Rainbow Dash gets caught up in a strange mess with a Mysterious Pony which ends up turning bad.
While doing a task for Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash gets caught up in a mess with a Mysterious Pony. After the incident, Rainbow then starts to go through some strange changes, in panic she seeks out her friend, Twilight, She gets intrigued with the matter and investigates her friends mysterious problem...
“Fluttershy, where are you?” Rainbow Dash cautiously walked into the shy mare’s home. She could hear some sort of commotion on the second floor “I’m here for-?”
“RAINBOW DASH!” Fluttershy jumped down the stairs grabbing the blue Pegasus along the way.
“DO YOU KNOW WHERE HE IS!?” Shaking Rainbow frantically.
She quickly pushed Fluttershy off her, “Where who is?”
“Angel, my beloved bunny,” she replies “He is...MISSING!”
Dash could the tears building up in her eyes. The Pegasus sighed. “You want me to find him I guess?” the yellow mare sniffed and looked at her. “If it isn’t much trouble, I have to take care of other things, please bring him back to me.” Dash gave a quick determined smirk. “With these wings.” Gesturing to her back “I'll find Angel in no time.” Just as Dash walked out the door, the other Pegasus stopped and told her. “Please be careful with him, he doesn’t like flying that much, try to keep all four hooves on the ground.” Dash just casually said “Of course ill be careful.” Then she leapt up into the air with extraordinary speed on a quest to find the little white rabbit.
***
Dash prowled the skies in search of the bunny, but to no end. “I thought it would be easy to find one little bunny...”She thought to herself quickly “When I put it like that, it actually sounds quite hard.” She giggled to herself silently. She continued her flight “He has to be close, I can feel it.” While she was skimming the clouds, there he was, bouncing into the Everfree Forest. She stopped suddenly, questioning if she should go into those mysterious place. “Why Angel, of all the places in Equestria you have to go there?” She landed her hoofs on the grassy ground and cautiously walked into the eerie woods.
“Angel, come out little bunny, where are you?” She walked with her head close to the ground as if to smell it. It was difficult for her to see with all the overgrown foliage blocking her view constantly. She looked up, she saw someone. it wore a brown hood and cloak just walking deeper into the forest. “Zecora?” she said cautiously. The figure stopped moving, alerted to the Pegasus’s presence. “Hey Zecora, have you seen a bunny by any chance, little white fluffy one-“ The figure turned suddenly, the hood covered the wearers face but the bright yellow eyes were clearly seen. Rainbow stopped dead still, not making a move. The strange figure then suddenly vanished into a cloud of smoke. Dash was shocked beyond imagining, she then began to breathe again, very heavily. “I don’t think that was Zecora, she would of recognised me." She shook her head to refocus. "I have to find Angel and get out of here, this place gives me the creeps.”
She quickly began to start worrying, “I’m looking for a bunny while a mysterious figure may be following me right now, and who was it?” She thought to herself. She slowly moved a bush out of her way into a clearing. a quick glance and she saw her prize, Angel. Relief filled her body, “Finally, now to get out of this creepy place.” She rushed out and grabbed the bunny as fast as she could. “Angel, why are you in here?” she whispered loudly. “It was so much trouble to try and find you.” A noise from behind broke her concentration. “We gotta get out of here, quickly!” She placed the bunny on her back and began to run back towards Ponyville. Nothing could stop this pony, nothing. The determination to get out of this place was seen on her face. It was a good thing she practiced running nearly as much as flying. But something caught her hoof that sent her falling face first into the dirt. She was dazed for a couple of seconds before shaking her head to see clearly, Angel was running ahead of her. “That slick little bunny.” She said, “You think you can run away that easily.”
Dash then scrapped her front hoof on the ground like she was about to charge. She didn’t realised something was wrapped around her hind leg until she face planted again into the dirt. “What!?” She looked down to see some sort of vine around her leg. She struggled to get her leg free, but the vine was too tight. “What is this, Magic?" She then aggressively yelled at the trees surrounding her "whoever is doing this better show themselves!”
“What a fierce young Pegasus.” A voice called from the trees.
Dash was quick to respond “Show yourself!”
“Your temper child, you better watch it.” The voice continued.
“I’m no child, I’m the best flier in all of Equestria, Rainbow Dash!” She struggled more to get her leg free, kicking her hind legs trying to untangle it.
"Such pride, it will do you no good."
"I guess you're trying to scare me." Rainbow replied "Well, its not working!"
“You think you can enter MY forest and get away with it? An example should be made of you, I think.” The voice replied with a little quiet maniacal laugh trailing afterwards.
A figure walked from the trees towards Dash still wearing the cloak. Dash examined the strange figure. It was obviously a mare by the build, and judging by the magic, probably a unicorn. She then started to rabble some sort of strange language, one Dash had never heard. A eerie dark magic glow came from under the hood and also her hooves. The unicorns cloak fluttered as it raised it hoof at Dash. The chanting was growing louder and louder. The magic on the vine must of weakened for when Dash kicked her hind legs into the air, the vine untangled. She began to run faster than ever before. But the dark Unicorn didn’t stop. Dash felt a weakness surge through her body causing a dark and unnatural feeling upon her. She fought through it though, raising her wings with all her strength. She then jumped and flew with speed out of the forest with her signature rainbow trail not far behind.
***
Fluttershy was cleaning her house once again to try and past the time. “It’s been two hours since I last saw Rainbow Dash; I wonder why she is taking so long?” She looked out the door to see Angel bounding towards her. The joy she felt lifted her spirits up. “Angel, my dearest pet, where have you been?” Angel began to communicate in sign language about his little adventure into the Everfree Forest. “The Everfree Forest! Why in Equestria would you go there? Everypony knows that the place is 'unnatural'.” The bunny then gestered eating something. “You went in to find something to eat?” He was quick to reply with a nod. From what Fluttershy could make out, he is implying that he went in to eat something that only grows inside Everfree Forest. “Well, tell me next time you’re going away, I was worried so much, yes I was.” Angel sighed. He didn’t seem amused by the Pegasus’s behaviour.
She then realised something, “Where was Rainbow Dash?” She thought to herself, “Is she still looking for Angel?” She suddenly gasped when she realised that “She must be in the Everfree Forest, BY HERSELF!?” Then the faint sound of her name was on the wind “Fluttershy!” Right on cue, Rainbow came screaming out of the woods directly into the other pegasus. Fluttershy lifted her head slowly to the sight of Rainbow Dash. She seemed tired. “RAINBOW!” She squealed and hugged her. “Uhhh, ok Fluttershy, you can let go now.” She said awkwardly. “Angel came 5 minutes before you what happened?” she questioned. Rainbow sat down on one of the chairs “It’s, complicated...”
In the warm colours of Fluttershy’s house, the two pegasi were talking of a strange matter. Rainbow Dash was telling Fluttershy of the strange happenings inside the forest. “This mysterious unicorn, she claimed that the forest belonged to her and I was intruding.” Fluttershy was intrigued, “A mysterious unicorn that lives in Everfree Forest?” she questioned. Dash replied with a nod, “A strange pony she was, she spoke some weird language which I certainly didn’t understand.” Gesturing with her hooves indicating she was crazy. “But her magic was evil, some strange incantation was casted on me.” The other pegasus was shocked, she then started questioning her “Are you alright, did she hurt you, do you feel strange?” Dash just looked at her, “I feel fine” She replied, “I think she was just trying to slow me down, but I was too fast for her.” Fluttershy then settled down knowing there should be nothing to worry about. She sort of felt responsible for Dash's dilemma though, “I’m so sorry Dash, if only I knew that Angel was in Everfree Forest, you wouldn’t have to go through all this.”
