A free-for-all contest plays out between the rumble of hooves against the streets of Ponyville, the grumbling stomachs, and the mumbling voices as Herd Apple returns to the Golden Oaks Library. The sun has already set, ten thousand and one lights concealed from sight by a roiling darkness. The streets are well lit regardless by the light of three horns, scattering shadows on the nearby houses.
“I’m so sorry,” Twilight Sparkle apologizes profusely as her home comes into view, “I thought that Spike knew to bring the dinner out to us! And then we got so caught up in our game, that by the time the train arrived Doug and I had scarcely noticed how much time had gone by!”
“It’s alright, Sugarcube, Celestia knows Ah’ve been late with my fair share of the vittles,” Applejack says with a jockular smile, trying to keep her voice down for the two fillies riding atop her. “‘Sides, Ah need to see for myself these pastries. You said the Princess made ‘em?”
“Yes in-deed-i-ly!” Pinkie Pie exclaims, madly pronking around. Her mouth can barely contain her tongue or the slobber that showers out of her like rain from a thunderhead. “I can smell ‘em from here!” She madly sniffs, though her nose puckers up from the barely discernible metallic scent.
“Hurry!” yells Rarity, exasperation filling her voice as she nervously glances to the storm clouds brewing above and threatening to do exactly that. She bumps into Doug with her flank; even though he is carrying four sleepy fillies he isn’t the main reason for the slow pace, but if he goes faster the rest will follow. “Some of us would like to get back to our homes without getting drenched!”
“You’ve got plenty of time, Rares,” Rainbow Dash chides, though she can’t help but glare at the delay. She glances back at her sleeping filly, softly snoring as she cuddles up to her outstretched wings. That always puts the smile right back on her muzzle.
That smile disappears right as Fluttershy points a hoof at the library, now a dozen paces away. “Um, the door isn’t supposed to be open, is it?”
“No…” Twilight replies, her muzzle likewise curling to a frown. Her horn flares and her eyes glow white, a grimace quickly taking its place. She teleports just outside the library, shouting at the top of her lungs, “SPIKE!!” before she dashes inside.
Rainbow Dash swoops in after Twilight, Scootaloo instantly alert and gripping the rainbow mane. The rest of the herd surges forward, though a shout from Rarity gets them to stop.
Rarity’s horn shines brighter, illuminating a dull, reddish tint along the ground that leads from the front doorway to the north. The ground around the trail is churned by claw marks, disappearing into the White Tail Woods.
Applejack shucks her two fillies to Doug, pointing a hoof away. She firmly states, “Get them outta here, they don’t need this.” Her hard look brooks no disagreement, Doug gulping as he and Trixie corral the curious fillies away from the library. Their concern is only temporarily assuaged as he pets their manes, clearly displaying just as much inquisitiveness as to what is going on as they do.
Meringue breaks away from Doug, ignoring her sire’s quick shout as the mares carefully walk around the bloody claw prints marring the wood. A collective gasp arises as they enter the library. Meringue slips behind them, barely noticed as they take in the gruesome scene.
Dozens of white and brown feathers are strewn around, a shredded pillow stained with blood lying haphazardly off to the side. The back half of a mouse slowly leaks blood, gouges along the back legs but the middle pulverized by some sort of blunt object. A small pile of ash lays scattered as if kicked, next to a glossy centerfold punctured and trampled. Two relatively untouched saddlebags sit in the middle of the room, one of the few intact items. Bloody and ashy claw marks range all over, occasionally with a larger pool next to a clump of papers used as bandages.
Twilight practically flies down the stairs, her eyes mad with dismay. “Spike isn’t here!” she shouts, pointing a hoof at the largest blood stain. “And that is dragon blood!”
Fluttershy hovers over the scene, her hoof quivering as she points at the mouse. “That’s… those are talon marks, and those are owl feathers.” She spots Meringue as the filly slinks towards the basement door, quietly remarking to herself, “Did we…”
Pinkie Pie drops down, inspecting the claw marks. She guffaws in horror at the gross sight, her entire body raising from her massive intake of air, shouting, “Those are Gummy’s claw marks!” She disappears in an explosion of confetti that manages to not land on any of the blood stains. She reappears just as quickly in a whirlwind, “And he’s not home!”
Twilight slams a hoof down, splintering the wood and sending a shockwave of dust along the floor. “We need to do something!”
Rarity points a hoof to the north, “There’s a trail leading away from Ponyville, but it disappears into the woods.” She shudders at the sort of mad traipse they would certainly embark on, though her coat would be a small price to pay for her Spikey-Wikey.
Twilight turns, “Applejack, how’s your tracking?”
Applejack glances to the dark spots on the floor, “Winona’s got a sharper nose than me, but she ain’t here! Ah can go get her, but-”
“Do it.” Twilight’s horn lights, a bright flash as Applejack disappears. She turns, “Fluttershy. The fillies-”
“No.” Twilight blinks at the pegasus’ harsh rebuttal. “I’ll help search.” Fluttershy opens a window, darting outside to the muffled shutting of the basement door.
“O-okay.” Twilight turns to Rainbow, “If your night vision is good enough, we need somepony fast to follow that trail.”
Rainbow sinks to the ground, her flight ending for the first time that evening. “If I knew where I was going? Sure. But I can’t follow a trail I can’t see. And we can’t wait ‘till morning, even if we thought Spike was fine. That storm’ll wash away any chance we have of finding him, and it’s gonna be way too widespread to stop.” She turns to Twilight, “I can follow your horn, and get Spike back here in ten seconds flat, but I can’t lead the way.”
