Crimson Dance

by Nightmares Madness

Family

Twilight was brought to a changing room in the back of the store where she was left behind the curtain. Faintly she could hear Rarity humming to herself as she moved about. Twilight stood there, unsure of what to do, until the curtain moved and a hand holding several articles of clothing appeared. Twilight took them and Rarity’s hand pulled back and allowed her time to look over the clothing.

“Don’t worry, Darling. I just grabbed a few things to see how it would look on you. Nothing too flashy for now.” She explained as she moved away from the changing room.

Twilight lifted up one of the dresses after setting the pile down on a chair. For something that Rarity considered not too flashy, the dress held many gemstones. The gems were set in a rainbow flow from the shoulders, down following along the chest and then down over the whole front and ended at the hem of the dress.

Twilight tilted her head and scrunched her lips before setting the dress down. She picked up another one that was a color other than white. It caught her eye as she looked it over, seeing that it was a a mix of midnight blue with swirls of a lighter blue.

With a smile, Twilight moved to remove her robe, before wincing and crying out slightly.

“Twilight, whatever is the matter dear?” Came Rarity’s voice, the silhouette of her figure appearing at the curtain.

“I don’t know. I felt some pain in my side.” Twilight responded uncertainly, trying to lift the garment of her robes high enough to take a look.

“Would you mind if I came in and took a look?” Rarity offered.

Twilight could not see the spot where the pain was coming from, so she accepted Rarity’s assistance.

Twilight stood there, feeling somewhat ashamed as Rarity took a full minute to look, occasionally running a finger her or there. In one particular spot over her lower ribs, Twilight hissed in pain.

“I fear one of the stallions may have been rougher on you than he should have been.” Rarity explained, before her horn lit up, and once more, Twilight felt the tingling of magic over the spot. “I fear I am not very good with healing magic. It would be best to have one of our healers check you. As far as I can tell, you don’t have anything broken, but again, I am not experienced enough.” Rarity commented, sounding apologetic.

“Thank you, Rarity, but I will be fine. It’s nothing more than a little discomfort.”

Rarity stood up and looked at Twilight, as she let her robe down, “If you wish, Twilight. I still think it would be best for you to stay here in town for a little bit.”

Twilight thought it through, perhaps if she did take time to find as much info on this area, including as much history as possible, she may be able to find out anything she may have missed before. With a deep breath, Twilight made her decision and worked to change into the new dress. As she stepped out, Rarity gave her another critical eye.

“It’s very dark, and your fur is already dark to begin with. For any artist, one must choose light colors to go with dark, yet somehow this looks nice. Not as good as I can usually do, but I think it works for you.”

“Well, I am not one for anything flashy, Rarity. The mages only ever wore earthy tones for their robes. That was what I am used to, and its simple and easier to deal with.” Twilight commented before moving over to look at herself in a mirror.

“Out of curiosity, Rarity, who was that red stallion with Bonbon?”

“Ah, that was Big Macintosh. Heir to the Apple family farm. He also has suffered loss. Though, he went from a very outgoing and friendly young thing to, well,” Rarity halted as she thought back. “Big Mac, as we call him, is a very strong and quiet individual. He takes care of others, but none more than his two younger sisters, Applebloom, and Applejack. We are actually still waiting on Applejacks return with the rest of their living relatives for the celebration.”

“Celebration? What are you celebrating?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Why, one of our greatest traditions, of course, Darling.” Rarity explained, giving Twilight a credulous look. That is, until she remembered Twilight was raised among humans. “Oh, dear, I’m terribly sorry. I don’t usually make such faux pas. You see, we are preparing for the Summer Sun celebration. To celebrate our late Princess Celestia.”

Rarity continued giving a short history lesson, but at the mention of Celestia, Twilight turned her mind inward to the memory of her dream.

“I always thought she was just a figure... A myth, like the Mare in the Moon.” Twilight spoke quietly to herself.

Rarity’s ears perked up as she turned to Twilight, “What was that dear?”

