Fluttershy had become distracted by that point, as a new solution came towards them.

Pinkie Pie leaped down onto the tendril with a loud squeak. Dressed in bright yellow clothing with a sun headband on her head, she raced towards the beast right above Twilight and Fluttershy. "Nopony hurts my friends! Especially big meanie plants!" With another long leap, she landed right down on the mass itself. There were a few scorch marks from the Canterlot Guard's attacks, but nothing that indicated a weak point. That didn't matter too much, the tendrils were now moving away from destroying buildings. Towards her instead!

Despite now hanging upside down, Twilight had a clear enough view of Pinkie as she continued to do what she did best. "Great work Pinkie! Just distract it a little more, and I think I can get free..." A split along the plant formed, quickly widening into a dark and bleak hole. Pinkie vanished instantly, soon followed by Twilight and Fluttershy once the tendril shook them free. Neither were capable of escaping, the disorientation caused by all the movement prevented flying or teleporting.

But it didn't end there. The fall continued, further into the inside of the monster that started to reek of compost and rotting fruit. Finally, what Twilight hoped was a solid surface met her face again, though it had the consistency of firm mud on top of sludge. Pinkie Pie was already making loud sounds of disgust off to the side. Fluttershy had taken to whimpering in terror. She didn't blame her; this was different from the small plant.

"Everypony okay? Just try not to think about what we're standing in, because I really don't want to find out!" Standing proved to be the worst part, her hooves sank deep into the disgusting mess. A weeklong shower wouldn't begin to convince her that she was clean of it. At least she now had a bit of her magic back, enough to create a light for the others. That however proved to be a big mistake as she saw what was covering them.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwww! This is like all mushy and disgusting fruit salad! Yuck!" Pinkie fled towards the nearest wall rather haphazardly. Most steps caused her to fall face first into the mess again. Twilight rolled her eyes before moving to check on Fluttershy. She was still whimpering, and under the circumstances, there was no good reason to make her trudge through the mess.

"Just stay put Fluttershy; we'll find a way out." She returned to the wall where Pinkie had fled to, at least there she could walk without sinking up to her shoulder. "It must've used my magic to grow this big, there's still a lot of fruit matter for it to use. Unless..." It hadn't been this big before she tried the spell, but the amount of material had to say otherwise. Maybe it was buried deep into the ground, and she had caused it to unearth to its full size by trying to attack it. "Okay Pinkie, just stay close. I don't think teleporting out of here is a good idea, these walls are really thick."

There was no response for a few moments. At first, Twilight assumed that it was Fluttershy she could hear whimpering, until she turned to see that it was in fact Pinkie. "Oh Pinkie, what could possibly be that... bad?" Turning further to look at what her friend had noticed caused her to cower. One of the Canterlot guard, trapped behind some sort of thick green membrane. There were vines coiled around his body, and bubbles of air slowly floating through whatever fluid encased him on the other side.

That explained why there was only composting fruit in the tendriculos so far. It was saving the ponies up for its next meal! For once, Twilight ran to Pinkie in a panicked hold. Eaten, by a giant plant that was tearing Canterlot apart. Fates didn't get much worse than that. What if Fluttershy was being taken into one of those pods right then! The wailing from Pinkie continued as Twilight trudged back towards the pegasus.

"Fluttershy! Forget what I said before! We have to keep moving!" It wasn't Fluttershy that moved however. A silhouette above her leapt into the air, out of sight before Twilight could get a good look. "So... if it's not the plant that pulls ponies into those pods, then what was that thing?" There was no answer to her question. There was virtually nothing else to be observed. Just the muck, the pods, and something as of yet they didn't know anything about...

*

It didn't make any sense to her; Rainbow Dash was kicking clouds faster than she could possibly pull at any other time. And yet they seemed to be returning from the north faster still. All that faded from her mind when she suddenly froze in mid-air. The plant had just swallowed Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie down whole, effectively ending their plans to delay until help arrived. Even the Canterlot Guard and now the Wonderbolts were trying to attack it, with little success.

