Everything was ringing.
Fluttershy opened her eyes, only to be met with dust and dirt stinging them. There might have been yelling in the distance but she couldn’t hear anything over the insistent ringing. It was starting to give her a headache. Her coat also felt wet for some reason and she had a strange taste in her mouth, it was almost sweet but with a sharp metallic bite that nearly made her gag. She could also swear that the scent of iron was in the air.
She tried to take a step forward and nearly screeched in horrible pain. She looked down at her wing, having to squint a little due to the dust, and saw that the appendage was completely limp and jutting out at unnatural angles. In her panic she had managed to break it even worse than it had been after the hydra. The ringing in her ears started to subside and she could faintly make out the voices in the distance better. She flicked her ears in the direction of the voices in an attempt to hear them better, but she couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. Her head ached and the harsh sting in her wing was almost unbearable.
The dust began to settle and she could see a bit better. She glanced around and froze at what she saw.
Twilight was busy coughing up a lung.
She had barely any time to analyze the situation before being blinded by a nearly point-blank Sonic Rainboom. The only thing she did see was that Rainbow Dash was apparently fighting a strange creature that she could only assume was Terra.
As her coughing finally calmed down she walked forward in search of her friends, hoping they were not hurt. The thick cloud of dust made it extremely difficult to see where she was going, which meant it was of little surprise when she ran straight into the solid form of Spike. She shook her head to rid herself of the sudden surprise and looked at her younger brother, only to see that he was as still as a statue and his eyes were as wide as saucers. Now even more concerned, she took a step toward him, only for her hoof to bump into something soft. She looked down and let out a surprised gasp at what she saw.
At her hooves was the small, unconscious form of Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow Dash!”
Twilight was able to scream out after getting over her initial surprise. She crouched down to her prismatic friend to make sure she was ok. Aside from being unconscious, she could see a couple of bruises and scratches, but nothing too serious. However, this did not satisfy Twilight as she lit up her horn to scan her for any internal damage. The internal damage was a bit worse, some cracked ribs and a small fracture in her skull, but nothing life threatening. Then she found something interesting…
What the...?
She could feel some residue magic coming off of Rainbow Dash. Unfortunately, it had dissipated too much for her to get a read on its origins but there was just enough left for her to know that it was localized around her brain, verifying it as mental magic. This alone brought many questions to the forefront of her mind and she looked at Spike to ask for his opinion, only to find that his face hadn’t changed from its shocked expression.
“Spike?” Twilight tried to get his attention, but he didn’t even twitch.
She poked him in the shoulder, her concern quickly growing once more, “Spike? What’s wrong? You’re starting to scare me.”
Spike, not moving his eyes an inch, gently grabbed Twilight’s head and turned it in the direction he was looking.
Twilight was about to protest but the words caught in her throat as she saw what had shocked him.
She froze in place and her jaw hit the ground.
All around Fluttershy was destruction.
Rainbow Dash’s impact had left a verifiable warzone around her. The dust had settled completely now and she could see the shockwave from the blast had managed to shatter many of the windows of her cottage as well as knocking the leaves off of all of the trees in the immediate area. One especially old and damaged tree had been completely toppled over. Out in the middle of the horrible sight were her friends. She let out a small gasp when she saw Rainbow Dash’s unconscious form and what looked to be Rarity laying on the ground. She paused, however, when she saw the utter shock on Twilight and Spike’s faces.
They were staring in her direction but were not staring at her specifically. Instead they seemed to be staring at something above her.
At that moment she realized she was standing in shade. She looked to her right and noticed two strange looking trees. Confused, she then looked to her left and found two more strange looking trees, though these were slightly thicker than the ones to her right. They also appeared to have weird protrusions at the base.
Drip drip drip
She could hear liquid dripping from above her and looked up, where her eyes went wide in shock. Instead of the tree canopy she had been expecting she was instead greeted by a massive and muscular barrel shaped body. It was at that moment she came to a realization and suddenly that metallic taste in her mouth became almost unbearable.
“T-Terra?” she weakly got out.
Terra had grown to his enormous size to protect the canary pegasus from the impact. Unfortunately, in his rush he used his injured side as a shield. He gave her a warm, but pained, smile.