“Got it.” Twilight turns to Rarity and Pinkie Pie as Rainbow takes off through the open window. “Rarity, I need your help. In case we need to split up.”
Rarity grimly nods, “If by my light or my coat I can protect him, I will. You have my horn.”
“And my axe!” Pinkie Pie deeply grunts out, wielding a large forester’s ax. She grits her teeth, a rumbling, “Grrr!”
“Excellent.” Twilight’s horn flickers, the three teleporting outside the library. Twilight staggers slightly, a woozy, “Whew… won’t be doing that the whole trip.” Fluttershy and Rainbow, now Scootalooless, raise up, noses going from inches off the ground and barely following the trail to forming up behind Twilight.
Her horn lights; the light isn’t blindingly bright, but the blood shines with an iridescent glow. Twilight’s pace is agonizingly slow, especially as the spots get fainter, fewer and farther between. The claw marks along the ground soon become the only indication they are heading in the right direction.
The trees go from high branches that only interfere with Rainbow’s and Fluttershy’s flight to squatting brambles that snag and pull on each pony in turn. More than once Rarity’s horn flares to push a multitude of clawing twigs away just to miss one and suffer a slash across not only her flank but everypony near her.
The terrain begins to roll a little more, rocks and boulders beginning to crop up in their way. A pounding behind them quickly grows louder and louder, everypony trading nervous glances. A sharp bark brings a momentarily glimmer of hope as Applejack and Winona burst onto the scene. Winona takes a quick sniff, continuing along the scrabbling claws.
Several minutes later and Winona follows to the left while the claw marks turn right. Applejack whistles, Winona pulling back. “What now?” the farm pony asks, looking at the two paths they can take.
Twilight grunts, her eyes flickering to her herdmates. “I’m following Spike. Rainbow, you’re with me. And I’ll need Winona.”
Fluttershy cuts in, “I’ll be fine with just Pinkie. You four go; we’ll meet back up at the library unless we see some sort of signal.” She and Pinkie Pie take off before anypony can object, pushing through the tangled underbrush and disappearing without a trace.
Twilight grimaces; if one thing playing Ogres and Oubliettes has taught her, it’s never split the party. But, sadly, sometimes you have to. A quick “Let’s go,” and they are back to following Winona. They soon arrive just outside the mouth of a large cave, a deep bellow and sharper shriek emanating from inside. The rock walls are intermittently lit by what can only be great gouts of flame.
Pinkie Pie pulls a candle out of her mane, though the several seconds she spends digging around for a match proves fruitless. The two slowly creep along until they come to an alligator aimlessly listing about.
“Gummy!” Pinkie Pie exclaims, lunging forward to grip her pet in a crushing hug. The haunted look in Gummy’s eyes brings her up short. Tears quickly form, a bubbling that soon turns to twin waterfalls.
Gummy stands still, merely opening his mouth; a purple dragon scale gleams from his gaping maw, lodged in his gums and preventing his mouth from shutting without slicing larger chunks out of already mangled flesh.
“Oh, you poor thing,” Fluttershy coos softly, cautiously walking forward to rest a hoof on Gummy’s upraised snout. “I just wish there was more that I could do for you.”
“You helped him before!” wails Pinkie Pie, her mane laying flat against her head. “I was there! I held the little guy as you excised the tacktail from his mouth, as you stitched him back together! Whatever is wrong now, you can fix it, right?”
“Um,” stammers Fluttershy.
Meringue's high pitched voice carries against the rumble of the storms. “Say Law.”
Fluttershy shudders, “No…”
“Eat flesh. Chase.”
Fluttershy sighs heavily, resigned.
“None escape.”
“I… I guess so.” She walks over to the small yellow filly, briefly stepping behind a tree.
Pinkie Pie looks over as a yellow pegasus wearing a white double buttoned lab coat walks up to Gummy. Her mane poofs back to normal as her crying ceases, pronking over and exclaiming, “I knew it! I knew you had it in you!” She pulls out a blue butterfly capped pen, solemnly holding it out for Dr. Mareau to take.
The pegasus takes the offered pen, tucking it next to two others in her breast pocket with more than a little disdain. “As you well know, this was a dangerous procedure, though one I thought worth the risk. But if he reverted to his natural state so quickly, within hours? I fear there is little more we can do.”
“You did your best, Doctor. You did it for him, and you did it for me. And I’ll always remember that.” Pinkie Pie’s voice quivers, “I only have one question,” her hoof gently stretching to touch Gummy’s snout, the same spot as Fluttershy.
“Yes? Come now, spit it out, we have not much time!”
Pinkie Pie looks deep into the yellow pegasus’ eyes, “Did he get his death roll?”
Dr. Mareau stares back at Pinkie Pie before she slowly lets out the breath she is holding. “I fear the answer to that question, but I fear more if we never are able to find out.” She turns to Meringue, the filly holding out a few surgical implements. “Repairing the flesh should be a trivial matter, if we were at my House.” She motions to the alligator’s head, “We may be able to leave a small portion of his instincts, that desire to bite and hold, but there will be no purpose behind it other than a desire to grip to what he seeks.” Her eyes go up as the rumble of the nearby storms gets louder, “But now, we must make haste, before the rain comes.” She reaches a hoof out to Meringue, “Gauze, and a way to keep him from reacting to the pain. I don’t want to lose my hoof to this lawbreaker.”
Pinkie Pie dutifully takes the offered cloth, passing it along with tears in her eyes. Dr. Mareau’s scalpel removes the scale, and then her Stare removes any vestiges of the uplift, leaving the alligator’s eyes as dull and vapid as the nearby rocks.