Title:           Chapter 10: The Everfree Continues
Author:          CookieSfh
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/HUHJJSYW
First Edit:      Friday 17th of June 2016 03:42:36 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Last edit on: Thursday 23rd of June 2016 05:00:09 PM CDT

>You jump off the knocked out manticore and dust off your hooves.
>Taking a look at the manticore, it now has a giant bruise on its head, mirroring the look of a large pimple.
>You try to make sense of it, but Twilight soon flies on over to look at the creature.
>"Wow Anon, you actually took it out in one hit! That's some crazy strength you have."
>You admit, the praise is nice, but this wasn't how you planned it to go.
>It involved more blood and broken bones, but this would have to suffice.
>Taking the manticore's jaw, you lift up its head, revealing its teeth to the outside.
>Twilight cringes a little. "Well, Zecora never said it would be a clean job."
>You shrug, transforming your arm to create suction cups.
>It connects to the sharpest tooth in the manticore's mouth and proceeds to pull it out, eliciting a yelp from the creature, but nothing else.
>You drop the creature's jaw onto the floor and give the tooth to Twilight, who wraps it in her mist and puts it into her pouch. "Alright, that's the first ingredient done. Now we'll need a cockatrice' eyes, though..." Twilight thinks for a moment, wondering if there could be a different way to do this. She didn't want to take away a creature's eyes, but if it was for her son's sake...
>You however, didn't have a problem with it.
>So the both of you proceeded across the bridge and through the rocky terrain.
>But something seemed... off from last time.
>A peculiar scent has filled the air, and it seems to be getting more and more powerful as you approach the forest.
>You create a tentacle to stop Twilight's flight and look around, sniffing around you for the strange aroma.
>"Is something wrong Anon?"
"Something is off from when we were last here, it must of been th-..." just then, Twilight lands onto your tentacle, nearly falling asleep in its grasp.
>"A-Anon... th-the bush..." and shes out cold.
>Great.
>You turn your head to look at the bushes around you.
>A patch to the left, a single shrub in the center view, and a-
>And they just nailed you with one to the nose.
>Taking the dart and throwing it to the ground, you try to morph yourself, but find it too hard to concentrate.
>Your vision is starting to get hazy, and now you realize that you've dropped Twilight onto the ground.
>At least, that's what you think the purple mass on the ground is...
>You try to... think of a way... to stop...
>From...
>...
>You wake up.
>Hanging upside-down.
>Facing a very dirty filly.
>Her mane is unkempt and tons of dirt has been smeared on her fur, concealing any visible color.
>She appears to be jumping in excitement, a bright smile on her face.
>She's a very energetic one.
>Though her eyes tell a different story.
>"Hello~, me. Chinka, you. Punka."
"Do you speak my language?"
>Chinka jumps, her eyes going wide. "You speak! That is good! Um... me good, no bad."
>Chinka walks up to you and touches your face, massaging it out of curiosity. "Oooooh~, no dark. Me wrong?"
>You try to speak, but she constantly nuzzles you and keeps moving your cheeks up and down, mirroring that of a child fluffing its pillow.
"Dommph ymph nmph wheraah, Twilaaagh imph"
>"Tunka? her go there. You go here." Chinka points over to the right, which lays an unconscious Twilight laying on some leaves and mud.
>And finishes her sentence by booping you in the nose.
>Your face scrunches up, which causes a chain reaction inside of you.
>Tentacles emerge out of the vines restricting you, cutting them to shreds and grabbing a nearby branch.
>Before your limbs are able to pull you away, Chinka grabs onto you, pulling the both of you into the tree.
>"Punka try leave?! Why leave, stay!
"I couldn't talk, and I won't leave you."
>Chinka loosens her grip on your head and looks at you with a slight blush. "... you won't?" but before she can finish, she loosens her grip too much, causing her to fall to the ground.
>She squeals and squirms as she falls, but stops as a tentacle catches her, inches from hitting the ground.
>Lowering yourself to her level, the both of you sit on the ground as your tentacles retreat back into you.
>And Chinka, instead of panicking, looks at you brighter than before. "Dark... me right!"
"Before you berate me again, what is the substance you used to make me pass out?"
>Chinka thinks, trying to process what you just said, and then she lights up like a light-bulb. "Oh, sticky! Me use numnum for grubstub."
>She walks over to Twilight and picks up a long, hollow stick with her hooves.