“Are you alright?”
Fluttershy was in complete shock and could only nod in confirmation.
“That’s good.” He then squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. He took a few stumbling steps forward and then, with a mighty boom, the giant fell. He shrunk back down to his normal size but somehow was able to remain conscious.
Fluttershy could now see in gruesome detail that the stitches on his side had been ripped open and the wound was leaking blood at an alarming rate.
Her mind was reeling. The destruction all around and the bleeding form of Terra right in front of her made her believe she was back in a horrible nightmare. Still in a state of shock, she reached out a single hoof toward Terra but froze.
Instead of the smooth, butter-yellow fur and hoof she was used to, what greeted her was a leg covered in a dark red liquid. She slowly looked over the rest of her body and noticed that it too was covered in the red liquid. She looked back at Terra and his leaking wounds. She suddenly knew what the metallic taste in her mouth was, as well as the source of the scent of iron.
It was blood.
Terra’s blood.
She let out a scream that chilled everypony who heard it down to the very soul.
Rarity let out an unlady-like grunt as she stood up. She tried to stop Fluttershy when she darted between the two combatants but was too slow and when Rainbow had made impact and caused the explosion Rarity had been rewarded by a rock to the head. Thankfully it wasn’t too big so the worst it did was cause a cut on her head and the mother of all headaches. While it was bleeding a little bit more than she would have liked, she would live. Though it didn’t help that she was also exhausted.
Now Rarity was by no means out of shape (all claims from Blueblood were nothing but slander!). There was more to keeping up a lady-like figure than proper mane and coat care, at least some exercise was involved. That being said, she usually only did enough so that she had muscles just large enough to give her toned legs and just enough fat to accentuate her curves. All the running she had done today was really putting her body through more than it was used to.
But none of that mattered right now. She had to make sure all of her friends were alright after that explosion.
She was suddenly shaken to the very core of her being when she heard Fluttershy’s horrific scream. She immediately began looking for the source. As she searched she could see Twilight and Spike, both with expressions of utter shock strewn across their faces, standing over an unconscious Rainbow Dash and, a little further away, Terra bleeding on the ground. While all of this was definitely a shock, none of it caught her attention as much as the blood soaked pegasus screaming into the sky, the tears streaming from her eyes doing little to wash away the blood.
“Fluttershy!”
She managed to scream out as she galloped toward her friend, who had stopped screaming and was now embracing Terra while he was doing his best to reassure her that he was ok. Once Rarity got closer she could see just how bad it was and nearly emptied out the contents of her stomach.
Terra lay before her and he looked like he had just lost a fight with a woodchipper or a very large sword. Across his abdomen was a nearly four foot long gash that made her stomach churn. The cut was clean, as if cut with a very sharp blade, and she swore if it was any deeper she would start to see his ribs.
“You know *cough* it’s rude to stare, Rarity.” Terra got out in a weak, joking manner that broke Rarity out of her shock. It also caused Fluttershy to spin around and face her friend in a pleading manner.
“Please, help him.” she begged, barely holding back sobs.
Hearing the desperation in her timid friend’s voice sparked something in Rarity. She took a quick glance at Terra and could see the immense pain that he was trying to hide. Her expression hardened into one of determination. She needed to help her friends.
All of them.
She spun around to face Twilight and Spike, who were still in shock.
“Twilight! Spike! Snap out of it this instant!”
There was an authority in the alabaster mare’s tone that would make Shining Armor jealous and Twilight and Spike were immediately brought back to Earth.
“Rarity? What’s going on here?” Twilight asked.
Rarity kept the authority in her voice as she answered, “There will be time for that later. For now, Twilight, I need you to come over here and help me stabilize Terra. I can stop the bleeding somewhat with my magic but I do not know the healing spells that you do.” She looked over at Spike, “Spike I need you to run into the cottage and grab Fluttershy’s medical supplies, they should be in the large cabinet in the living room. Make sure the stitching equipment is with it!”