The blue Pegasus just smiled and tapped her on the shoulder, “It alright Fluttershy, no one could of known.” She got up from her chair and started to walk towards the door. “I’m alright now and that is good enough for me, just enjoy the rest of your day Fluttershy.” The yellow pegasus replied with a smile. “Good bye Dash.” When Dash was away, Fluttershy was telling herself “She is alright, nothing wrong with her, everything is alright.” But she had this strange feeling that it wasn’t the end of this mysterious caper.
***
When Rainbow finally made it back to her home just as Princess Luna began to raise the moon, she was quite tired and could collapse at any moment. “I could really use the sleep, what a strange day this has been.” She laid down on one of her clouds and began to wonder, she was always thinking about the strange unicorn all the way here. Who was she, what did she even do to Dash? She thought of it as nothing and decided maybe it was time for some shuteye, it really has been a strange day.
***
The blue pony tossed and turned on her cloud as she experienced strange dreams. There were quick flashes of destruction, ponies fleeing, and her friends calling her name. “RAINBOW, COME BACK!” Dash thrashed around, there were creatures roaming Ponyville terrorizing the village, “NO, IT CAN’T BE!” She was saying to herself. “HELP ME!!” There were strange symbols, she could see them, what were they? “THIS CAN’T BE REAL, STOP!” By the time night started to end, Dash was still wrestling with herself, convinced that the nightmare was real. “HELP ME!”
***
The sound of the birds brought Dash out of her slumber. She opened her tired eyes, “My head.” She said slowly, she must of had a rough night. She slowly made it to a mirror and looked into it. She laughed when she saw her hair was messed up more than usual “Wow, my hair looks terrible.” She ran her hooves through her hair trying to keep her style. “There, all better.” She walked a few steps when her mind started to remember the nightmare she had. What horrors she saw, the pain she felt was almost real, the words she heard still were in her mind “RAINBOW, STOP!” Shaking her head seemed to stop her thinking about it. “Well at least that nightmare is over, it was only a dream.” She was still a bit sleepy when she was pacing on the clouds. she shook her head constantly to keep her awake, “Maybe a quick fly will wake me up.” She thought to herself. The blue pegasus walked to the edge of the cloud, looking down onto the ground below. “It just going to be another day of flying.” she said with a wild smirk.
Dash closed her eyes and dived off her cloud and tried to spread her wings. But she couldn’t move them, they were incredibly weak. Her eyes opened in shock “WHAT!?” she yelled. She was now freefalling towards the ground, in panic she tried to move her wings. She struggled to open them, her heart was racing. She was scared for the first time in a long time. eventually the wings lifted and she began to slow down. She was flapping furiously to slow herself until the force of the wings started to decelerate her. Surprisingly she landed with all four hooves on the ground. When she landed, her wings quickly retracted onto herself from exhaustion. Rainbow was shocked beyond imagining, “My wings, why is it so hard to move them!” She glanced backwards to look at them and saw something that wasn’t normal at all. Her cutie mark was some sort of black patch. It resembled the shape of a wolf’s head. “What is this, WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CUTIE MARK?” Dash started to panic, frantically trying to wipe away the mark.
The symbol had some sort of familiarity to it, like she had seen it before. But that didn’t distract her from the fact that her cutie mark is gone. She tried to wash it off the mark but it didn’t work. It was there and hers was gone. She had a sudden realisation that this must of been the dark magic from the forest. “It was her, she has...CURSED ME!” Rainbow couldn’t believe it, a curse. She was denying it, “No it can’t be, as twilight says, there must be a logical explanation.” She kept telling herself that. She then thought of a way to fix it “I know, I’ll go and see Twilight; she must have a book on it or something.” The pony then sprang into action, running towards the borders of Ponyville with tremendous speeds.
***
Life was as per normal in the quiet hamlet, ponies were shopping, having friendly chats, Pinkie-Pie riding a unicycle, all was normal. But the tranquillity of the place would break suddenly when Dash came storming through the streets towards the library. “What’s her hurry then?” Bon Bon mentions to Lyra. “Its Rainbow Dash, she is always in a hurry to someplace.” She replied continuing to walk along the road. Dash’s objective was in sight, “TWILIGHT!” she yells continuing her charge. Spike leaned out the window to see who it was, it was Dash running towards him. “Uh, Twilight...” “Spike, I’m busy.” She replied stacking some books on a shelf. “But Twilight, Rainbo-“ “Spike, I’m concentrating.” Just as she started to place the book onto the shelf, the door busted open. The force shook the building, which made some book fall out. “What in Celestia?” Twilight turned around and saw the tired blue pegasus. “Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?” she said looking quite puzzled. Dash was taking deep breaths “It- I don’t under-?” “You’re not speaking sense Dash, collect your thoughts, why are you here.” Twilight tries to calm the pony down.
She took a deep breath and talked a bit slower. “Well, it started- when I was doing something for- Fluttershy.” The purple unicorn sat down and Dash followed suit. “Ok, you were doing something for Fluttershy, then what?” Dash was trying to remember, yesterday was becoming a blur. “I went into Everfree Forest to find- um, ANGEL.” She blurted out “After I found him I encountered a strange unicorn in the forest.” Twilight gave her a serious look, “A mysterious unicorn inside the Everfree Forest?” She was thinking in her head if she read something about it. She grabbed a notebook from her table and a pen with her telekinesis, planning on writing some notes. Dash was rubbing her eyes, showing her restlessness. “The pony placed a spell on me, A CURSE.” Twilight gave her a weird look. “There is no such thing as a curse, I thought we proved that when we met Zecora.” “So a curse doesn’t change your cutie mark, prevent you from flying and give you horrific nightmares!” Dash responded aggressively.
The unicorn raised an eyebrow, “So your cutie mark changing isn’t the only problem??” “Well, I couldn’t sleep last night, I had strange dreams about of all of you and Ponyville.” Twilight was intrigued “So you had dreams of our group, what was happening?” Dash was cringing when she remembered the horrific images. “There were creatures attacking Ponyville, they looked sort of like ponies but were furry, like a dog and were more vicious, and they seemed to... eat the other ponies.” “That sounds like a terrible dream, why do you think you would dream this?” Twilight replied in horror. “It was the curse, that unicorn CURSED me, she is trying to scare me or something and make my life suck.”
The unicorn knew it must be more than that, she got up from her chair to find a book, “There has to be a book in this library on what is happening, maybe even on this mysterious pony.” Dash just sighed, she got up from her seat and started to walk towards the door, “Well, I’m off to Sugarcube Corner to get something to eat, I’m peckish for something sweet.” “Dash, maybe you should stay, just in case anything else happens.” She said looking quite worried. Dash looked at Twilight, a glint of anger was in her eyes, “I’m grounded and my cutie mark has changed, I need to eat something or I’m going to scream.” Twilight was shocked, “What’s with Dash’s sudden mood change?” She began to really worry about her friend; she tried to convince her to stay. “I’m really worried about this dream, I’ve heard of magic that can trigger visions of possible futures.” The Pegasus rolled her eyes in annoyance, “Ill to be back OK, you don’t need to be there for me!” Dash then stormed out of the building with such anger.
Twilight could see her eye colour had changed from the strong rose to a bright yellow colour, a strange change in her behaviour, “What is with her eyes and the aggression when she went to leave, what is happening to my friend?” And that was it, the Pegasus was gone and the silence filled the library once again. The unicorn knew that she may have to act fast in finding an answer, Dash just suddenly got very interesting.