"Rarity! We're outta time! Just get to safety; I'll hold it off with the Wonderbolts until Celestia gets here!" Abandoning her duty of cloud kicking altogether, she dove down towards the mouth of the beast. Getting it to chew off one of its own tendrils would be incredibly risky and far-fetched, but their options were swiftly dwindling. Risky was becoming less and less of a concern with each passing second.

Rarity remained on the ruined balcony, watching in failing hope as her plan fell to pieces. It was too strong, and there would be no use in trying to get the Elements of Harmony with half of them trapped inside, and the plant itself blocking the way. Now there was a good chance three of her friends were gone, food for the hungry monster. Dash couldn't avoid the tendrils forever, and Applejack had run out of fruit to distract the plant from herself.

"I'm sorry Dashie... I can't leave now." Lowering her head, a small amount of pain caused her to wince as the charge began to build in her horn. This spell would undoubtedly be her end. But if it ended the plant too and saved her friends, then it had to have been worth it. Ironic, since it had been at the Crystal Kingdom where Twilight learned about self-sacrifice, and she would have had such a strong connection to the wonderful city...

As the spell continued to charge, her eyes latched onto Rainbow Dash, flying out from the clamping jaws as they snapped shut. One of the tendrils had been caught; tearing it away left a sizeable chunk in the mouth. But Dash was no longer concerned with dealing with the plant at that moment. Seeing Rarity in that particular position came as a chilling warning of what was to come.

"No. Rarity no!" Flying right towards her as the brightness of her horn continued to grow seemed to take forever. Nothing could convince her that what Rarity was about to do was worth it. They could still beat the plant and save their friends surely. Now Spike was there too, trying his best to distract her. Anything to break the spell before it did the damage. Now that she was so close, the line of tears from her eye were too visible to ignore.

The brilliant flash of light that she dreaded seeing blocked her vision. Instead of running into a warm unicorn, she found herself wrapping around a cold pillar. Too late, she had done it. She had gone and done it... She had saved everypony, but herself. Dash caught a glimpse of the large charred patch where the tendriculos had been as she peeled herself off the pillar. In the middle of the black patch, varieties of coloured blurs were strewn out. Purple, yellow, and pink were the ones she noticed most.

Once she had managed to get down onto the floor again, she began the long process of crawling away from the crumbling edge. Somepony was standing in her path; she distinctly saw a white hoof there in front of her face. How long would it be before Rarity fell, into her waiting hooves? Seconds? Minutes? The shock of the spell had left her conscious for a few moments after the first time, even though she had been dropped.

"Rainbow Dash?" She flinched as a hoof touched her cutie mark. Rarity. It was her alright, the unique way that she pronounced her name. But Rarity had to be on the ground near her, so who was standing there in front of her? "I can't see... Dashie?" She reached her hoof back to touch Rarity's. Her own vision was starting to return, enough to see what looked like gold on those white hooves.

"Oh, sorry Rainbow, I didn't see you there at first." A warm magic lifted her back onto her hooves, and removed the blindness caused by the flash. Turning immediately to where she had heard Rarity's voice, she didn't hesitate on throwing her hooves around her neck. She was alive, breathing, and conscious. That mattered more than anything else did at that point. Rarity was there. And there was one pony she had to thank for that...

"Princess Celestia, you came." She nodded silently in her usual manner. The glow of her horn was quite faint now; given the size of the monster, it wasn't too surprising that even she had to use a lot of magic to destroy it.

"I was helping to prepare the Crystal Empire for winter when King Sombra made his return, and attacked. Thus, I was unable to respond immediately when Spike informed me that you found a small tendriculos. I had to re-activate the Crystal Heart before coming here when Spike sent the second letter." Her horn glowed again, causing the other four ponies to materialize around the pair. Applejack had dropped her hat in the fight, and was probably in the middle of searching for it when Celestia brought her up there. The other three looked like they had been wading in filth, and smelled a bit like it too.

But Rarity wasn't complaining about that at all. Her attention was fully on Rainbow Dash, who still hadn't let go of her. She had tried to save her right up to the end, even though she had no idea Celestia had arrived. "Oh Rainbow... You really must stop saving my life; this would be the second time you know..."