“Rarity, is there a picture of Princess Celestia? Or a book on her in your possession?” Twilight asked, turning and placing her hands on Rarity’s shoulders, an expression of fear and apprehension.

“Well, I don’t but you can find all that at the library. Twilight, darling,what has gotten into you? Whatever is the matter?” Rarity asked, concern evident in her voice and face.

“I-I don’t know, but I need to get to the library. Please?” Twilight’s pleading looks tugged at Rarity’s mind, but she nodded in agreement and turned to lead Twilight from her home to the Ponyville Library.

(^-(*,_,*)-^)

“Come on now, I don’ like th’ look o this place. I think we best git goin’.” Came the drawl of an orange pony with long blonde mane and tail.

It looked so delicious, its meat so well developed. It would certainly make a good meal by itself, but this one had been kind enough to bring a greater number of ponies to territory that was unsafe for such delicious prey.

Beyond the view of the road, golden glowing eyes stared out, fangs bared, stomach quietly churning in hunger as they stalked the group of ponies.

His own mouth was salivating as he peered passed the tree, ducking as the orange pony turned in his direction. When a predator stalked its prey, stealth was the greatest weapon for a predator, turning that into a surprise to frighten and harry its prey before taking down the weaker. But this, would not do. It had taken time to gather the clan together, and even longer to get them under control.

So, now they stalked greater gatherings of ponies with their larger more fearsome and more intelligent gathering. It was his goal to allow his clan to feast on the greatest meal they would ever encounter. It was a town of ponies not too far away. They had attacked the town various times and had nearly broken through. They needed an edge, something to draw them out, or open those gates long enough to get in.

When his scouts had informed him of the pony that had left, he had considered allowing a small meal. However, when he left to follow the pony to see it for himself, he came to realize it was going for others to bring back. At that, his mind began to form a plan. A plan that was bound to draw out many of the other ponies for sure.

His fangs bared now, claws scrapping down the bark of the tree as the time was so near, so close. He fought against his instincts to just attack.

The orange ponies ears lifted and turned this way and that as she slowed and began to carefully look around before turning to his direction. She went to take a few steps forward, before the sound of younger ones drew both her attention, and his.

Young ponies, the weakest of the weak. The instincts to rush ahead and feast was growing to be too much, and he knew the lesser intelligence of his clan would be even harder to quell.

“Hey, ya’ll youngins need ta get on back now, ya hear? It’s too dangerous-” The howls of multiple wolves lifted into the air from nearby on the far side of the road.

Grey Fang inwardly cursed his foolish pack, but he could not blame them as many more began to sound off. In seconds the sounds of movement through the brush could be heard closing in on the road from all directions. The fear in the eyes of all the ponies, the very thick scent of their fear was overpowering his mind. Grey Fang lifted his muzzle to the air and bellowed out, turning it to a long winded howl.

“Git, go on, git to town. Ponyville is only around the next bend a couple of miles up the road.” The orange pony commanded, moving to allow the wagon of supplies to go by as well as many of the elderly and younger ponies.

Grey Fang stepped out from behind the tree he had been hiding behind, drool dripping from his mouth as he approached. His eyes met with the eyes of the orange pony, delighting in how they grew almost as large as his palms.

(^-(*,_,*)-^)

“Bonnie,” the deep voice of Big Mac drew Bonbon from her musings turning to see the big red stallion looking up to the tops of the wall to the South of town. His ears were facing forward, a look of concern on his face. They had just seen the new unicorn, and Rarity heading over to the library as they worked their way around the inside of the walls checking to make sure everything was fine. It was rare for the stallion to say anything more than a yes, or a no, well, in his own way. So, hearing his deep baritone of a voice sudden cut through the air, a hint of fear with it immediately clued Bonbon in to something being off.

“Guards, we got trouble, I need a team with me now!” Bonbon called out to a group of stallions and a couple of mares not far away. The stallions looked as though they had been resting, taking time to eat some food they had just picked up. They dropped their food onto the table they had been sitting at and immediately grabbed their weapons and moved to join Bonbon, and Big Mac as the two moved to the hidden door at the back of the town.