“I hope you’ll be fine watching the store for a moment Pinkie, I have an errand to run.” Mrs. Cake told Pinkie as she left Sugarcube Corner. “Don’t worry Mrs. Cake; the shop will be safe with me.” She replied with a great big smile. Mrs. Cake just smiled as well and walked out, knowing that Pinkie is a capable mare.
All was business as usual; many customers came in before the interesting blue pegasus Rainbow Dash walked in. “Hey Dashie, do you want something to eat!?” Pinkie Pie was smiling cheerfully at her. Rainbow looked up at the happy pony and sighed. “I wouldn’t mind something to eat right now.” She replied as she sat on a stool. Pinkie just smiled happily as usual, “I know what will turn that frown upside down.” The pony reached down into the glass cabinet and pulled out a pinked frosted cupcake. Dash looked at it; the cupcake didn’t look as satisfying as it normally does. “I don’t know Pinkie, I feel like I don’t want it.” The pink pony just laughed heartedly, “How can you not like cupcakes, just try to eat it and I bet you will love it.”
Rainbow was very sceptic about it; the little cake was staring into her face. She slowly glanced at Pinkie; she was smiling happily waiting eagerly to eat it. Rainbow leaned down and nibbled at it. Her eyes became wide open and her iris shrank, the taste wasn’t sweet and nice like usual. Her body seemed to reject the sweet treat. She spat it out, spurting the little bits of pastry over the counter. Pinkie was shocked and she begun to ask questions “What was wrong with it? Was it burnt? Why don’t you like it?!” She leaned down to investigate the cake, the lifeless sweet sat there with only one nibble taken from it. The pink pony quickly consumed the whole cupcake. Whilst munching on it, she gave her verdict. Her speech was muffled but still understandable. “It tastes fine to me.” Rainbow only replied with a sigh, she turned around and headed for the door “Well thanks Pinkie, ill just walk it off. Just as the pegasus walked towards the door, Pinkie noticed something different. “What is that on your flank!” she asked abruptly, pointing her hoof at the strange black symbol on Rainbow.
Rainbow stopped, with her eyes flinching and her head was twitching slightly. She again remembered the startling visions she had last night. The strange symbol, All the violence and horror was all there, more intense than ever. It began to slowly burned itself into her mind. Dash collapsed on the floor in pain. She was clamming her hooves against her head, screaming to make it stop. Pinkie wanted to help but she didn’t know how. “Dashie, what’s happening, what do I do?” Pinkie was panicking, she had to do something. She ran to Dash’s side “DASH, COME BACK TO US!” All the other ponies in town were drawn to the scene. Dash was making violent movements; her whole body was twitching and tensing. The ponies stepped back, shocked of the scene in front of them. “DASH, COME BACK!” Pinkie yelled. Rainbow stopped moving and her eyes opened suddenly. Her iris was a bright yellow, an unearthly sight to behold. “Are you ok Dashie?” Pinkie questioned. The blue pegasus slowly made it to her feet. Breathing heavily, she looked around at her surroundings. All the ponies, including Pinkie surrounded her, shocked. She was confused about what had just happened, “Why is everypony staring at me?” She said. Pinkie tried to explain to her what happened. “You collapsed on the floor making some scary movements.” Dash kept trying to think back, she found it hard to think, trying to remember what had just happened. “I don’t remember what happened.” She replied.
Pinkie was scared for Dash’s safety, “Maybe we should take you to Twilight, see if she knows anything.” Dash pushed Pinkie away, showing her anger on her face. “I don’t need her help, why do you think I need help!” she stamped away from the commotion with anger. “DASH WAIT!” Pinkie yelled. Dash ignored the ponies cries and continued to walk. The crowd split when Dash walked near them, giving way to the angered pegasus. All the ponies were speechless as none of them would say anything to Dash as she walked away. The few whispers that were thrown around were all about Dash’s little scene, all of them being questions on what was wrong with her. The word cursed was tossed around the mass of ponies. Pinkie knew something was definitely wrong with Dash, and maybe Twilight would know something about this.
***
Dash walked away from Ponyville with strangeness in her heart. The strange hunger was still lingering inside of her. A feeling of an eternal hunger, to eat something, but what was it? She thought for the moment, “The hunger seemed to intensify when I saw the ponies around me.” She was trying to piece it together; all the strange happenings have to point to something. She knew something was caged up inside of her, like a beast ready to release and take over. She felt its presence but didn’t know what it was. Remembering all that has happened today, piecing it together slowly. She thought back, “Why did I anger so quickly at Twilight and Pinkie?” She noticed that she was angering over the smallest things, and also not wanting help from others. Pinkies words ‘Dash wait!’ resonated in her mind, she had heard that before. She heard it from her dream. Was her vision coming true? Was Twilight right? She had to see Twilight about this; Dash was wrong for leaving her out. She sprung into action, running back into town on a mission to figure this out.
***
The afternoon sun was setting on the countryside once again. The sun stricken road was open to him once again. Looking out from under his mattered hood, he saw his destination. Ponyville, a quiet and cheerful little hamlet, yet somehow manages to get into all sorts of trouble. But he wasnt just visiting, he was on a mission. As the wooden carriage pulled into town, many lingering eyes were on the stranger. He was a strange stallion, wearing a hooded cloak over his face obscuring it from view. he stooped the carrige in the middle of town and stepped off. Removing his brown hood he looked around the surrounding area. All the other ponies were fixated on him, staring at the strange character. His coat was a shadowy grey, as was his mane yet darker. Two violet eyes were looking around, for any sign of difference or change.
All the ponies were scared and frightened by this character to talk to him, many walked indoors and closed their windows just like the times of Zecoras visits. As the stallion walked through town, he could feel something was stirred in the air. A door opened and out walked a brave mare. Miss Cheerily cautiously walked towards him, hoping to get some answers for his visit. "You there pony, what is your buisness in Ponyville?" She questioned the stranger. The stallion looked in her direction, sending a cold shiver down her back. His voice was deep and low "I'm looking for a pegasus, perhaps you may know her?" The cerise pony began to take a few steps towards him. "Most of us here in Ponyville know one another, can you give me specifics?" The Stallion reached into his jacket and pulled out a scroll "I'm looking for the one they call Rainbow Dash."
Many books layered the floor of the library as Twilight scoured the shelves for the information she required. "There has to be a book on strange magic's or something in here which will describe Dash's problem." she said to herself. Her faithful assistant Spike was also on the look for anything leading to this mystery. The search was furious as ever even when they were interrupted as a pink pony came charging through the door screaming frantically. "TWILIGHT!" Pinkie was yelling at the top of her voice. The unicorn turned quickly, seeing the exhausted pony “What is it Pinkie Pie, Is there something wrong?" Pinkie was breathing heavily; she took a deep breath and began talking quietly. "There is something wrong with Dashie." Twilight eyes widened ‘Did Dash do something bad?’ she thought to herself. She walked towards the pink pony to ask some questions about Dash. "What happened with Dash?" Pinkie begun by sitting down on the wooden floor, she collected herself then begun to explain. "Well it started when Dash walked into Sugarcube Corner, she wanted something to eat so I gave her a cupcake, but she didn't like it!" she expressed with her hooves.
