Another Day Beyond the Shield

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Phalanx and Hoplite grimaced as they stepped beyond the shield, the heat of the rising sun already starting to make them uncomfortable. They knew they had to make it into the Everfree before the sun was up too high, lest they be roasted in their armour before they reach the treeline.

With hardly a word exchanged, the two made their way towards where they had heard the guard say the noises of the Terragon and an unknown monster came from, hoping they'd find signs of what happened quickly and before the victor showed up.

"What do you suppose it is?" Hoplite asked between breaths, "The thing that fought the Terragon?"

"Beats the hay out of me," Phalanx responded flatly, "But whatever it is, I don't want to meet either it *or* the Terragon in there. I just want to find out any sort of sign of what happened and get out before the Terragon, the monster, or even the Diamond Dogs show up. Just the two of us have absolutely no chance against all three of those, so let's be as quick as possible alright?"

Hoplite tried to nod between strides, though that didn't much seem to work, "Alright, sounds good," he responded, "I'll just follow your lead."

"Oh don't burden me with that, then you can blame me if we find trouble in there," Phalanx joked.

"Oh ponyfeathers, you got me there," Hoplite chuckled.

[Red Charge]

The two walked through the forest, Phalanx' training with the Changelings paid off, as she was able to successfully track the Terragon. The early morning seemed to be the magic time for the forest, as nocturnal monsters were going to sleep and the others have yet to wake up, so the two were left only with a stressing feeling of being watched rather than encountering anything. After a while of walking they finally found major traces of the Terragon, blood on several trees, others just ripped out of place. Apparently they have arrived where the Terragon encountered the other creature. They could see through the trees even more burnt and ripped down trees ahead, in growing amounts.

The blood on the trees seemed dried and smelled horribly sulfurous, would that be the Terragon's blood then? Could be either way. Perhaps taking a sample to be analyzed would be proper protocol, in case they can't find the other creature.

[Deleted]

Phalanx grumbled, they had been wandering for what felt like an age trying to find some sign of the Terragon in the forest with no sign of getting any closer. She scowled to herself, how was it a massive lumbering beast like a Terragon could hide in the forest? Better yet, whatever it supposedly fought, how could it hide either?

She was pretty close to giving up and heading back when she smelled something absolutely disgusting. Was that the stench of sulphur? Even Hoplite down below seemed to be covering up his muzzle with a foreleg. Phalanx quickly hurried Hoplite to where the smell was coming from, where they were greeted by a scene of destruction and blood.

Phalanx was getting nervous now, whatever this was could probably kill them in mere seconds. She could potentially escape through the treetops, but that would leave Hoplite alone on the ground, likely an easy snack for whatever beast had survived. She let herself fall back to the ground next to Hoplite, feeling more comfortable standing near her brother than when she was scouting up in the air. Hoplite slowly walked forward through the scene of destruction, looking about both in awe and anxiety.

"Should we take a sample of this stuff?" Hoplite asked Phalanx curiously.

It then occurred to Phalanx that they hadn't brought anything besides their weapons and armour, expecting to be back in less than a day. They hadn't brought anything to take a sample of the blood with them. "Maybe, but with what?" she replied with more than a fair amount of snark.

Hoplite shrugged, "I'unno, get some of it to try on your speartip or something."

She grumbled, what if that stuff melted her spear? What chance would they have then if they encountered that beast? Well, considering she was planning to escape with Hoplite at the first sign of major trouble, not much worse off than if she didn't. She unsheathed her spear and made her way over to a patch of the blood, trying to get some of it to cling or dry on her speartip while Hoplite continued wandering deeper into the clearing of demolished trees.

[Red Charge]

The blood stayed sterile on her spear, not causing any significant effects to it other than dying the tip red. The two continued to follow the trail of blood and destruction until they reached the inevitable scene of the final struggle between the Terragon and whatever killed it.

The dead Terragon was lying still on the ground, its side torn open and its insides missing. Whatever it was that killed him had no trouble breaking its bones and disemboweling it. Examining of the Terragon's body would reveal that whatever attacked it had huge claws, big and strong enough to tear through the Terragon's tough scales, muscles and bones alike. But on closer inspection, this wasn't even the same Terragon they had fought earlier, Malachite's forces had more than one?

Approaching the Terragon's head, its mouth was wide open in a silent scream, dried blood stuck while spilling out. The throat was torn open as well, making a puddle of the same sulfurous smelling substance. Phalanx could tell where the other creature had left due to blood droplets and large disturbances in the ground... but did she want to follow it? It could pose a danger to all of Hoofington if she didn't... but wouldn't something this dangerous be for mages like Watermark and White Fire to handle?

[Deleted]

Phalanx resheathed her spear after getting enough of the blood to dye the tip of her weapon, quickly catching up to Hoplite. Her brother was standing almost stock still, staring with an opened muzzle at the sight of the dead Terragon.

