After a period of time, I had no idea how long, I slowly began to regain consciousness. It was during this time that I noticed that I was in some kind of dark cave with my arms and legs tightly bound with chains against the cave wall. I tried in vain to shake myself free from them, but the chains held tight. A voice then reached my ears after my attempted struggle.
“Try as much as you like. It won’t do you any good.”
Hearing that voice, I immediately looked over to see Claude standing several feet away from me.
“Claude!” I spat his name out with venomous hatred.
“Nice nap?” he continued. “I almost wasn’t sure if you were going to wake up in time before I had to leave. I do have a wedding I need to catch.”
“You mean my wedding!”
“Your wedding. My wedding. It makes little difference one or the other. That being said, with you out of the way, I guess that it may as well be my wedding to Fluttershy.”
With a swipe of his hand, he transformed into a perfect likeness of me, complete with the wedding suit I’d planned to wear.
“After you took away the future that I could’ve had with Crystal, simply consider this me returning the favor. I’ll marry Fluttershy, have children with her to carry on my legacy, everything that you’ll never have.”
“Don’t you dare lay a finger on her!” I demanded angrily.
“Why not? What’re you gonna do about it?” he taunted. “You’re in no position to attack me. Those chains you’re bound with prevent you from using any magic at all. As for you, I have special plans in mind.”
It was then that he began approaching me, rubbing one hand against a necklace he wore, a necklace with a pendant the appearance of a snake’s eye, a necklace I had only just now realized he had. He seemed to be drawing energy from it into his hand as he came towards me.
“I’ve thought to myself for a good while what would be the best way to dispose of you. I couldn’t just kill you right now in your current form. Ponies would begin asking questions if they ever found your body, questions that could possibly expose me for who I truly am. That was when it hit me: what if a giant, ferocious monster attacked Ponyville, a deranged beast with the only thoughts in its mind being to kill other ponies, but then I as David would be the conquering hero, killing this beast and saving countless lives in the process.”
With his hand full of the energy from his necklace, he then placed said hand over my heart. I immediately winced in pain as I felt the dark energy of his magic working its way into my heart before coursing through my body. I fought it as hard as I could, which Claude seemed to pick up on pretty quickly.
“It’s no good trying to fight it. This magic is far too powerful for even your likes to resist and there’s no way for you to stop it from taking effect. You will turn into nothing but a mindless monster, hellbent on destruction and death, while I’ll be the hero, saving everypony from your villainous evil.”
“I… I refuse… to let that… happen,” I protested, struggling to fight this dark energy inside me.
“Fortunately, you have very little say in the matter,” Claude followed up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a certain mare to wed. I’ll be sure to let you know before I kill you how it felt to make love to her, not that you’ll know what I’m talking about in your feral form. Arrivederci.”
And with that, he immediately vanished from the cave, leaving me full of rage at that last remark he’d made. Alone in this cave, I could feel the dark magic like poison running through my veins. Even with this cursed power I felt inside me, I fought long and hard to hold on to my right mind, even though doing so was far from easy. I thought about the friends that I’d managed to make here in Equestria over the past several years, I thought about the adventures that I’d been on in the past and how they’d drawn me even closer to my friends.
But most importantly of all, I thought of my love for my beautiful Flutters. I thought of how we’d originally started out as friends the first time I’d visited Equestria to save all of them from this evil hag, but, as time went on, we became even closer and closer to each other before finally leading up to my marriage proposal where she’d said yes to me. In that moment, she’d made me the happiest person ever as we confirmed how much each of us loved the other and looked forward to sharing a future together.
But then I began thinking of the fact that Claude was now trying to take that future away from both of us and that anger returned to me, burning hotter than dragon’s breath. I was determined to find some way of getting out of my imprisonment and putting a stop to Claude’s evil. He would not take my future with Fluttershy away from me that easily and I was sure that I’d never fall into this mindless, violent state that he said I would as whatever monster he had planned to turn me into.
Fighting the chains that held me back, I felt almost like Quasimodo from the Disney version of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame when he’d been fighting back against the chains that held him in the belltower of the cathedral, incorporating almost Herculean strength to tear down the columns he was chained too. Unfortunately, the ends of my chains seemed to be encased in solid rock that I wasn’t nearly as strong to break through at that time, even reminding me of how, in my friends’ movie from a few years back, Twilight’s magic was ineffective when she was trapped in that fully metal cage by Tempest Shadow/Fizzlepop Berrytwist. This didn’t stop me from trying, but my outcome looked rather bleak in comparison. Still, I had to fight hard, fight for my future with Fluttershy, fight for my freedom, fight so that Claude wouldn’t win. These thoughts and more were what ran through my mind all throughout that moment as I fought hard for my very life.