The unicorn was sort of relieved, it wasn’t anything serious. She questioned Pinkie’s usual but strange statement "Are you sure the cupcake wasn't bad or something." Pinkie stared at Twilight confused by Twilight’s “It was fine, I ate the cake after and it was delicious." The unicorn sighed and turned to her books once again. She listed the mental note with the others. "So she maybe had a change in her diet as well." Pinkie was surprised and confused. She questioned her “As well?" "Yes, she came to me in the morning about something's that happened, was there anything else?" Pinkie looked as if she was in deep thought, "Well, she began to walk out when I saw that her cutie mark was different, did you know that!" "I knew that already Pinkie, was there anything else?" "But after is what was scary, she collapsed and was making violent movements, she also look in pain." Twilight stopped and turned to her abruptly, running up face to face with Pinkie. "She was making violent movements, is she alright?!" "I came to see if you knew what was happening." "Well where is she now!?" Twilight questioned. A voice came from the door, "Where is who?"
Both the ponies looked to the door to see Rainbow Dash. Her hair was messier than usual and her eyes had the unnatural yellow once again. "DASH!" Pinkie called out and ran to hug her "Your alright!" Rainbow just accepted Pinkies gesture but was here for Twilight. She let go and wandered towards the unicorn "Twilight, I'm sorry about before, I should of listened to you before." Dash apologised whilst looking at the ground. Twilight looked at her and accepted the apology "its ok Rainbow Dash, your here now and that's what matters." As Dash went to sit on a chair, the sounds of rapid steps down the stairs came, it was Spike. He ran down the stairs holding a book. "Twilight, I think i know what's wrong!" Twilight jumped with happiness, she grabbed the book with telekinesis and put it on the pedestal. She read "Creatures of Equestria: Volume 3, Mystery creatures?" She was confused with Spikes find, what would a book on mysterious creatures have to do with this. "Spike, can you explain how this helps?" As the other ponies gathered around the book, Spike explained "You know I'm the one for supernatural stuff, which I know you don't exactly believe in but I think this actually might be true." Twilight sighed but listened intently to the dragon’s words. "Well turn to page 16 and see." Twilight did so, and it was an interesting concept. The title at the top told of the creature "Marewolves." "Marewolves!?" Pinkie and Dash both exclaimed.
She turned abruptly to Spike, "Marewolves don't exist Spike, just like zombie ponies as well." But Spike didn't back down, he knew something was right about his theory. "Just read Twilight, you will see my reasoning." The unicorn thought back about one of her lessons she was taught, 'never judge a book by its cover', well in this case a page. She began to read the first lines "Marewolves are one of the most mysterious creatures known to ponykind. They were a strange creature which roamed the forest during the dark ages of pony existence, but are presumed extinct. Their isn't much evidence to back up their existence but many believe they still exist to this very day." Dash questioned spike, "What does this have to do with me?" Spike just asked Twilight to keep reading. "Marewolves are supposably a doglike creature as big as a pony and are very aggressive, known to actually kill ponies!" Dash thought, 'Doglike creatures, like the ones from my dream'. "According to studies, Marewolves originate from a strange spell created by the great Malthazar, a powerful unicorn, the spell changed those which it was casted on, it changed them into these bloodthirsty creatures!"
There was a long silence in the room, could it be true. Is Dash becoming this crazed creature described here? Dash broke the silence finally, "WHAT, HOW CAN THAT BE TRUE!" she yelled. Everypony in the room turned to Dash. "It could be true." Twilight slowly said. Spike spoke out, "Read more Twilight and that could prove my point." The unicorn turned to the book and begun again. "This spell went out of control and affected some ponies, which turned into these creatures, but the spell was far worse than anticipated, if someone survived a bite from the creature were doomed to become this menacing creature." The attention turned to Dash once more, she looked shocked and scared. "That can’t be true at all, can it Twilight?" she questioned. "Well, there are spells for shape shifting that do exist, maybe this might be true." she pondered on her answer. Spike spoke out once more, "Read the symptoms on the next page." Twilight turned the page, wondering if this could be true. "Marewolf symptoms: A pony suffering from Marewolfism may show certain symptoms, strange nightmares, Loss of appetite, physical changes and allergy to silver." The list was complete; Dash had all the known symptoms. There was only one way to be sure if Spikes theory was correct. Pinkie picked up a silver bowl, "So if Dash touches this silver and nothing happens, then your theory will be wrong, right?" Pinkie asked. "Technically yes." She looked at Dash. "Dash, if this theory is true-" The pegasus was in the corner of the room shaking in terror just as she did when she had her nervous breakdown in Cloudsdale. She was shaking uncontrollably and they could see the fear in her eyes. "Here we go." Pinkie said. She stepped towards Dash holding the bowl in her mouth, the tension in the room was frustrating, everyone wanted to know the answer. As Pinkie approached Dash cautiously, there was a loud knock on the door which broke the nervous air. The voice was deep and menacing "I'm looking for Rainbow Dash!"
Everypony in the room felt their gut drop; the deep voice from the door stopped everyone in their tracks. Everyone was dead still when the voice answered another time, "Is there anypony here?" Twilight's heart started back up, she breathed in and walked painfully slow towards the door. She was slow to answer the mysterious stallion. "Yes there is someone here, how can I help?" As she closed on the door, everyone inside the library began to react. Pinkie gestured for Rainbow to follow her upstairs. Rainbow carefully lifted herself from the wooden floor and followed Pinkie upstairs. "A pony in town directed me here, is Rainbow Dash around?" the voice said from beyond the door.
Twilight opened the door slowly, opening only a crack to see the figure. He was tall and majestic; the brown cloak still covered his head covering his face. He looked to have some sort of strange device on his back, long, wooden and metallic. She stuck her head out, "No, I haven't seen her around for a while, last time I saw she was in the market." she said with a nervous smile. It was hard to see the facial expression of the pony, but the way he stood and the way the dark void of the hood stared into her said that he didn't seem convinced. The nervous sweat wasn't helping with her situation either, many droplets rolled down her face. "Well you won’t mind if I have a look around your library then?" She gulped, followed up with another unnaturally large smile. She looked around the room to find Dash and Pinkie had fled upstairs and Spike was assuming a cleaning position. She turned back, "Y-yes, come on in."
Twilight was never good at lying; she always covered her anxious state with a smile. Letting the guest into her humble library she prayed that Dash was hidden safely. The next few minutes were of quiet observations around the first story of the library, Spike looked to be sweeping the ground as Twilight pretended to sort shelves. The stallion looked cautiously around the room, studying little details around the room. As they did so, Rainbow and Pinkie looked from the top floor, keeping to the ground to stay out of site. As Twilight sorted the books, she was trying to make sense of the situation, 'Who is this pony, why does he want Rainbow?' She pondered on the questions. 'Does he know about Dash being-’ Her heart skipped a beat. The book on the table was lying obviously on the pedestal. Twilight bit her lip as her anxiety grew. She turned her head when her horn began to glow; she lifted the book from the pedestal and levitated it over to her. She carried the book around the stranger, but something made her stop. The stranger stood still as he questioned, "Is that magic I hear behind me?"
The sparkling noise of the magic gave her plan away; she had to make an excuse quick to avoid suspicion. "I saw this lying book around, I'm categorising it back on the shelf." Convinced that the excuse was proof enough, she continued with carrying the book around. Her magic suddenly was dispelled; the book fell to the ground. 'What happened?' Twilight thought to herself. There was a grey glow from under the stranger’s hood; he must have used his magic to dispel Twilights. The stallion approached the book lying on the floor, Twilight tried to smile. "Creatures of Equestria: Volume 3, a book I'm quite familiar with." The grey pony stood looming over the book. The purple unicorn nervously laughed, "Well, I got to put it back on the shelf where it belongs." When she used her magic once again, the stallion stepped on it, stopping it from moving. "But what I find strange is that you are categorising this book under R."
