Aethraspex was given only the second chapter and was asked to write this third chapter.
Rainbow Dash casually bucked away a dark cloud that had somehow escaped from last night’s storm. Flying through the crystal clear breeze and the warming air was like a dream. The world presented itself to her, every hill, lake and cloud waiting patiently to be explored. She saw Rambling Rock Ridge in the east, where it seemed the sun hung directly overhead, and banked to fly towards it. As she suspected, Rarity and Spike were there, crawling along its open dust fields in search of gems.
“Oh, do be careful darling,” Rarity was saying to the digging dragon, “All that horrid mud will ruin your cologne.” This compliment made Spike turn a bright red and briefly stop digging. The soil was still soft from the rain, so it wasn’t hard work, but he nonetheless gave it his all. Suddenly Spike struck upon an emerald, one of the largest they’d found so far, and held it to the sky. It was so clear that he could see a pony diving from the sky like a missile on the other side.
“Rainbow...?” Spike muttered.
“It’s a lovely gem, Spike, but are you sure there’s more than one colour...?”
Rainbow Dash landed in the mud with a splat. An inescapable wave of mud flew in every direction. Rainbow, somehow, mostly escaped the mess, but when she turned around she saw her friends were less fortunate.
“Hey Spike! Rarity! What’s u-?” Rarity’s eyes met Rainbow’s in a stare that could match Fluttershy’s. “Are you alright, Rar?” she asked.
“...Rainbow Dash.” She responded.
“Don’t worry, I can fix this,”
“Oh no you don’t!” she cried. Spike had already leapt on Rainbow before she could fly away. Both crashed back into the mud while Rarity slowly backed away from the tussle. “Pardon me Rainbow Dash,” she asked once they had stopped playing, “But what in Equestria brings you out here?”
“Oh, right, heh. Have you guys seen Fluttershy? I checked around her place this morning but I couldn’t find her. Angel seemed pretty panicked though, and the door was beat up.”
“I’m afraid I haven’t seen her since yesterday.”
The gentle jingle of a bell rang across the ridge. Everypony suddenly snapped to attention, looking for the source of the sound. Though they hadn’t had an incident with the diamond dogs since Rarity was captured, they couldn’t be too careful. Rainbow spread her wings, Spike raised his claws and Rarity thought of some complaints. They heard the jingle again, louder this time.
A claw, scratched and gnarled, emerged from behind a bush. Next came a nose, nostrils flared wide and pressed against the ground like a dog. Behind the nose was a pair of glowing green eyes and long rows of crooked sharp teeth. Finally, almost hidden by the thorny ropes growing like weeds from its head, was a small collar with a bell. It dragged its dirty brown body out into the open with long and heavy steps as if it carried a great weight. It stopped, and one of it’s eyes swiveled onto the three companions.
“What is it?” Spike asked.
“I-I’ve never seen such a thing before...” Rarity replied.
“Was this the strange pony you said you saw, Rainbow?”
“Does that look like a pony to you?”
Somehow, the land went dark. The monster charged, twisted sounds of horror issuing from its mouth. Rarity squealed and threw a nearby rock in vain. Rainbow flew in full speed. Spike, after a moment’s hesitation, followed. With a mighty uppercut, Rainbow landed the first blow, but the beast brushed her aside with a single back-clawed swipe. Rainbow spiraled off like a swatted fly and the creature hardly paused for a breath. Spike skidded to a halt, turned, and ran the other way.
Too bad Spike’s stubby legs were no match for the creature’s thumping bounds as he was snatched up into the creature’s maw. Much more fortunately, his thick dragon hide saved him from its needle-sharp teeth. He stood fully upright between the creature’s jaws, raking at whatever exposed flesh was within reach. This hurt, apparently, and the thing writhed about like a snake on fire as it tried to get the dragon down its throat.
Meanwhile, Rarity searched frantically for a solution. She searched Spike’s canvas backpack, through her own wagon, even on the ground but only found sandwiches, gems and mud respectively. Something cold splattered onto her nose and began running chilling lines down her muzzle. She looked up to see some lost part of last night’s storm blocking out the sun. She looked back to the creature, then to Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow!” she called, “Rainbow, quick, the clouds!” She watched as the pegasus, clearly winded, struggled to lift her head. “Clear the clouds dear, you must!” she called again, a little louder. Rainbow looked up and understood. In a sudden gust of feathers she launched herself into the air and punctured the thick layer of clouds.
