As the sun rose, so did we. Mischief also had awoken, so we set off for Ponyville, which was only about two miles away now. When we arrived however, the sight was not good. Only half of the houses that used to exist still did, and only about half of them were still in decent condition. Twilight ran into the town with us following close behind. She ran through a few streets and stopped when a crowd of ponies rushed over to us, some covered in blood.
"Help us!"
"Who are they?"
"Where are the others?"
"Hey!" Twilight said, asserting herself. "What's going on? Were we attacked?"
"Not were, are!"
"It's the cow man!"
"Cow man?" The Spook asked. He looked over at the pony and asked again. "What do you mean 'cow man'?" The Spook's intimidating facial features and the fact that he was wearing a black cloak with a staff scared the pony, who backed up into the crowd.
"Mischief and I will get these people to safety, now's you chance to earn your keep." Twilight said. "Come on Mischief, we have to hurry."
The Spook and I drew our staffs, and I drew my silver chain. Who knows if I would need to bind something. We rushed over to see half a dozen ponies fighting what did look like a bull and a human, only much more intimidating. It was a very muscular human body, and the head had large horns sticking out the top. Another handful of ponies were on the roof of a house with bows, or shooting it with magic bolts. The bull man was rapidly killing the stallions though. It grabbed one of them and threw him into another one. He then charged at another three of them, impaling one, and knocking the others into a house. The ponies that still could walk began retreating, leaving their weapons scattered about.
"Is that The Fiend?" I asked.
"Nay lad. That there is a minotaur. Never seen one before, but my old master Henry Horrocks did. Their strong old brutes, and they don't reason well. If you get too close it could rip a grown man to pieces."
"How to we stop it? Will a silver chain work on it?"
"It might, we have to-" The Spook started to say, but the minotaur began charging at the two of us, letting out an threateningly loud roar. We side stepped it fairly easily. It then lashed out with its arm, hitting The Spook in the ribs. I heard a distinguishing crack before he crashed to the ground. I didn't have time to help him because the minotaur came for me next. It started walking heavily towards me. I parried it with my staff as it tried to punch me with hay makers.
Beads of sweat formed on my brow as I thought. I had to think of something before it got me pinned. I couldn't slow time, and it wouldn't really help anyway. I couldn't stab it either, the minotaur's body would just trap the with all the muscle mass. My only hope was to risk using my silver chain in hopes that it sapped its strength while it burned it.
I took another step back and realized that I had hit a wall. The minotaur threw a heavy punch at me, breaking a large hole in the stone. I used that to my advantage and ran into the open. I had my chain coiled around my hand so all I needed to do was focus and cast. I took deep breaths as the minotaur freed it's hand.
I remembered back to The Spook's house in Chipeden where he would make me practice throwing the chain at a post in the East garden. I could get it 10 time out of 10 while moving side to side or front and back. I cracked the chain in the air and threw it at the minotaur, who started charging me again. My aim was concise and it fell over the minotaur's shoulders. He gave out a pained roar, thrashed around a bit, then fell onto the ground. I walked over to it, slit its throat, and removed my chain. Blood spurted everywhere.
I went over to The Spook and helped him get to his feet.
"I'm all right lad." He said as he got up and wiped the blood from his mouth. "Just a couple sore ribs."
As we went to go find Twilight, every pony was inside a house looking at us. They saw the ominous look we had to us, and the blood on our cloaks. They all hid deep within their houses, locking all doors and windows. The few that were outside gave us cold stares, or looks of fear. It was just like back in the County.
When we arrived at what looked to be the Ponyville hospital, we were grieved by the sight. Many ponies had fatal wounds, or worse. A few nurses were trying to help the ones that could be saved, but there had to be dozens in the hospital beds. We found Twilight helping two stallions with broken legs.
"Oh hi. Did you two kill that monster?" Twilight asked, worried.
"Yes." I replied. "It's gone."
"Good....You were right, about the ponies, I mean. Not everypony understands spooks. " Twilight said sadly.
"It's a dangerous trade, they have a right to be afraid." The Spook said.
"Well, give it time. They'll come around. Oh! Here's a key to the house in the hills on the outskirts." Twilight said, levitating a key, "Why not come back into town tomorrow and we can work out a system to get this town on it's feet?" She also levitated "here's some bits. You can use them to get some supplies until your next job."
"Thank you." The Spook said, taking the coins and key. The Spook headed directly to the house, but gave me a few bits to go buy some food. i got some food from the local greengrocer and some other food from the general store. Unfortunately I couldn't find any store that sold any meat. I also bought two leather bags for The Spook and I, as spooks usually carry a bag for his things. I returned to The Spook's new home and started putting the food on the table and gave him the larger bag.
"No bacon?" The Spook asked.
"Not anywhere, I don't think they eat meat here." I replied.
"I don't like the idea of eating fish as a substitute every day, lad. This is a land of horses though..." He said jokingly.
We explored the rest of the house to find a kitchen, a lounge, a study, and a back room on the first floor. There was an empty wine cellar, save a bottle of wine in the corner that seems to have aged for decades, which The Spook kept. There was an upstairs with a bathroom and three bedrooms. I took the one closest to the stairs, and went back down.
We cooked a large dinner of fish and greens, which was surprisingly delicious. We also each had a small cake. Spooks only fast when facing The Dark, if not, Afterwards The Spook went into the study and wrote in his bestiary, his most prized possession. He had almost lost it when the County was burned and his library too. It had been a large blow to him, as it wasn't his. It was the knowledge of dozens of generations of Spooks. As its current guardian, he felt it was all his fault. The only book to survive was the bestiary, which he started to carry on his person.
I spent the next half hour in my room, putting my few belongings away.
The Spook called me. I went down to see he was sitting by the fire in the lounge. Next to him was a small wooden table, with a glass and the red wine bottle.
"Take a seat, lad." I drew a chair by the fire as well. He pulled out the bottle of wine, and pulled the cork. As he poured it I could see the red wine fill the glass with a red liquid. The aroma was a smell unknown to me. He sniffed the bottle as he grabbed the glass. He downed it rather quickly.
"That...was surprisingly great." He said, pouring another. "Decades of aging has done this well." He continued to talk about wine. After a few minutes it became silent.
"Now." He said. "The first order of business is how to get back to the County."
"Yes." I said.
"Now we got here because The Fiend did something, right?" The Spook drank another glass.
"Yes..."
"So the logical thing to do here is to find the closest thing to the bloody devil in this dimension and slay him as well."
"Maybe we should tell that to Twilight tomorrow. She might know something." I recommended.
"Aye. That sounds like a plan. Get to sleep lad. We need to make an impression tomorrow and I don't want you with rings all over your eyes."
I went back to my room and went to bed, wondering if I was in some different world, or if this was the afterlife.