Twilight looked at the shelf behind her, he was right. The shelf was clearly labelled R. The nervous feeling crept up again and she began to worry. She couldn't hold her smile anymore, she sighed with despair. She walked towards the middle of the room where the stranger stood. "You tried to hide this book, why?" She had to think of something, anything to get out of this. She smiled once again and said "I really like the book and I'm still reading it, I don't want anyone to borrow it right now." 'What sort of an excuse was that?' She thought to herself. She kept her terrible nervous smile on her face, 'maybe he will fall for it.' The stranger picked up the book with his magic and levitates it towards the shelf. As he slides it into a gap in the books, he mentions "Its and interesting book."
A sense of relief ran through her as she picked up some scattered books around the place. The stranger seemed satisfied with his finds; he walked out the door without making another word. Spike looked out the window. When the stallion was gone from sight, everyone jumped from their position. Rainbow and Pinkie ran down from upstairs to meet with Twilight. She joked a little, "That was scary, wasn't it." Rainbow cautiously looked outside for the stallion. "Who was that, why did he want me?" Spike suddenly perked up, he ran upstairs once again. "What is it now?" Twilight questioned. "Well, now that he is gone." Pinkie grabbed the bowl and walked towards Dash. She placed it on the ground in front of her. Dash looked at it with her sunburst eyes. Reaching her hoof down into the bowl, when she made contact, her hoof seemed to burn. She lifted her hoof swiftly, and yelped in pain. "What in Equestria?" she exclaimed.
That was all the evidence Twilight needed to prove Spikes theory, Dash was indeed a marewolf. The only question left was how long she had before she became a monster. Twilight once again removed the book from the shelf and to the pedestal. Page 16, Marewolves, affliction. She read "Anypony suffering from this affliction only has 1 night before turning into this monstrosity. But there has been one thing to prevent this horrific transformation, a mysterious plant known as Aconitum or 'wolfsbane'." Twilight eyes widened. "Zecora would have some of this herb I bet." she spurted out. "She has to." Everypony could hear the desperation in her voice. "So we need this herb and it will stop me transforming?" Dash asked. "Well, it will only slow it, buying more time." she replied.
"YES!" Spike yelled from upstairs. He ran down the stairs holding another book. "Here Twilight." Grabbing the book with her magic, she levitated onto a table. She read, "Equestrian Heroes: Issue 2." She saw it was a comic, ones that Spike loves to read. "This one is titled 'Van Helsing' a marewolf hunter." Yet another crazy theory from Spike, his first maybe true but how this one could be. "So this stranger is a marewolf hunter you say?" Spike was reassuring nod made something stir in Twilights stomach. Spike continued "Well, the stranger is mysterious, he wears a cloak and he has a crossbow." "A crossbow, what's that?" Pinkie questioned with a clueless face. Twilight intervened, "I've read something about these fearsome weapons, it’s a device which fires metal tipped bolts at incredible speeds which can potentially harm, even kill ponies and such."
Rainbow's had an incredulous look plastered over her face. "So that stallion is trying to kill me?" The room fell into a silence again; this was a lot to take in for everyone. Twilight looked out the window; she saw the sun was beginning to recede behind the mountains. They only had an hour before nightfall, only an hour before Dash became a ravaging beast.
The night was coming quickly, only an hour before the sun set behind the Receding Mountains. Time was shifting fast even as Twilight began to make a checklist of what the group had to do. 1. Roundup the rest of the group, 2. Goto Zecora’s and find wolfsbane and 3. Hope that they live through the night together. She looked to her pink friend “Alright Pinkie, you will have to rally the other ponies, after you tell them to meet here, you run directly to Zecora’s and ask for some wolfsbane.” Pinkie replied with a simple nod of determination and sped out the door. Twilight turned back to Rainbow and Spike “we have to find you somewhere to be safe, for yourself and everypony else.” Spike replied with a quick and simple answer “What about in the basement?”
***
The orange rays of the setting sun reflected in through the window of the Boutiques. Rarity concentrated hard on her sewing, making sure all the seams were perfect. She stuck her tongue out as she concentrated. It was a beautiful dress, a blood red gown with dark maroon details on the trims. It was a great piece to add to her collection. “Almost done…” she said to herself.
As Pinkie ran through the door, ransacking the place, rarity lost her concentration and pushed the gown too far forward into the machine. Her eyes were in shock, the red gown was ruined. “Rarity, Twilight needs you urgently at the library now! “She yelled not knowing of the art she just destroyed. Rarity bore an antagonizing face, crunching her teeth in hostility. She swallowed all the anger and put on a unnaturally big smile. “Pinkie darling, please be more careful when-” “Sorry Rarity but no time for talking!” Before Rarity could answer, Pinkie was already out the door and running into the distance. “Well, I would never be so discourteous.” She collapsed as she stared at the ruined gown. “She could have at least apologised.”
***
Applejack was bucking away at the solid apple trees shaking all the fruit free. Same as her brother, pulling a wagon full of delicious apples. She stopped from her work schedule, when something caught her ear. She could hear galloping, and it was getting louder. “What in tarnation is that?“ She questioned. From over the hill she could see a pink cloud followed quickly by a trail of dust. With Pinkie in such a rush, it could mean one of two things, she was tracking someone or something important is happening. Both of which weren’t exactly what she had in mind today.
Pinkie decelerated quickly causing wind and dust all over Applejack. When the dirt cleared, the orange pony’s hair was blown backwards and her hat was missing. “Twilight needs to see you now at the library!” “Bu-“Applejack tried to question her but she left as quick as she arrived, running to her last destination before Zecoras. “What is that pony on about, Twilight must really need me if Pinkie was that urgent.”
***
As per normal, Fluttershy was tending to her gardens and her critters humming a catchy toon. All the birds would respond in kind with a friendly whistle back when she finished. “Fluttershy!” Pinkie yelled as she closed the distance. The Pegasus replied with a sudden stop in motion, frozen completely still. In seconds when Pinkie arrived, all the creatures were scattered. “Rainbow Dash needs your help now, go to the library!” She yelled as she sped past. She replied with silence, frozen in fear. By the time Pinkie was gone she unfroze. She was breathing sporadically; it took a while to think about Pinkies order. “Rainbow Dash needs help?” she thought. She suddenly realised, “Rainbow Dash need help!” This must be about the mysterious pony she met in Everfree. She wasted no time in running to town.
***
It was quite the distance to run for Fluttershy, she want much like an athlete like Dash. She was taking deep breaths, trying to pace herself to her destination. She looked around, the Ponyville Park was beautiful in the spring, the birds singing and the lush green grass was magnificent as usual. Her mind began to wander ‘The groundskeeper must work very hard to keep this park in good shape.’ Her thought were suddenly disrupted as she bumped in to someone. Shaking her head from the slight confusion. Looking up, she saw a looming character towering over her. He was a stallion who wore a cloak with hood. It was terrifying for her. She squealed as she did, the pony only replied with a dreaded stare, “Please watch what you’re doing!” The Pegasus clambered to her hooves, looking down at them she apologized "I’m sorry for running into you…” The stallion didn’t seem moved by the apology, he just replied with a question. “You haven’t seen a pink pony gallop past here, have you?” Fluttershy looked at him Oh-um-“She couldn’t think straight, the sudden question confused her at first. “Well-“his intimidating look made it hard to answer. “My friend Pinkie Pie ran this way, she um-“ Do you know where she was going?” She didn’t know what to say, this was a strange character who she was talking to, who was he? She really didn’t know where Pinkie was going. Thinking back, she did remember seeing her charge into Everfree Forest. Taking a deep breath she said "I don’t know where she is, I’m sorry.”
