Chapter 9
Gramzon held his hand over his left eye as he growled in pain.
"Are you alright?" Slenderdragon asked as he crouched on the branch with Gramzon.
"I think so." Gramzon said ad he looked at his watch.
Through the watch Gramzon saw a stream of strange symbols.
"Damn, then it's worse than I thought." Gramzon said in an annoyed tone.
"What's wrong?" Ember asked from a branch above.
"I'll tell you later." Gramzon said as he launched forward.
Twilight and the others were making their way through the forest.
"Where is it?" Twilight asked herself.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement through the trees. When she turned her head in that direction she didn't see anything.
Just then, black tendrils shot from the surrounding trees grabbing ponies left and right.
"Stay away from them!" Twilight said as she shot a beam of magic at a tendril holding two ponies.
The tendril released them then wrapped around Twilight pulling her into the forest.
"Leave her alone!" Rainbow Dash said as she slammed downward onto the tendril.
The tendril released Twilight and slithered back into the trees. Twilight had to catch her breath as she watched everypony disappear one by one. Until only the Elements of Harmony were left.
"We need to get them now!" Twilight said as she turned but then, Twilight realized that she was stuck.
The other elements were stuck as well, slowly sinking into the tar-like substance. Tendrils were pulling them in even faster.
"Don't give up!" Rainbow Dash said as she tried to fly up without success.
Then one by one they vanished beneath the surface. First was Rainbow Dash, then it was Applejack, next was Pinkie Pie, after her was Rarity, then it was Fluttershy, and finally Twilight. She felt the tar creep up her neck until she heard something.
"Mom/Twilight!" Two voices called out.
Twilight felt two arms wrap around her and lifted her up. She looked back and saw Spike and Amethyst flying her away.
"We have to go back and save them!" Twilight exclaimed.
"I'm sorry Twi, there's nothing we can do." Spike saud as he tried to hold back his tears.
The words were bitter on Spike's tongue, and Twilight could tell. They just lost their friends to the darkness.
"And I'm a friend of Gramzon." Gilda said as she put her hands down.
"Yeah right, Gilda died over 50 years ago." Isen said as he dropped his helmet.
"The Gilda you know of is my great grandmother." Gilda answered, "but my name is also Gilda in honor of her."
Isen looked at Shadow.
"She's telling the truth." Shadow said as he put Blackest Night away.
"Ok Shadow," Isen said as he slightly relaxed, "So why are you here, Gilda?"
"Well, things always tend to heal with time.
Mordecai was sniffing the air, searching for his brother.
"Where are you at?" He asked himself.
He took a step forward only to trip and land on a sharp rock, impaling him.
"I'm going to find him and kick his ass until he tells me why I can't die." Mordecai said as he stood back up, his wound instantly closing.
"I'll tell you why, because you can only die of age." Gramzon said from a branch above.
Mordecai looked up and saw his brother standing on a branch above him.
Mordecai scowled, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Things were... Hectic." Granzon said.
"So what's next?" Mordecai asked.
"We regroup with the others." Gramzon said as he jumped to the ground.
"Ok," Mordecai said with a nod, "by the way, I fought one of those creatures."
"I know, I felt that shockwave from your fist. Gramzon said with a chuckle.
That's all for this chapter. A nice Christmas present for you all to read. This is the last chapter for 2018. See ya all next year.
Happy holidays everyone.
And a happy new year... Hopefully...