Meanwhile, Rarity and Spike followed a sign directing into the castle's spooky back yard garden. The sign was painted with the words "Exit", so they assumed "exit" meant the exit out this haunted mansion place. However, that wasn't the case…especially after an hour of trenching through the vines and cobwebs that surrounded every inch of their path. And all those vines, branches, and cobwebs kept hitting Rarity and Spike in their faces. Especially in Rarity's face. For some reason, the universe loved Rarity that night. Because of these natural elements, Rarity's hair and costume looked like some demented version of a princess.
Not only did they have the pleasure of the garden's natural delights, they also had giant spiders, beetles, rats, and owls popping in front of their faces scaring them to death. Those creatures took every opportunity, every five minutes or so, to surprise and terrify the pony and the dragon. These little surprises, after an hour, started to deeply annoy Rarity. And this annoyance made her very grumpy. Combine this with her overall tiredness and frustration to get out of that garden, Rarity was not a happy camper and she was not afraid to show it. In order to show this, she kept groaning and grumbling every time she swatted away a branch or a spider web getting near her face.
Spike clearly saw this frustration, and he wanted to help Rarity forget her stress. He suggested to Rarity "Um Rarity?"
Rarity answered while swatting away a giant beetle about to scare them "Yes darling? What is it?"
Spike, a little taken back by Rarity's willingness to hit another living thing, continued "It seems like we are getting nowhere this way. Maybe…we should…head back the other way?"
Spike prepared himself for a frustrated remark by Rarity, knowing that Rarity can be very stubborn once she has set her mind on something. She never gives up, even if it drives her crazy. Not to mention for a beautiful mare, she can be quite strong and can be very determined when taking charge. It was what he loved about her, but in times like this, he terrified him to the core. He was surprised to hearing Rarity sigh in defeat.
Rarity turned back to face Spike and said "You're right, this little path of ours is getting us absolutely nowhere." She gave him a little smile before adding "Let us go…"
Her thoughts were soon interrupted by a booming thud right behind her tail. Spike let out a small but panicking scream before pointing is claw to this lurking and shadowy creature behind Rarity. However, she didn't turn around just yet.
The creature happily came out of the darkness of the tree's shadows and revealed his true identity in the moonlight peeping through the clouds over the garden. It was the werepony that they saw earlier when they first came into the haunted mansion. In the light, Spike could see the more detailed feature of this hairy pony. His ragged fur was a shade of dark brown, his eyes were the colors of a fire, and his ears were slightly bigger and furrier than those of a bat ponies. But the detail that catch his attention the most were the massive paws that were his front hooves. He remembered those hug claws trying to catch his feet from earlier, that made him gulped in fear.
The werepony stood up on his hind hooves, rising his paws over Rarity's head and let out a low but nightmarish RAWR! The roar blew through Rarity's mane like a hurricane and it was accompanied by his spit and drool. And yet, Rarity didn't mind this. Spike noticed how her face was very straight and emotionless through this experience. He had a bad feeling that something was going down.
The werepony smiled evilly at his own roar and waited for the sweet sounds of girlish screams. Instead, he was rewarded with Rarity turning around to face him and shouting "Oh Rawr! Rawr! Rawr yourself!"
The werepony was very much taken back by this and started back up when Rarity continued shouting "Oh yes I'm so scared! Scared by a little roar! I can roar too you know! Watch this…ROAR! Growl! Ruff! Oh look at me, I'm the BIG BAD PUPPY!"
After Rarity's light rant, she started to pant slightly trying to catch her breath. All she can do was stare with deep frustration at this werepony with his back against the tree. All that he can do was stare at this loud and expressive pony in front of him, truly shocked to find himself terrified by her and secretly asking for her mercy. Spike's jaw dropped to the ground when saw Rarity's rant, so surprised to find this beast looking like a puppy at Rarity's hooves.
After a long moment of silence, the werepony uttered with a lump in his throat "I don't know what to say…"
That statement didn't erase Rarity's frustration and annoyance in her eyes as she kept staring at the werepony. As if waiting for an apology for scaring a lady such as herself.
The werepony slowly started to approach Rarity. Rarity didn't back down from her position, showing no fear in the face of this creature. The werepony uttered "Yet all I can think to myself is…"
Rarity was surprised when the werepony…grabbed her front hooves with his paw and leaned into her face with hearts in his eyes! He sighed "how can I scare away something as terrifying and as cute as you?!"
Rarity soon felt an embarrassing blush building upon her face, her mind with swirling with the confusing turn of event. All that she could let out was "GAH?!"
The werepony brought Rarity into a dancing dip position and sighed "Oh what a sweet sound!"
Rarity screamed inside her head WHAT IS GOING ON?!
The werepony stared deeper into Rarity's eyes and said with a smile "What is your name my sweet but ferocious creature?"
Rarity was feeling uncomfortable and awkward by how close the werepony was holding her and how close his face was to hers. She stuttered while trying to turn her face away from his face "R-R-Rarity. Rarity is-is my name."
The werepony's face brightened when he heard her speak. Her voice was attractive even in a non-shouting state. But more importantly, her name was ringing in his ears. He sighed "Yes. That's exactly what you are. A rarity. Opposites combined into one. Contrasts living in harmony. The monstrous and the beauty in one pony."
Rarity exclaimed while trying to push him away with her front hooves "The monstrous?!"
The werepony eagerly asked "Tell me, are you part werepony by any chance?"
Rarity insulted by that question huffed "Well I never!"
The werepony ignored this and beamed "Or perhaps part monster in general? Oh, it doesn't matter if you are or if you're not. To me, you're the most beautiful monster I've ever seen."
Rarity lets out a frustrated grunt, trying to get out of the werepony's powerful grip around her waist. The werepony was about to lean closer into Rarity and sing another praise to her when he was interrupted with a small nip on his tail.
This nip didn't caused any pain to the werepony. He let Rarity out of his embrace, and looked at his tail to find the little dragon snarling his teeth into it. The werepony let out a flamboyant yet hearty laugh at this, and started shaking his tail. Despite the shaking, Spike didn't let go. He was determined to show his punk what he was made of. NO PONY HOLDS HIS RARITY.
The werepony chuckled "Haha would you look at this? Your little dragon friend likes me."
Rarity, silently creeped away from the werepony, let out a nervous chuckle "Yes…it appears to be so."
Spike noticed this on the corner of his eye. Rarity gave him a look that when she starts to run, he runs too. Spike gave her a small nod on this new plan.
Rarity then began to head back towards the path that leads them out of the garden, while still keeping her gaze on the smitten werepony. This made the werepony eagerly grin at her, sweetly showing her all of his sharp teeth. Those sharp teeth made Rarity gulped in fear, but she quickly regained her composure.
She remarked in fake cheerful tone "Well, this whole experience was quite…interesting. But we better get going. So many more scary places to visit, so little time. Plus, we need to meet up with our other friends soon. You know how it is…"
The werepony followed her mindlessly as she slowly progressed down the trail, not really paying attention to what she was saying. Spike release his grip from the werepony's tail, and tip-toed to be behind Rarity.
As soon as Rarity saw Spike by her side, she quickly added before speeding off "Ta-ta!"
Rarity galloped with Spike holding tightly on her back, leaving a trail of dust behind. She headed towards the castle with great haste. The werepony let out a dreamily sigh, showing an expression of love on his face. Apparently, he wasn't insulted by Rarity's behavior but rather felt encouraged. He pranced down the trail like Pepe Le Pew after his new pony crush, with his eyes closed and a goofy grin on his face.