* * * * * * * *
Back in Ponyville, Fluttershy had just finished final preparations for the upcoming wedding and was about to leave her cottage in order to catch the next train to Canterlot when she heard a knock on her door. Opening the door, she saw David standing before her in the entryway.
“David?” she puzzled. “What’re you doing here?”
“Just had to see my favorite girl,” he replied. “I’ve missed you.”
In that moment, Fluttershy knew something was definitely off as “David” wasn’t speaking with his traditional Southern accent. Still, she was smart enough to know that it probably wouldn’t be in her best interest to confront whoever this was about that for fear that it might put the real David in grave danger. Not yet at least. But, with the wedding only a short while away, she couldn’t very well go ahead with marrying this total stranger either. Casually, she decided to play along with this for the time being.
“While I do appreciate that, I thought that it was considered bad luck for the groom to see the bride this close before the wedding.”
“Oh. I’m sorry. Must’ve forgotten about that. I just thought you’d appreciate the surprise.”
Now, she definitely knew something was wrong. The real David wouldn’t have forgotten a detail as important as this was. She couldn’t be expected to go forward with the wedding when a problem as glaring as this was before her.
“Actually…, I’d been thinking that… we might want to hold off on the wedding for a little while longer.”
“Why would we want to do that? You’re not getting cold feet are you?”
“Well… I just… want to make sure that the moment is absolutely perfect. It is something that I’ve been waiting for for a while now and I don’t want it to come off as too rushed.”
“Babe, we’ve already waited long enough for this. I’m beginning to think that you’re not taking this seriously enough and that you don’t really want to marry me.”
At those words, Fluttershy immediately felt a sharp pang inside from “David’s” comment. She was serious about marrying the real David who she knew for certain that this person before her was not him. If he were really David, he wouldn’t have spoken to her in such a manner as this that was clearly meant to guilt and manipulate her into going ahead with this whole arrangement.
“Of course I want to go ahead with this marriage,” she began. “It’s just-”
“Great,” “David” cut her off. “That’s just what I wanted to hear. In that case, I’ll see you at Canterlot Palace in a few hours. Bye.”
And with a quick flash of light, he was gone, much to Fluttershy’s annoyance.
It’s just that I want to marry the real David. She thought to herself. The David I originally fell in love with, the David who would actually listen to me.
As she checked one more time to make sure that she was ready for the wedding, she sent a quick prayer, to David’s God, to Celestia and Luna, to whomever would hear it, that all would turn out alright, that the real David would be safe and able to make it in time, that she wouldn’t be stuck with making a mistake that she’d ultimately regret. Heading to the train station to catch the next train to Canterlot, these prayers lingered heavily on her mind more than anything else.
* * * * * * * *
My mind was pushed to its limits as I fought long and hard not just to escape the chains that bound me, but also to fight the poison that was seeping it’s way into my very being. Even with it only having been several minutes that I’d been trying to resist it, it felt like I’d been fighting against it for days. My thoughts were becoming jumbled as I struggled to hold onto my sanity, hold onto my memories, hold onto my humanity. Dark, twisted thoughts of murder and mayhem threatened to make their way out, but I continued to defy them to the best of my ability.
Even with these dark thoughts running through my mind, I did my best to channel all of that rage and hatred towards Claude and the atrocities he threatened to commit. This further pushed me to break free from my bonds so that I could make him pay. Despite my best efforts to break out of the chains, they still held tight. That didn’t stop me from continuing to try and break free, but I unfortunately had very little progress to show for it.
Suddenly, I felt a terrible pain come over me as I screamed out in anguish. My screams gave way to inhuman roars as a horrifying transformation came over me. My mouth extended out into a sharp fanged muzzle like that of a wolf, my hands turned to sharp claws as long as bananas, my feet painfully curled up into thick hooves, my eyes changed to those of some kind of a reptile, my pony ears became like those of a bat, a scorpion’s tail sprouted forth, curved horns topped my head, my clothes ripped away as my body grew in size, and my wings became like those of a dragon as the feathers that had once coated them fell away.
With how much I’d grown in size, the chains that had once held me tight snapped away. Something told me that this was quite possibly how Claude had originally planned it out: use the chains to hold me there until the transformation was complete so that I’d have no way of warning anypony else what was happening to me. What he hadn’t counted on was that I would still have some of my memories and thoughts from my right mind still intact. Even in my feral, monstrous form, I could still remember my love for Fluttershy as well as my hatred for Claude.
It was then when I was reminded of Claude’s plan to marry her in my place and this filled me with even more rage towards him. I had to get out of there and try to stall the wedding. Searching for a way out of the cavern, I couldn’t help but recall the similarities of my situation to that of Ariel from The Little Mermaid when Eric was going to marry Ursula in disguise or Cadence from the Canterlot Wedding episodes where Shining Armor was going to marry Chrysalis in disguise.