Twilight and Spike, knowing that Rarity was serious about this, shoved the questions they had to the back of their minds and gave her a determined nod. They sped off to their destinations, Spike to the cottage and Twilight to Terra. Twilight walked up to Terra and was greeted with a smile.
“So I take it you are Twilight Sparkle? It’s nice to finally meet you, though I’m sorry if this meeting is a bit more exciting than what you were expecting.” he said in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit. It managed to bring a small smile to Twilight’s face.
“Shh, we can save the greetings for later. Right now you need to save your strength.” she said before getting to work.
As Twilight was working to stabilize the bleeding giant, Rarity turned toward Fluttershy.
The now scarlet mare was an absolute wreck. She was wrapped around Terra’s neck so tight that Rarity was almost afraid that she was strangling him, and she was trembling worse than the pearl mare had ever seen. Which, considering the mare in question, was saying quite a bit. Rarity put a hoof on Fluttershy, not even caring about the still wet blood covering her body, and gently rubbed her back in a comforting manner. She didn’t say anything. No words would help at this moment. She did this for a little bit until Twilight got her attention.
“Rarity, I’ve managed to temporarily stop the bleeding but there’s a problem.” she looked into Rarity’s sapphire eyes, the worry and panic present in her own, “I can’t use any healing magic on him!”
Rarity’s already pale coat somehow grew a shade paler, “W-what do you mean you can’t!?”
“I mean I can’t! I don’t know how or why but it’s almost like his body is resisting my magic. It’s taking most of my concentration just to keep a simple field around his wounds so he doesn’t bleed out!” Twilight yelled out in full panic.
Before they could continue they were interrupted by Spike bursting out of the cottage, the entire contents of Fluttershy’s medical cabinet wrapped in his massive wings. Rarity let out a little sigh of relief.
When Spike got to the two mares he gently set all the supplies down next to them. While not on Fluttershy’s level, they all had a basic understanding on how to apply medical aid due to their many adventures and they quickly got to work patching up Terra. Rarity grabbed the stitching kit and focused on the four foot gash.
They were so busy that they didn’t notice that Rainbow Dash had started to stir.
Rainbow Dash slowly rose and managed to open her eyes, which no longer had any hint of red in them aside from the natural magenta of her iris. Her head was killing her and the rest of her body felt like it had just finished being on the wrong end of a sledgehammer.
“Ugh, what happened…” she muttered to herself while rubbing her head.
She took a moment to look around and was shocked at what she could see. She recognized the place as Fluttershy’s property but it looked like a bomb had gone off. It was then that she noticed all her friends and her confusion turned to worry.
Twilight and Spike were a little roughed up but seemed fine overall while Rarity seemed to have a head injury that was leaking blood. What really panicked her was Fluttershy who was covered in blood and one of her wings was nearly dragging on the ground in a broken heap. She noticed that they all seemed to be surrounding some sort of large creature that seemed to be worse than all of them.
“Oh my gosh, what happened to all of you?!” she asked frantically as she stumbled toward them.
However, hearing Rainbow’s voice reminded Fluttershy of who the cause of all of this was. Her eyes flashed red and something suddenly snapped inside the timid mare and her sorrow turned into a pure, primal rage.
She spun around and Rainbow found a hoof meeting her face full force, causing everyone to let out a surprised gasp.
“You happened, Rainbow Dash!” she screamed while leveling a seething glare at the cyan pegasus.
“W-what?” Rainbow stuttered out while rising up, a hoof to her aching face.
“All the destruction you see around? You did it. Rarity’s head? Your fault. Terra currently bleeding out. That would be your doing. And this?” she gestured to her shattered wing. “I’ll let you take a guess.” Fluttershy had taken a step closer after each statement and was now looming over the much shorter mare.
“I know how brash you can be but this was just stupid and reckless! Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
“I don’t… I didn’t…” Rainbow was struggling to say anything as small bits were starting to come back to her. She could see herself attacking a big red creature, it smacking her with a tree and her finally using the Sonic Rainboom to hit him as hard as possible. Her eyes slightly widened when she realized she had done all of this.