Whatever it was had completely eviscerated, disembowelled, and other completely mauled the Terragon. She didn't care what it was any more, she was more than determined to get out of the Everfree *immediately*. She grabbed Hoplite's shoulder and tugged in the direction of Hoofington. The earth pony, however, hardly budged and continued to look to the dead Terragon. He even took a few tentative steps towards it.

"Come *on*, Hoppy! We found what happened already, the Terragon lost. Now let's go home!" she yelled at her unmoving, witless brother.

He pulled his arm back and looking to Phalanx with a stern look. "Whatever's out there could threaten Hoofington's safety," he replied flatly, "At the very least we need to find out what it is."

Phalanx shook her head, "Uh-uh, no. Noooooo way. If the Terragon didn't stand a chance, what makes you think two siblings from Hoofington do?"

Hoplite frowned, "Aren't you even a *little* bit curious?"

Phalanx rolled her eyes, "Of course I am, but I'm not stupid. If we find it, we're almost guaranteed to die worse than the Terragon did. You can taunt me all you want about being a chicken here, but at least we'll live!"

Hoplite grumbled, walking towards his sister, "Fine, fine..." he practically muttered as the two quickly started making their way back towards Hoofington.

[Red Charge]

Whatever it was that killed the Terragon, it was not ambushing them in the woods ahead. The way home was as clear as it was when they came in and within a few hours they were on familiar forest grounds again. Hoofington was now before them and they had to go break Watermark the news.

[Deleted]

The two soon found themselves right back in the forest, much to their dismay. Phalanx had actually attempted to convince Hoplite to stay behind on the way in just to reduce the chances of both of them dying, but the stallion had refused. Whether they liked to or not, they had to go back in there and at least see the creature before leaving again...as harrowing and lethal a thing as that was.

The two started making their way back towards where they had seen the Terragon corpse again, looking for that trail once more to see if the beast was still around or at least had left enough of a trail for them to follow it.

[Red Charge]

The scene was the same as when they had left it, but of course now whatever was around the forest would probably be wide awake. Meaning they had to tread extra carefully following the disturbances leading from the Terragon corpse.

[Deleted]

Phalanx grumbled as they continued to follow the trail. "Still aren't going to convince you to stay behind, am I?" she asked idly.

"Of course not," Hoplite replied flatly, "Now shut up, let's not make it any easier for that beast to find us..."

And shut up Phalanx did, keeping her attention around her and waiting for any sign of the creature. She was not intent on becoming food for this thing any time soon.

[Red Charge]

As they were trudging through the woods, they were getting the feeling that they were rapidly approaching whatever it was that attacked the Terragon. They could see claw marks on the trees and smell the horrible scent of whatever beast made this territory their own. They were going in the enemy's land now, there's no turning back once they venture forth.

[Deleted]

Phalanx couldn't help but cringe as they grew closer and closer to the beast, the overwhelming stench assaulting her nostrils and nearly bringing her to gag. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that they weren't too far off from where the beast was, and that could only mean they were getting that much closer to a vicious set of tooth and claws the likes of which they stood no chance against.

She turned to Hoplite, "It's obviously just ahead of us. We only need to see it and get out, so it only makes sense the most mobile of the two of us should go in while the other stays on standby," she started.

"And you're suggested *exactly* what I figured you'd say," Hoplite responded flatly, "And something gives me the distinct impression you won't budge on this."

"Well, yeah, that would be correct," Phalanx responded, a bit taken aback at how blunt Hoplite was getting.

"Well then, be my guest. You go in, find whatever it is, get out and we'll head home. Sound good?" Hoplite forced a grin.

"Sure, sounds good," Phalanx grimly responded before heading a few steps towards the source of the stench, making sure to keep in eyesight of her brother.

[Red Charge]

Phalanx had a choice of how she wanted to get in, in front of her was a large hill, likely the creature had a cave in it, probably on the other side of it, which left her with several options. Either she flies above, goes from the sides, or tries to sneak a look from the treetops.

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Phalanx looked about for a few moments, trying to figure the best way to get a look at the beast. She turned back towards Hoplite, hinting that he should move up a bit to keep her in view as she kept continuing trying to figure where to go.

Eventually she made her decision and wordlessly flew up above, trying to get a look over the hill and hopefully see the beast before it saw her.

[Red Charge]

And see it she did, from above it was clear that the large hill she thought was housing the creature's cave was the creature itself. It was massive, with an elongated snout, long arms thick as a wall and claws dug deep into the ground. This hulking beast was about two terragons in size and looked lethal. The most important details she registered was that it was bipedal and ape-like and of course, the most important detail she noticed, was that the creature's eye was open and looking straight at her.

[Deleted]

Phalanx's ears went limp as she noticed the gigantic creature staring at her. She quickly took in it's appearance and back-pedalled through the air towards the treeline. "It's awake, Hoplite! Run for it!" she screamed as she started to make her way out of the tree canopy.

Hoplite, having noticed her sister fleeing immediately, turned tail and started running as fast as he could towards where they had come from.