>And then she reaches into a few leaves, taking out a green slime and slathering it onto the tip of the stick, creating a liquid wall on the end. "Grubstub go here, numnum need blow for dart."
>So the dart itself isn't coated.
>Only the tip.
>Taking a look at Twilight, she seems to be resting comfortably, trying to constantly grab onto the nothing in front of her.
"Chinka, do you have an antidote?"
>"An-ti-do-te?"
"Cure for Tunka."
>"Oh! me have here." She goes into the pile of leaves again and pulls out sticky yellow sap. "Rub on Tunka, Tunka goes up!"
>You nod and take the yellow sap from her hoof and walk up to Twilight.
>While you are smearing the sap onto her forehead, you notice a faint glow on her horn.
>Weird, maybe it has to do with whatever she is dreaming.
>Chinka moves next to you and pushes up to your side to see what it is. "Oh, glow thing on head!"
"It's a horn."
>"Horn?" but before you could explain the horn, Twilight's eyes open up, cancelling the faint glow.
>"Erm... huh? Anon? Wait, who are you?"
>"Me. Chinka, you. Tunka, yes."
>Twilight gets up and brushes herself off, looking at you with a confused look. "Ummm... so this is the pursuer?"
"Yes. I regret to say that she hit me with a dart."
>"Huh... anyways, how are you doing um... Chinka?"
>"Me good, want help."
>"Help?" Twilight is caught with curiosity as you look around at your surroundings.
>"Me need flower, glow like blue!"
>It appears that you both were out for quite a while.
>"Really? We're gonna look for a flower just like that!"
>A little after dusk, with hints of pink sunlight at the edge of canopy.
>"You need flower? I need flower! Two need flowers!"
>A rustle comes from one of the bushes, causing your ears to twitch.
>"Well, we can both look for them then."
>You face the direction where the noise came from, and see what looks like a reptiles tail come out from the bush.
>"Yay! friend Tunka and Punka!"
>You walk up to the bush and pull the tail out of the bush, making whatever it is to screech.
>A scaled creature with the feet and head of a chicken, and a draconic complex.
>The description fits, now to take the eyes.
>The Cockatrice attempts to stare daggers into your soul, but you feel nothing.
>Mostly because your ignoring its eyes and dangling the monster in your grasp, making it dizzy.
>Putting it down, it wobbles a little in its confused state and tries to stare at you, but fails to keep both pupils aimed at you.
>You take this opportunity to transform your hoof into a multitude of tentacles, taking one of the suction limbs, and grasping both eyes.
>And with a swift pull, and a swing from your other hoof, the eyes release from their sockets.
>The creature screeches in agony, blood streaming down its face, before collapsing.
>And that's when you start to hear more from your surroundings.
>Turning to Twilight and Chinka, they are screaming you at the top of their lunges.
>Guess you'll have to wait for them to stop.
>You adjust the tentacle's back into a morphed state of what would be your hoof and take a look at the two eyes.
>The bright scarlet spheres glow in your grasp with ominous power.
>It looks nice, like an ornament you'd hang on a tree.
>You put the two eyes into your saddle bag and look back at the two screaming ponies.
>They haven't stopped.
>So you walk up to them, and slap them both with your hoof.
>You try to do it as gently as possible, but you still manage to leave a red mark on both their cheeks.
>The both of them shake their heads and look around confused.
>"Huh, uh? Anon, what happened?"
"I got the eyes of the cockatrice. You and Chinka were screaming when I finished."
>You point to the passed out cockatrice on the ground, which makes Twilight twitch and trigger a gag reflex.
>"Couldn't you have... maybe done something else?"
"We need these eyes. This creature doesn't need them anymore."
>Twilight's waves of regret make it all the more unpleasant to you. "Couldn't you have done something a little less drastic?"
>"Uh... me no feel good no more..." combined with Chinka's confusion and fright, it looks to be a bountiful feast of emotions tonight.
>So you decide to try and fix the situation.
>You walk up to the passed out cockatrice, its sockets still leaking crimson on the grass.
>Enhancing your right eye, you can see the knots and ties inside the creature.
>Mystic chains of grey mist intertwine along the edges of the creatures deformities.
>"Anon, what are you planning to do?" Twilight feels worried about your intentions, but you assure her.
"I am fixing the problem. Just give me time."
>Before Twilight can interject, surprisingly, Chinka grabs onto her.