“You didn’t what? Didn’t mean to do this? Well that doesn’t help anything now, does it? Maybe if you had thought it through we wouldn’t be in this situation. But I guess I should remember who I’m talking to. You never think things through. In a long list of stupid, idiotic things you’ve done this has got to be one of the most stupid and idiotic. You almost killed somepony Dash! Do you even have a brain rolling around in there? I swear if I didn’t know better-”
“Fluttershy, that is enough!” a deep voice cut her off.
She spun around to glare at the source of the voice only for it to shrivel up immediately under Terra’s own intense glare. While Rarity, Twilight and Spike were in states of shock, he had managed to get to his feet and while the expression he wore was not angry, the sheer disappointment it held felt crushing to Fluttershy.
“Maybe before you do something else you’ll regret, you should take a look at the state your friend is in.” Terra rumbled out. Fluttershy, the red leaving her eyes and no longer in a blind rage, took a good look at Rainbow Dash and nearly broke down into tears again.
Rainbow was a complete mess. She was covered in scratches and bruises, her fur and mane was matted and dirty and there was a little blood leaking out of her nose and mouth. Tears had been mixing with the blood as they streamed from her eyes and she was shaking as if it was freezing outside all while having shrunken in on herself. She looked pitiable.
She looked broken.
The part that got to her the most though, the part that shattered her very being, was Rainbow’s left eye. It was a disgusting shade of dark purple, almost black, with spots of sickly green and yellow. It was completely swollen shut, to such an extent that even tears were barely escaping. It was obvious it was causing her more pain than anything else.
Pain that Fluttershy had purposefully caused.
“Rainbow Dash, I-I didn’t mean to…” Fluttershy said while reaching out, but the motion caused Rainbow to flinch away.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” she kept muttering before flaring out her wings and flying off as fast as she could.
“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Fluttershy opened her own wings as if to go follow her but was painfully reminded that one of her wings was currently out of commission. With tears now freely flowing she felt a claw gently place itself on her withers. Looking back she could see that it was Spike, a sad yet understanding look written across his face.
"Let her go for now."
"B-b-but…" Fluttershy tried to stutter out a protest, but was interrupted by Terra who had made his way over.
“I know. She needs some space for the moment, and we need to get everyone here fixed up before we can do anything.” he said sadly.
"I have to agree with him, darling. As much as I want to check up on her, I don't think anypony here is in the right state of mind to help her at the moment, let's take a second to cool off." Rarity said as she looked over Fluttershy’s body. The blood coating it had long dried and was clumping her fur and mane together in spots. Her wing, however, was by far the worst of it all. It was completely shattered. That was when Twilight walked over and cast a quick spell on it which caused the wing to be wrapped in magical bandages.
“There. That obviously won’t completely heal it but it should prevent any permanent damage.” She shook her head and let out a deep sigh, "Listen Fluttershy, we can handle things out here. I think it would be best for you to go and clean up and clear your mind."
Fluttershy simply nodded and trudged inside. As she left the others could only look on with sad expressions. Spike helped Terra back down on his side and finished stitching him up and Rarity looked over at Twilight with a concerned expression.
“Do you two actually think it’s a good idea to let Rainbow Dash be by herself?” Rarity asked.
Twilight let out a sigh, “Honestly no, but Terra was right that we need to get fixed up before we can really do anything. What has me concerned though is I felt magical residue on her. Specifically around her head.”
This shocked Rarity, “You don’t think somepony cast a spell on her do you?”
“Yes, I do. I think Rainbow was being influenced by an outside party.” Twilight explained, causing Rarity to gasp.
“That would help explain a couple of things.” Terra said. He had been listening to their conversation and that last bit caught his attention.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked. Terra slowly stood back up, Spike having finished with the stitches and helping support the giant.
“Something felt off about her the whole time, like she was some sort of feral animal. Then the strangest thing was whenever I seemed to get through to her, her eyes would flash red and go right back to feral rage.” Terra explained.
“Wait, did you say her eyes would flash red?” That detail caught Twilight’s attention and she now had a theory forming.
“Yeah, and at the end they were solid red and glowing. It kind of looked like she was possessed to be honest.” That was all Twilight needed.
“I think in a way she was.” Twilight said, causing all eyes to fall on her.