A spot of sunlight brightened the ground. It quickly became larger and larger, engulfing first Rarity, and then Spike and the monster. The thing froze. Seeing a single ray of sun made it turn its head and hiss furiously. It spat Spike back out and sprinted for the cover of the trees, it’s tinkling bell quickly fading to silence. Rarity caught Rainbow as she fell she fell exhausted from the sky and hurried over to see to Spike. Neither were hurt too badly.
“What was that?” Rainbow asked as she clutched her bruised ribs.
“I don’t know dear, but I think we should tell Twilight about it.”
Twilight was huffing by the time she arrived at Zecora’s hut. She could hear at least two voices behind the zebra’s door, and the window revealed somepony wearing a large, dusty cloak. She ran up and knocked on the door. The voices went quiet, briefly allowing the sounds of the forest to fill her ears. Finally Zecora opened her door a crack and pressed her eye against it. Upon seeing Twilight she seemed to relax, widening the door invitingly.
“Twilight Sparkle, come in and have a rest. But please excuse me, I have another guest,”
Twilight trotted tentatively through the threshold, her hooves makes a soft clip clop against Zecora’s wooden floor. On the opposite side of the hut, Zecora’s guest came into view. Like Sweetie Belle had said, it was a kudu, and she was watching Twilight with dark eyes shrouded beneath the hood of her cloak. A thousand questions leapt to the front of Twilight’s mind, but all she could do was stare.
“Some sort of introduction must be shown, Shujaa is the name by which this kudu is known,”
“Why, hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle” Twilight said, placing a hoof on her chest. The kudu nodded her head, allowing Twilight a glimpse of her spiraling horns behind her head. Shujaa then faced Zecora and launched into a string of incomprehensible syllables. Suddenly Twilight regretted giving all those books to Cheerilee about Zebrica, one of them might have helped her translate kudu. Luckily, Zecora could more than help in that regard.
“Shujaa is pleased for you to have met, but the short time she has here is her true regret.”
“Oh, she’s leaving? But I have so much to ask her about her magic and culture. Do you really have cutie marks? What’s the southernmost part of Zebrica like? What are you doing here in Equestria?”
Zecora and the kudu exchanged a meaningful glance, then began talking again in their foreign language. Twilight watched in fascination, her head bouncing back and forth between the speakers if only to confirm who was speaking. The language had an almost musical lilt to it and, though she wasn’t sure, they might have been conversing in rhyme. Finally, Shujaa reached her muzzle into the folds of her cloak and produced a small satchel tied at the top with string. She trotted over to Twilight and dropped it into her hoof, giving one more nod to Zecora.
“Shujaa came here for a spirit from her homeland. She chased it far over sea and sand. Now the demon has been destroyed, staying too long she would like to avoid. But if her assistance further you seek, that charm will take you to Zebrica in under a week.”
“Thank you...” Twilight said as she stared up at the kudu before her. It occurred to her how tall kudu were compared to ponies, which made her feel timid somehow. For the first time too, she noticed Shujaa’s soft, confident smile. Shujaa turned to leave at last.
“Wait!” Twilight cried, “Before you go, can I ask you just one thing...?”
It was getting dark but Fluttershy finally woke up. Around her, birds were chirping gently in their birdhouses and small furry creatures scurried to make their nightly preparations. Angel bunny was standing in front of her with a worried look on his tiny face. Behind him was her cottage, the door swinging on only one of its hinges, the other seemingly clawed off.
“...Angel?” she croaked. Angel suddenly embraced her in a heartfelt hug. He might have been crying. Something on her jingled.
Fluttershy groaned. The wrenching hunger she had felt this morning had been replaced with a sickening fullness, as if some creature’s carcass was gathering flies in there. Not only that, but every muscle ached and her head felt like it was splitting. She forced herself to look at her... hooves, they were back to hooves. She felt somewhat relieved, but that didn’t change the taste of blood swilling around her mouth.
The worst part was, she didn’t know how much of it was hers.