As usual, the stranger walked away with no further questions. He wandered along the path on his way to somewhere. Fluttershy worried again as she picked up the pace towards town. ‘This situation is looking bad.’ She thought to herself.
***
Night descended upon Ponyville like a blanket of darkness. The sound of whistling crickets filled the almost silent air. The serene landscape was calming; it all seemed so safe and tranquil. While all the other ponies prepared for sleep, there were other plans for the ones inside the local library. “Is this really necessary?” Rainbow questioned, gesturing to the chains around her legs. Spike nodded “We don’t want a marewolf running around Ponyville, They are a highly infectious creature! One scratch or bite can turn others into more!” “Spikes right Rainbow. If you change tonight, there’s no telling what trouble you might cause.” Twilight reinforced Spikes answer as she checked the chains.
A knock came from upstairs, on the main floor. “That must be everypony else.” The unicorn said. She ran upstairs to the front door, eager to help her friends in. She opened the door to the sight of her three pony friends. Rarity was quick to respond, “Now Twilight, you mind telling us why you called us here at this ghastly time of night?” “It’s quite important guys, it’s about Rainbow Dash.” The three entered the building with questions in their minds. “Now what wrong this time?” Applejack asks in a sarcastic tone. “Now Applejack, Twilight wouldn’t call us here now if it wasn’t incredibly important, right Twilight?” Fluttershy answered. Twilight replied with a simple nod, from what the others saw her expression she didn’t seem very happy. “You should come down stairs.”
As they descended down the stairs, they were greeted by Rainbow Dash, her legs chained to the floor like some kind of wild beast. This sight was appalling in their eyes. All the ponies answered with a shocked line. “What in tarnation!?” “By Celestia! “ “Oh my!”
“Now Rainbow, why are you pinned down by these horrible chains?” Rarity asked. Twilight was quick to answer, “We have been led to believe that Rainbow has contracted some sort of strange curse.” Applejack and Rarity tilted their heads in curiosity while Fluttershy waited for the news that she knew she was about to hear. “Rainbow was cursed by a mysterious mare and she may turn into a marewolf.” All the mares opened their eyes with shock. “Now what in the hay is that supposed to mean?” Applejack asks with confusion. Spike jumped in seemingly out of nowhere “A marewolf is a dangerous creature, a creature that was once a pony but has succumbed to a sea of rage which changes into a horrific beast!” A lightning strike queued outside the small window which frightened everyone. “Why that sounds horrible…Rainbow, are you alright?” Fluttershy approached her slowly. “I’m fine but I have a strange unnerving feeling running through me.”
As the other ponies all approached her trying to comfort her, Twilight looked to the time, it was eight. ‘Pinkie should have been back by now?’ Even as her friends surrounded her trying to offer what comfort they could, Rainbow was uneasy. The strange vision kept clawing at her brain, like it was trying to crawl out from her skull. Her breathing intensified, the sweat poured from her body, her heart rate increased drastically. Twilight looked to the window, the moon was in full view of her, the soft moon rays filled the room. The room fell silent as all attention was on Rainbow Dash. Her body began to writhe and twitch. Her body seemed to be going through a metamorphosis.
She began to scream in pain, she collapsed and moved violently. Everypony else sat there mesmerised by the scene infront of them. They felt inclined to help her but how could you stop something so fierce. Then the changes started to come through, her hooves began changing, her rainbow mane lost its colour to a dark haze as did her coat. Her screams were chocked out as her vocal cords ruptured and changed. Over time her noises began to become growls. Her teeth seemed to elongate, same with her face. It slowly became a long snout, much like a wolfs. In the mess, her wings seemed to disappear as well. Her hooves became paws with claws, sharp claws which dug into the wood as she came around to her completed change.
An entirely new beast lay on the floor where Rainbow Dash stood. They could only make out was her long, distinct mane. She was panting heavily, her body still trembling from the recent change. “What do we do now!?” Rarity yelled.
The beast was released from Rainbow Dash’s prison. It lay on the wooden floor, breathing heavily. “Twilight, what do we do?” Rarity asked. “Well I hope she stays down, the transformation seems to have taken a toll on Rainbow Dash.” “Poor Rainbow, whatever happened to you?” Fluttershy questioned with sadness in her voice. All the taking made Rainbow Dash’s ear twitch. Even in the minor slumber, she could hear the ponies talk. Her eyes opened, the unnatural yellow glow filled her eyes. Everypony else went quiet and backed away from her. As the creature rose to its paws, the same question was on everyone’s tongues. “Rainbow Dash, can you hear us?”
She surveyed the area around her, still quivering from the metamorphosis. She began to growl at them and looked as if she was ready to pounce them. The feeling were mixed in the room, sadness, anger, but mostly frightened. Rainbow tried to move her paw and noticed that it was pinned down by a chain. “It seems like Rainbow Dash is confused.” Twilight mentions as she moves in for closer investigation. “No Twilight, you might get hurt.” Her friends said in protest. She ignored them and moved ever so closer to Rainbow Dash.
Moving in closer she asked “Rainbow, can you hear us?” Rainbow Dash replied with only a stare, growling as she approached. “I’m not going to hurt you, were here to help you Dash.” Rainbow Dash didn’t feel acceptance in her heart, all she felt was the hunger, the strange force which filled her with anger and anguish. Suddenly lashing out at Twilight, nearly biting her forced the unicorn back. “Twilight!” her friends yelled. She got up from the floor and looked at her “friend”. She was thrashing around in the air trying to escape. Her legs pulled with great strength at the chains. “What are we gonna do?” Applejack asked still horrified with the turn of events.
Twilight looked at the creature, its blood curdling roar chilled everypony. “Even if Rainbow Dash has become a monster.” She turned and looked at her friends. “We are still her friends and we will help her through this!” All her friends agreed, if they did something together, they could do anything. Twilight turned back to Rainbow, a sad frown fell across her face once again. “Don’t worry Dashie; Pinkie will be here soon with the wolfsbane.” The creature looked at twilight, the string rose colour of Rainbows eyes were there. The creature had an innocent look about it; it was if Rainbow broke the hold of the creature. From her eyes they could see that she was scared. That moment only lasted for a few moments when beast reignited the hatred in Rainbow. Her eyes succumbed to the bright yellow again and she growled aggressively at them. With a quick and strong movement of her legs, she broke the chains from the floor. “Everypony, upstairs now!” Twilight yelled across the room.
The ponies and the baby dragon sprinted for the door away from the aggressive creature. Rainbow leaped into the air, roaring as she did so. She had set her hunter eyes on one of the ponies, the yellow pegasus. She shook the ground as she landed on the ground, breaking a few of the wooden floor boards. Everypony was nearly out before Rainbow Dash could do anything, but she lashed out with her jaws, catching the pale pink tail and pulling it in towards herself. Fluttershy screamed as she was pulled towards the creature. As her eyes met her hunter, she thought that it was another misunderstood creature which only needed love and care. “It’s ok Rainbow Dash, it’s me Flut-“ She stopped when the creature’s teeth sunk into her leg. Screaming in pain and fear, she squirmed to try and escape the grip.