“What do you mean by that, Twi?” Spike asked, completely lost.
“What I mean is that Rainbow was possessed by her own emotions. I already surmised that some sort of mental magic had been cast on her due to the residue around her head, but what Terra said leads me to believe that it was specifically a rage spell.” Twilight explained grimly. This earned her looks of both concern and confusion.
“Rage spell? That doesn’t sound too pleasant.” Rarity said while slightly cringing.
Twilight simply shook her head, “They’re not. They’re high level emotion amplifiers and are truly nasty pieces of work. What a rage spell does is take even the slightest hint of anger or rage in somepony’s mind and amplifies it exponentially. The best case scenario is the victim gets into a bad fight, the worst case is that they go completely feral. The spell was originally created to make berserker warriors in times of war but was quickly scrapped when said warriors were just as likely to attack their allies as their enemies. Celestia then forbade anypony from ever using it.”
“I’m glad she did, that spell sounds just horrible!” Rarity exclaimed, earning her agreeing nods from both Terra and Spike.
“Unfortunately, that’s not the worst of it.” Twilight took a deep breath before continuing, “The spell had an unforeseen side effect. Any creature around the individual who had the spell cast on them would get infected if they felt any anger or rage themselves, like a disease.”
This received a collection of responses. Rarity was absolutely disgusted by the very notion of such a spell. Spike, however, had a much more concerned reaction. Twilight said that it could affect more than just ponies and while a pony going into a feral rage could cause serious damage, the destruction around them was proof enough of that, what if it had been him under the spell’s influence. He was by no means fully grown yet but he was by far more physically powerful than any pony, not to mention his fire breath. The fact that there was somepony that could make him cause untold death and destruction with a simple spell was making him paranoid to say the least.
He looked up at Terra to see if he had a similar reaction, but instead he found the crimson titan staring at the cottage with concern.
“Something wrong big guy?” Spike asked.
“Yeah…” Terra muttered out. He then directed his gaze at Twilight, “You said it can spread to those who feel anger, do you think it could have affected Fluttershy?”
Twilight’s eyes widened in realization, “That actually would make a lot of sense. She was the most clearly upset about the whole situation.”
“It would also explain why she was so violently aggressive. I’ve never seen her be that downright malicious, not even when she had those ‘lessons’ from Iron Will.” Rarity added in.
“In that case we should probably head inside to explain it to her. It may help to calm her down and then let us find Rainbow Dash and explain that it wasn’t her fault.” Spike said and they all started to head inside, though Twilight stayed behind with Terra.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“Why weren’t you affected by the rage spell? If anypony had a reason to be upset, I would think it would be the one who got attacked out of nowhere. For that matter, why did none of my healing spells work on you? I mean I know some creatures, like dragons, have some level of magic resistance but you were resisting it to such a degree of nearly nullifying it!” She was rambling a bit but she couldn’t help herself. She had never seen something like this before and she was both excited and a little bit worried.
Terra let out a sad sigh, “I’m sorry, but the best I can tell you is that maybe it has something to do with what I am. I just don’t know.”
“Oh, right.” she said sadly. She should have expected his answer to be honest, but all the excitement had caused her to forget the situation he was in. “I guess that’s just going to have to be another mystery we have to solve.”
He gave her a thankful smile and they made their way inside, unaware that they were being watched.
Fluttershy stood under the warm, soothing water of her shower. She opted to take a shower opposed to a bath because she figured the amount of blood she had to wash off would force her to have to drain a bath multiple times before she was done. The steady stream of red going down the drain seemed to prove her correct. She also thought a shower would help her clear her head, but was finding the task difficult.
The only thing taking up her thoughts at the moment was Rainbow Dash and, more specifically, the pain she had caused her friend. To say Fluttershy felt horrible would not be doing justice to just how bad she felt. She didn’t just feel horrible, she felt like a monster.
She had never felt such rage before. She'd been upset before of course, but what happened earlier was something primal and malicious. What was worse was that in that rage she had not only said truly atrocious things to her friend but had actually struck her.
Fluttershy was a caregiver.
She was the Element of Kindness.
And she had struck her friend and practically called her brain dead.