>"Let dark work, work good, pass bad!" Twilight hesitates to go against the fillies judgement, but stays in place for her sake.
>The two bite their lips as you open your mouth and retract your jaw.
>But instead of growing out your teeth, they instead transform into tentacles, contorting against themselves to create a circular hole in the middle of your mouth.
>And with that, you begin to suck the magical essence out of the cockatrice.
 
 
>Your mouth drains the essence out of the cockatrice like a funnel.
>The mist of locks and chains pour out of the creature's neck and legs, separating both the limbs from its body.
>They float in the air as the rest of its body deforms and distorts, growing feathers and retracting its wings in terms of length.
>As you vacuum the rest of the essence out of the body, the head and legs float back into place, locking themselves onto their new body.
>The head morphs and screeches in agony as two new pairs of eyes grow in there place.
>After the essence is emptied from the creature, it drops to the ground, allowing you to swallow all of it into yourself.
>A sweet nectar flows through your throat, making your tentacles pulsate, black veins glowing across there slimy surfaces.
>Is this what chaotic energy feels like?
>Tastes familiar, but nonetheless, you saved the chicken.
>It looks around and happily clucks before running off into the forest.
>Probably to become food for the other chaotic creatures that live here.
>Twilight and Chinka seem to be happy, with bright smiles strewn across their faces.
>"I can't believe that actually worked. How did you do that?" before you can answer, Chinka chimes in.
>"Dark! Dark! Good for Bongo!"
>As you revert your mouth back to its regular form, Chinka watches in awe as the pulsing tentacles morph back into teeth.
>Twilight walks up to you and pats you on the back when you turn back to normal.
>"So you're really able to take the chaotic magic out of the forest?"
"Yes. I am taking back what is mine."
>Twilight nods understandably and looks at Chinka, who is still wide-eyed.
>"Dark to be. Be! Me need flower. You need flower. Let go!" Chinka points to the direction left of the bush, so the two of you follow her lead.
>The trek through the forest is not as eventful as the mountain trip, and you make it to a little grotto in the middle of the forest.
>Though Twilight is acting more alert than the both of you, checking every nook and cranny she can while making her way through.
>You and Chinka both stare at the center of the grotto.
>On the cliff at the lowest points are little light-blue flowers, complimenting the sight of the night as they twinkle like the stars in the sky.
>You go to swim across when Chinka stops you.
>She shakes her head and takes a single pebble from the ground.
>Not too small, but not too big either.
>She takes it, and throws it into the water, creating a little ripple on the surface.
>Twilight catches up to the two of you and you all watch as the ripple in the water starts to foam and sizzle and eventually, dying down to nothing again.
>"Acid water?" Twilight chimes.
>"Yes, bad for me. Bad for you. Need help!"
>Looking around for options, the only way you could get across is through sliding your way down the cliff and using suction to stay in place as you grab the flowers.
>But that sounds too tedious.
>Luckily for you and her, Twilight already had it worked out in her head.
>Taking her wings, she flies on over to the cliff, right above the acid.
>Using her horn, two flowers are plucked off the cliff side and are levitated into her bag.
>Satisfied with her work, she hovers on over to the both of you with a kind smile.
>"See, nothing to it." she hovers one over to Chinka, who looks at it with stars in her eyes.
>"Oh~ Thank! Thank! Me... me thank..." Tears stream down her face.
>Yet you don't sense sadness, more... happiness.
>You wonder how long she has been out here in the forest...
>Alone...
>All by herself...
>Twilight brings her in for a hug and comforts her. "There, there... whatever you need that flower for, I'm sure it was all worth it."
>Chinka wipes away her tears and sniffles into her hoof. "It so long..."
>Twilight brushes her mane with her hoof and levitates the the flower out of her grasp and into Chinka's mane.
>"All better?"
>Chinka smiles, a tear still in her eye. "Mhm!"
>Chinka gathers her composer while Twilight gives off waves of love that can only be rivaled by that of a proud mother.
>It makes you happy.
>But now, it's time for the last one.
>The timber-wolves.
>Sentient wood, you'll have to destroy them in order to obtain the essence they hold.
>But the main problem would be the cloud.
>How would you be able to keep them from moving?
>Manipulation as you know can move the living, nonliving, and matter itself.
>Even if you tear it to shreds, it might just move itself onto you.
>Or into you.
>You'll have to consult Twilight on their abilities before facing these creatures.
>But something tells you that it won't be that simple.
>Not for you.