Rainbows senses felt more active and alive when the warm taste of blood filled her mouth. The strange hunger seemed to be satisfied, but it still pulsed the hatred throughout her. “You let her go!” Applejack demanded as she charged Rainbow. With a massive kick from her two hind legs, she impacted the beasts head with a massive thwack. Rainbow yelped in pain which released Fluttershy’s leg from her jaws. Applejack looked at her, she laid paralysed in shock. Her eyes were wide and her pupils were shrunken. The orange pony lifted her friend onto her back and rushed upstairs. As they did, Rainbow regained her concentration and charged them.
In the few moments that Applejack passed through the door, Twilight closed it and locked it with her magic as quick as she could. With a solid thud from Rainbow hitting the door, they sat there shocked at what just happened. All eyes were on Applejack. As the earth pony lowered her precious cargo onto the floor, the rest gathered around Fluttershy. Her blood poured from the wound, creating a small pool under it. “Get me some cloth now!” Rarity instructed. Twilight turned her head and levitated some cloth from the table as Rarity rushed to her friend’s side. Applejack also tried to comfort her pegasus friend as Rarity instructed Twilight. “Ok, rip the cloth into strips, were going to make a tourniquet!” Twilight ripped the sheet into four strips with her magic, she knew what her friend was doing but was surprised by her knowledge of first aid. “Applejack, apply pressure to the wound and Twilight, pass me a strip.”
“How do you know these things Rarity?” questioned Twilight as she levitated the strips to her.
As Rarity used her magic to tie the tourniquet around the leg just above the wound, she answered. “Fluttershy taught me many things on first aid, I thought I would never need them honestly, maybe to treat a minor cut or something but not this.” The blood stopped flowing from the wound finally but Fluttershy still laid in shock. She was breathing intensely; her breaths were short and quick. Rarity proceeded to use the rest of the strips for bandages to wrap the wound up in. “Now what, what do we do now?” Applejack said with a worried tone. The purple unicorn was obviously panicking, one of her friends was a blood thirsty monster, one was missing and one had been mortally wounded. The bangs from Rainbows persistent charges at the door were sudden scary moments which made everypony jump. “We just have to wait for Pinkie; hopefully she will have the wolfsbane.”
More aggressive growls emanated from the basement door. Rainbow Dash was trying very hard to break the magic lock on the door. The constant scratching and loud crashes were unnerving. Spike stoop up from his seat, “Twilight, don’t you remember marewolf 101?” She turned to him thinking back to the book. ‘If somepony survived a bite from the creature were doomed to become one.’
“If your bitten by are marewolf, you will become one!” she realised.
“What!?” everypony yelled.
Fluttershy was now also infected with the curse. “No not dear Fluttershy as well.” Rarity wept.” “How long does she have?” Applejack questioned as she hugged the yellow pegasus.
“I don’t know how this magic works; my guess would be where the wound was inflicted.”
“How so?”
“I guess the magic flows through the blood of a marewolf to make the transformation. So the magic infects on blood to blood contact.”
“So it depends on where the blood flows?” Rarity questioned.
“Yes, if the wound was inflicted on a main artery, then the change would happen much quicker.”
They all stared at Fluttershy again; she was already starting to show signs of change. Her eye colour changed from the nice teal to the unnatural bright yellow, just like Rainbow Dashes. Her cutie mark was also experiencing changes as well. The butterflies on her rump were all black and seem to be going through their own metamorphosis. “I don’t think she has long, the magic seem to be more aggressive now.” She looked to the windows with the moon in full view. “We have to get her away from the moonlight.” Applejack pulled her into the centre of the library while the rest covered the windows with anything they could. “Would you look at that!” Applejack said astonishingly.
Walking over to the earth pony they could see that Fluttershy’s wound had almost completely healed. “Either your first aid ability is great or marewolves have a fast healing ability.” Twilight added that to her mental list on marewolves. ‘Fast healing ability.’ Fluttershy finally woke from her shocked state. “What happened?” she asked everyone. Everypony was happy she was alright but knew that she wasn’t. “Fluttershy, are you alright?”
“Well I feel great actually, a bit hungry though...”
“Don’t you remember what just happened?” Applejack asked curiously.
“Well I remember coming here and-“
She closed her eyes sharply and tensed her teeth. Clenching her hooves on her head she screamed, “No, make it stop!”
Twilight picked her up, “Fluttershy, were here don’t worry.”
She opened her eyes slowly, “It was horrible, it was a scene of chaos.”
“What was?”
“That sudden dream.”
Twilight was intrigued with her answer, ‘It, must be the same dream as Rainbow Dash’s.’ She thought to herself.
Fluttershy felt very strange, she had this feeling inside her. Everything started to go silent and her vision blurred. She felt like something strange was pulsing though her body, some sort of anger. She heard a faint voice inside her head, “Fluttershy, can you hear me?” She snapped awake as Twilight stared at her face. “Are you alright?”
“What is happening to me?” She said faintly.
Twilight looked to her friends; they nodded with a frown saying that she needs to know, even though it would be hard to comprehend. “Fluttershy, you have been cursed, just like Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy stammered “I-I’m cursed, HOW!?”
“Rainbow Dash bit you on the leg, the curse she has is now passed onto you.”
She looked at her leg, a bandage was there. She looked at her cutie mark and saw the wolf symbol, the symbol of the curse.
“Oh no-no, thi-this can’t be real.”
“I’m sorry Fluttershy, it’s happened and we have to push through this.”
*CRASH*
Everyponny turned to the front door, it was Pinkie Pie. She looked incredibly worn-out, breathing in deeply and slouching in her posture. She carried a saddlebag with Zecora’s cutie mark on it. “I have the herb.” She muttered before she collapsed on the floor. Fluttershy wasn’t looking at Pinkie; she stared at the void of the moon directly behind her. She proceeded to collapse as well but was having violent movements. She began to scream as well as her body begun changing. “Fluttershy!” Twilight yelled.
As her friend began shaking uncontrollably, she opened the saddle bag and pulled out the purple herb and rushed to her friend. Applejack knew to close the door as quick as she could, as she did so Twilight crushed the herb and force fed it to Fluttershy. As her movements slowly died down and her breathing returned, they all sighed in relief. She was out again, they had to keep her away from any source of moonlight or risk a transformation. “Do we give it to Rainbow Dash now?” Rarity asked. The silence filled the room again as she approached the door. “How are we going to give it to her?” Applejack asked as well.
Twilight stopped as she shushed everyone, “Can you hear that?” she questioned. Everyone sat and listened intently, no sound caught their ears attention. “No, I don’t hear anything.”
“That’s right, why isn’t Rainbow Dash attacking the door?”
Everyponies heart skipped a beat, what is Rainbow doing? As twilight opened the door to the basement, she looked inside to see the window smashed and the room empty.
“We have to move quickly, Rainbow Dash can really hurt somepony!” Twilight didn’t want to say it but she knew it was true. Rainbow Dash may kill somepony if they didn’t locate her. “But how do we find her? She could be anywhere in Ponyville.”
Rarity was correct, Rainbow could be anywhere from the library to Fluttershy’s Cottage. The three walked back upstairs as Pinkie rose to her hooves. Her mane was messed, not the usual cotton candy look they were used to. It was mangy and muttered, quite like a birds nest. A very messy bird’s nest. “Twilight, what is happening now!” The pink pony asked in her excited voice.
“Pinkie, Rainbow Dash is loose. She has turned into a monster!”
Applejack stood into the conversation. “She could really hurt somepony and we need to prevent that from happenin’.”