Fluttershy couldn’t even remember a time when she'd been mad enough to lash out violently, she didn’t even think she was capable of it, and yet she'd done it. She could still remember Rainbow’s face as if she was still standing in front of her. She could still see the absolute fear on the small mare’s face. The look of betrayal. She could remember the shocked looks on the rest of her friends’ faces, and the look of disappointment on Terra’s.
Everything had come crashing down when she saw the look on Rainbow’s face. It was at that moment that Fluttershy realized that the prismatic mare honestly had no idea what was going on. How that could happen, Fluttershy had no idea, but she knew the fact made her feel even worse for doing what she did.
She shut off the shower when the water began running clear once more and stepped out to dry off. As she grabbed a towel she looked down at her broken wing still wrapped in Twilight’s magical bandages. She would have to properly bandage it later. Or maybe she could just keep it as some sort of punishment…
“Fluttershy, darling? Are you still *ahem* freshening up?” She was brought out of her troubling thoughts by Rarity’s voice.
“Oh y-yes! I mean no! I mean… I’ll be down in just a moment!” Fluttershy called down.
Back downstairs Rarity had a concerned look on her face. Everything had gone downhill so fast. Terra was injured again, Fluttershy was a mess and she herself had a head injury that was really starting to sting now. Not to mention she was worried about Rainbow Dash, the poor dear looked about ready to shatter and was now Celestia knows where.
“You want me to help you with that?” she looked up to see Spike gesturing to her head.
“Oh, yes. Thank you, darling.” she said and Spike began cleaning and wrapping her injury.
At that moment Fluttershy made her way downstairs. She had gotten the blood out of her coat and mane but had refrained from brushing it so her still slightly wet mane was sticking up all over the place. Her eyes were also still a bit bloodshot and no amount of washing was going to get rid of it at the moment. The sight pained all of their hearts.
“How are you holding up?” Twilight asked as gently as she could.
“I…” Fluttershy looked around the room at all of her friends, who all had their attention directly on her. They had looks of concern on their faces but that’s not what Fluttershy saw. All she could see were eyes. Eyes full of judgment and disappoint.
For the second time that day Fluttershy broke.
“I’M A HORRIBLE PONY!” she screamed out before the dam crumbled to dust and the tears flowed like Rainbow Falls. She wasn’t crying so much as wailing to the heavens. Everything that had happened finally added up and shattered her. She just couldn’t handle it anymore. It was just too much. She was desperate for something to hold on to, something for support.
She got it when she felt a familiar strong embrace.
She looked up to see Terra looking right back at her with a warm and understanding gaze. She then felt another embrace and looked over to see Rarity giving her a sad smile. Then there was another embrace, this one also strong and having the tell-tale feel of leathery wings. She couldn’t see Spike but she could feel that he had the same friendly smile as the rest of them.
“Fluttershy, you are not a horrible pony.” Twilight said in a wavering voice, tears were flowing down her face and it took everything within her to stop her own sobs.
“She’s right, darling. You are a kind, loving pony and I consider it a great honor to call you friend.” Rarity added while she and Spike released Fluttershy, though Terra kept her in his embrace, which she greatly appreciated.
“Yeah, it’s not like you or Dashie were in complete control anyway.” Spike said.
Now that definitely caught her attention, “What *hiccup* do you mean? Of course we were.” Fluttershy said, confusion very clear in her voice.
“Actually…” Twilight went on to explain how she found the magic residue on Rainbow Dash, while she explained that she scanned Fluttershy to see if she could find the same and wasn’t too surprised when she found it, though the amount was minuscule. She then explained the rage spell, how it worked and how it can spread to others. It was a lot to take in, Twilight herself was honestly still a little shocked by the whole thing, but as she explained she could see that Fluttershy was starting to calm down. Once Twilight finished, the canary mare had moved out of Terra’s embrace and now sat in silent contemplation.
“So some forbidden spell caused Rainbow to go crazy and then it… spread to me?” she finally said before shaking her head vigorously. “It doesn’t matter. Spell or no spell I still hurt her.”
“You’re right.” Terra spoke out, earning him surprised looks from Spike and Rarity and a very nonplussed look from Twilight.