The group moved off, Big Mac leading, with Bonbon hot on his hooves. She had made sure, after ducking through the door, to pull up a simple crossbow and load it before they went off into the dark shadow trees of the Everfree forest a few yards away. There, they quickly found the old road that Applejack would have had to take to get home with the rest of the family.

(^-(*,_,*)-^)

Grey Fang moved in, his muscles taught, a growl emitting from his throat. HE and the orange pony circled each other, watching, waiting. When the other ponies had ran off, most of his clan had given chase. He wanted the orange one for himself.

As the Alpha, it was foolish of a couple of the others to try and take her down before he could. A couple attacked, being knocked back as the orange pony ducked and sent the two wolves falling to the ground after bucking one with her hooves into the other. Grey Fang was excited to have a worthy prey, and challenged another of his clan as it tried to take the pony when her attention was on him. He sent the three off into the woods, furious at their disobedience.

It was a few seconds more of the two watching each other, before Grey Fang launched into the air. The pony dodged his body, easily enough, but did not quite dodge the claw. He struck her across the muzzle lightly. She jumped back, blood seeping through the cuts.

The scent of it was like so delicious, he could not help but to lick at the claw, and savor the taste. The orange pony took a hand and wiped some of the blood away, smearing the rest over the fur. He did not mind, it was as if she were flavoring herself more for him. All thought fled his mind as he took a stance and ran forward with a roar.

(^-(*,_,*)-^)

Once Big Mac and Bonbon were certain the Apple family was safe and being taken back to the village, bypassing several fallen wolves, the rest having scattered, they turned back to move further into the forest.

Bonbon was truly concerned as Big Mac was becoming erratic in his behavior. Yes, his family was safe, and he certainly did not have to worry about Applebloom back in town, but his sister, AppleJack was still missing. One of the apple members, Golden Delicious, if she remembered correctly had said they caught sight of a were attacking AppleJack.

After a few more minutes of running, they came round a bend and spotted the things on its knees, blood pouring from its mouth. Big Mac let out a horrified scream, and there, below it, in a smear of blood was AppleJacks well known stetson.

In a rage, Big Mac surged forward, tears flowing freely from his eyes. The beast looked up, and let out a savage growl. Bonbon worked a bolt into her crossbow, cursing herself inwardly for not having taken time to reload before they reached this point.

She struggled, nearly dropping her crossbow in her rush to get it reloaded as Big Mac and the beast went at each other. Claws and fangs swinging and gnashing, fists hurling through the air. As the familiar click signaled Bonbon she had finally loaded the weapon she brought it up, ready to take aim and fire.

This was not to be as she had saw Big Mac had pinned the beast to the ground, his muscular form working with all his might to keep it down while also trying to avoid the snapping jaws.

“Move, you need to move.” She screamed out.

Big Mac made a mistake of hesitating, allowing the beast to bite into his shoulder and push him up and over onto the ground. Bonbon gritted her teeth as she took aim and shot, watching as if in slow motion as the bolt sailed through the air and stuck into the side of the beast. It released its bite from Big Mac and let out a pain filled howl.

Before either could do anything, calls of a couple of the other guards could be heard rushing up from behind. The beast turned its head before running off down the road. She saw a spear land, sticking into the ground as it narrowly missed its target. She and another guard rushed forward to tend to the red stallion.

“Oh, you big idiot.” Bonbon cried out as she skidded to a halt and dropped to her knees.

Big Mac had rolled over and grabbed the now ownerless stetson and held it close. Bonbon did her best to try and talk to him, to ease him in his grief for his sister. He refused treatment as another stallion had tempted to briefly dress his wounds. He was bleeding from the bite of the beast, but it didn’t seem to bother him. The pain of that physical wound paled in comparison to the wound in his heart.

Bonbon could only hold him close and try to comfort him.

It was still several minutes before they could reach the stallion and get him up off the ground. They worked to try and get him to move. The forest was far too dangerous of a place to be at any time, and the sun would be setting soon enough. None wanted to be anywhere outside of town when the sun began to dip below the horizon.