Fluttershy’s softly moans as she lay on the wooden floor. She twitched slightly, quivering from the cursed magic flowing through her. Rarity felt a sadness seeing the kindest of ponies broken and in pain. She had to help her; she galloped to her side to comfort her and to keep her with them. “I’ll take care of Fluttershy, you should find the monster which did this to her.” Twilight didn’t know if the marewolf was actually Rainbow. Did it only shed its mortal disguise to wreak havoc on the world? or is it really Rainbow, having her anger released like some ravage beast. Brushing off Rarity’s comment, she continued to speak. “Rarity’s right, we have to find our friend.”
“I’m right behind you Twi.”
Yippee, let’s go!”
***
The glow of Luna’s moon lighted up the dark streets of Ponyville There was something eerie about the marketplace at night. Was it the lack of life or the silence which filled the streets? “No wonder Luna became such a meanie pants.” Pinkie stated to the other two. “Pinkie, it would be better to be quiet so we can sneak around. We don’t know where Rainbow is, she could be hunting us for all we know.”
“But I thought we were finding her.”
Twilight facehoofed at Pinkies response, ‘Doesn’t she know the gravity of the situation!’
“Hold it Twi...” Applejack stopped and peered into the darkness, “I think I see somepony.”
The unicorn stepped to her side, “Any idea who?” whispering into her ear.
“Looks like a stallion in a hood.”
Twilight froze at her answer. She knew exactly who it was and knew what he was doing. The hunter was tracking Dash as well. “I don’t know who he is, do you Twilight?”
“I do Applejack, and he is trouble.”
*CRASH*
The sudden crash was followed by a distant scream. It rang through the cold, empty night chilling and startling everypony. When a wolf howl came from the same direction, they knew where they were going... and so did the hunter. He galloped into the darkness towards the disturbance with his crossbow with his magic. They had to get to get there before he could kill their friend.
“We have to move now!”
Galloping after the stallion they followed to where their friend was also hopefully. They were tailing the hunter close behind trying also to minimize noise and not to be spotted as well. It seemed a bit hard with a bright pink pony following them. As long as they stayed behind him they should be alright. As they approached the house where the calamity occurred, they could see that it was Lyra and Bon-Bon’s house. The door was torn from its hinges and splintered over the ground out front the house. With a broken window on the second floor also ruined the seemingly nice looking home. The three lost track of the hunter as well, he seemed too had just vanished into thin air. “I hope those two are ok.”
Silently approaching the house in single file, they slowly made it into the humble home. It was a mess; the front room had been trashed. The table, chairs and other bits of furniture were overturned which cascaded around the building. “Rainbow has defiantly been here.” Twilight said breaking the silence. With a sudden noise in response from upstairs, they knew someone else was inside the building. Everypony looked at each other, having a worried look about themselves.
“Somepony is up there...”
“Oooh. Who is it-wait don’t tell me, it’s the mayor no-“
“Pinkie!” Twilight whispered loudly.
“Oh, sorry.” She smiled sheepishly at the unicorn.
“Why would the Mayor be up there anyway?” Applejack questioned Pinkie.
“Can we get back to the task on hand here?!”
They all looked up, they could hear something but they couldn’t make it out. Applejack offered to go up; well actually she voluntarily walked upstairs. She made her way up the steps, sending out a wooden creak which made everypony cringe slightly. When her head peered over the wooden floor, only horrors waited her. She looked in utter disgust and shock. The disembodied remains of a pony covered the floor. The blood pooled below the carcass and splattered over the walls. The sickening look of the mangled organs and innards spilt onto the floor giving off a repulsive smell.
She glanced over to the right where she saw some shape in the blackness. It looked to be a pony; it was crouched over and looked to be eating something. When Applejack went to step back, a loud creak gave her position away. The shadow stopped whatever it was doing and turned slowly. Then it stepped into the light her light blue coat was seen. Her lyre cutie mark was next; Applejack was horrified at the sight. It was Lyra. Her muzzle was covered in blood which soaked her mane and sharp teeth. Her eyes glowed the unnatural bright yellow which signalled she was infected. She growled aggressively at Applejack, slowly making her way towards her.
“Ah, Twilight...we have a problem.”
When Twilight heard Applejack, she half expected Rainbow to come barging down the stairs and start attacking somepony. She was half right. Applejack quickly fled down the stairs followed by Lyra.
“Lyra?”
“She’s infected!”
Lyra glanced at the unicorn; she saw the bright yellow which engulfed her normal iris colour. She snarled viciously at the three before she stopped. Her body began to rupture and crack, it quivered and broke. The blue pony yelped in pain and growled in anger. “The moon, she’s turning!” Twilight charged the creature grabbing the wolfsbane from her saddlebag. This was her chance to stop the change here and now. Lyra peaked her head; the unicorn took the opportunity and forced the plant into her mouth. She fought it at first, but her body quickly shutdown as she collapsed to the floor.
They dragged her quickly out of the light and into the darkness. She was in the sort of comatose state that Fluttershy was in. Twilight sat back onto the floor, “This is a nightmare, first Fluttershy now Lyra.” Applejack looked to Twilight, she was still horrified by the images she saw moments ago. “Not only that Twilight, but there is somepony else up there...I can only guess its Bon-Bon.”
“What!?”
“Twilight, she’s dead...”
That was it; Rainbow Dash had actively killed another pony. It was hard to realise the gravity of the situation, how bad this actually is. “What’s happened to Bon-Bon!?” Pinkie asked, completely scared out of her wits.
“She has been ripped into pieces.”
“How can Rainbow Dash do that to somepony!?”
“Because it isn’t Rainbow at all, only a... monster.”
“And this is why I hunt them.”
Everypony looked to the door to see the hunter, his cloak concealing his face again. “You see the damage that your ‘Friend’ has caused. She is nothing but a monster now.”
Twilight became teary, she felt the truth in his words but she didn’t want to believe it. She holds on that she can still be saved. “NO! She can be saved, just give us time.”
“Oh but I did, and now the situation is out of your hooves.”
“What are you to say, you’re the one who kills others.” Applejack sprouted out from under her crying.
“But I do it to save ponies and I have done so and kept this place safe.”
He stepped forward, crossbow loaded and ready to fire, aiming it directly at Lyra’s head. Twilight leapt in front of it, she couldn’t let this happen, “NO!”
“Stand aside Twilight! She is a killer and needs to be put down!”
She sniffed, trying to hold the tears back, “I won’t let you harm Lyra, she is fine now anyway.”
“So you gave her some Wolfsbane, but that doesn’t stop it. Once it wears off, she will be actively killing others just like Rainbow Dash has done.”
He persisted. He threatened Twilight with the crossbow if she didn’t move. She couldn’t let this happen, no more death tonight. “Well I’m sorry Twilight, you leave me no-OOF-“
“Not on ma watch!”
With a mighty kick she smacked the stallion out the door. With his magic broken and the crossbow falling to the floor, they had to think fast. “Applejack, grab Lyra and let’s get out of here!” Twilight ordered taking the initiative. The earth pony did so pulling Lyra onto her back. Pinkie’s tail started to twitch suddenly. “DUCK!” The unicorn heard Pinkies yell, instinctively she dropped her head. An arrow whispered passed her ear and impaled into the wall behind her. “Time to go!”
They ran towards the window and jumped through it. With the window shattering around them and the hunter reloading a shot behind them, it was a time to panic. They ran as fast as their hooves can carry them away from the house and into the night. The hunter on the other hoof stood back in the house, patiently waiting. “You’ll soon understand Twilight...” he scowled, “That some monsters can’t be saved.”