As I continued my desperate search for an exit, I could only pray that I got to that wedding before Fluttershy married this imposter and he had his way with her. If she were to wind up having children with him, who knew what other possible evils could be wreaked upon Equestria. I couldn’t allow this to happen. I had to make it there for the sake of Fluttershy, my friends, and the land I’d sworn to protect. One way or another, I would prevent this tragedy from occurring. I swore that, by everything I held sacred, Claude would be stopped.
* * * * * * * *
Not much longer after arriving at Canterlot Palace, Fluttershy was still greatly unsettled by her earlier realization that the David she was about to marry in only a short while wasn’t the real David. The entire trip to the palace, she’d been thinking long and hard about any possible way that she’d be able to stall the wedding until she could find out what had happened as far as the real David was concerned. However, no matter how long or hard she thought about the matter, she couldn’t come up with any possible solution that would work out in her favor or his.
She stood in front of a mirror in one of the larger rooms of the palace, still fussing over how she looked, purely for distraction. The thought had occurred to her that this was probably her own way of trying to prolong what was eventually coming in the hopes that the real David would finally show up in the nick of time. If she could just have more of that much needed time to ensure she wouldn’t make a mistake by marrying the wrong David.
She’d considered telling her friends about her concern that this David was someone entirely different, but how could she possibly prove that to them? Most importantly, how could she possibly prove that to them without inciting a panic? There was also the fact that she had no way of knowing who this David really was under the facade. He might be this Claude character that she and David had previously encountered a few months back, but she wasn’t certain about that nor had any of her other friends interacted with him in the past, much less knew what he truly looked like. Even she didn’t know entirely as she’d only remembered him mostly being concealed under that cloak he wore.
Time seemed to be going by much too fast for her as she was trying to think over other possible ways to buy more of it between now and the actual ceremony, but nothing she thought of would satisfy that need. Suddenly, a knock sounded outside her door.
“Hey Fluttershy,” AJ called out from the other side. “Ya almos’ ready in there?”
No. I’m nowhere close to ready. she thought to herself before stating her actual reply.
“I’ll be ready in just a few minutes.”
“Alright, Sugarcube. See ya out here shortly.”
After Applejack had left Fluttershy alone with her thoughts again, she felt tears come to her eyes as she realized she was out of time. All her worries and prayers that she had offered up before had gone unanswered. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she made her way out of her room and got in position as she dreaded the long walk down the aisle towards a future she’d meant to share with the one she truly loved, not this imposter. What she couldn’t have foreseen in that moment was that her prayers had been heard and would soon be answered in a way she’d never have expected.
* * * * * * * *
I stumbled around through the darkness as I tried to find my way out of the cavern I was still trapped in. This stumbling wasn’t soo much out of clumsiness as it was out of me struggling to fight the dark urges that threatened to take over me, urges of murder and mayhem, death and destruction, cruelty and carnage. Up to this point, I’d still been able to hold onto my right mind and the thoughts that came along with it. I could still remember my love for my beautiful Flutters as well as my hatred towards Claude and the evils he planned to commit in my name. That being said, those thoughts were becoming ever harder to hold onto as I was racked with painful headaches every time I tried to resist these primal, animalistic behaviors threatening to take me over.
No matter how much these thoughts threatened to make their way out, I was determined more than ever to prove Claude wrong, that he had severely underestimated how strong I was and that I could resist this dark magic that he’d placed over me. That being said, the need was still there for me to find a way out of the cave and stop him from marrying my girl. Strangely enough, along with the headaches that I’d been experiencing, I also felt this really weird tightness around my throat that I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was.
This wasn’t nearly as important to me as I finally managed to reach what appeared to be an exit from the cave that had been sealed away with heavy boulders. With my current size and strength, I knew that I could make quick work of these boulders and finally be free to make my way over towards Canterlot to put a stop to the wedding. I curled up my hands into thick fists before using them to assault these heavy rocks. It took several hard blows against the wall to finally dislodge the rocks, but all that really mattered to me was that they did get dislodged.
Stepping out of the cave into the open, I saw that it was about late afternoon by this point, the sun nearly blinding me with its luminosity after the lengthy period that I’d spent in total darkness. Once my eyesight had returned, I tried to get my bearings as to where I was in relation to Canterlot Palace. The cave that I’d come out of appeared to be the same one that that dragon had previously taken up residence in from the episode Dragonshy.
Looking off in the distance, I could finally spot the palace a good ways away from where I currently was. Knowing how much larger and stronger my wings were now, I figured that I could get to the palace in hardly any time at all, even if I didn’t have my magic to teleport there as quickly as I used to. Taking flight, I made my way to the palace as quickly as my wings could bring me there, praying long and hard that I wasn’t too late.