“You know we’re trying to help her right?” she asked irritably.
“Sorry, let me clarify.” he then looked into Fluttershy’s big, teal eyes. “What I mean is that yes, you did hurt her and while you were being influenced you still committed the act and need to take responsibility for it. What you need to understand however is that one bad action does not make you a bad pony.”
He used his tail to lift her chin a bit. She looked into his silver eyes and saw nothing but genuine admiration and found her cheeks flushing red.
“You healed me when I was hurt, you gave me a roof to sleep under. You laughed with me and gave me the wonderful gift of kindness, a gift I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to fully repay. Does any of that sound like the making of a horrible pony?” he asked and when he saw her shake her head he smiled. “Good.”
Twilight and the others found themselves smiling at the scene, though Rarity’s was more of a playful smirk. Whatever lingering doubts Twilight had about Terra all but evaporated. They may not know what kind of creature he was but one thing was now blatantly obvious.
He was a friend.
“So what now?” Spike broke the silence.
Everyone stood around and looked at each other. It was Fluttershy who ended up stepping forward, standing tall with resolve and a face full of determination.
“Now we find Rainbow Dash.”
Deep within the Everfree
A strange creature stood in the clearing. It stood on its back legs, about six feet tall, and had long, grasping arms tipped in sharp claws. Its head was somewhat draconic in shape and had a mohawk of thin, needle-like spikes running down its back. It had a long, whip-like tail that seemed to be covered in sharp quills, sort of like a porcupine. Its skin was thin and a dark pine green. Overall the creature seemed rather thin but its muscles were tight, giving it the appearance of a dragon mixed with a featherless bird.
It scrunched up its nose as it picked up a horrible stench. It looked around with its blood red eyes at the rotting remains of the hydra scattered around the area and grimaced.
“Ugh, I hate clean up duty.” the creature said in a masculine voice. He then walked up to one of the severed heads of the hydra. It stared back at him with its pale, dead eyes.
“Damn thing didn’t stand a chance.” he muttered before chuckling darkly to himself.
He then heard a rustling in the bushes and readied himself for a fight, but relaxed himself when he took a sniff and recognized the smell.
Out from the bushes walked a similar creature. This one, however, was shorter, standing about 5’8, and appeared to be younger. Its skin was a perfect match with the forest around it until it started shifting to its natural dark purple and its eyes shifted to a bright yellow. The older creature smiled at the new arrival, revealing his sharp, needle-like teeth.
“Well if it isn’t Thorn. You back from the scouting mission?” he asked.
“Yes sir.” the younger creature, Thorn, answered in a timid, slightly raspy voice. It seemed like he was a bit intimidated by his elder.
“Well don’t keep me in suspense boy, what did you find?” he admonished.
“R-right, sorry sir. The Knight is recovering from his injuries but it appears that he still has yet to regain his memories. He has also made contact with the Angel, Warrior and Rogue, though none of them know of their importance yet. He has also made contact with one of the Equestrian Princesses.” Thorn reported, trying his best not to look nervous.
“Hm, so he’s already found three of the four. We should count ourselves lucky that our Mistress was able to seal his memories before he got here. The Princess could also be an issue in the future. In any case, we need to bring this information back to base. Anything else to report, Thorn.” he asked.
“One other thing. There was this blue unicorn that was extremely talented in mental magic. He was even able to cast a rage spell!” Thorn explained.
“Really now? That is impressive, do you believe this unicorn to be a threat to us?”
“No sir, quite the opposite actually.” A dark smile then creased the purple creature’s face, “There is darkness in his heart that I believe would make him a valuable asset.”
This caused the older creature to chuckle, “I see they weren’t kidding about you! Only just got here and already scouting valuable soldiers. Good job kid.” he said, giving Thorn a congratulatory pat on the back and nearly knocking him over.
“Th-thank you sir.” he said before taking in the hydra gibbs all around him. “What happened here?”
“Oh, this?” the elder asked while kicking a chunk of hydra to the side, “One of the enforcers got bored and decided to have a bit of fun with the local wildlife.” he chuckled darkly at his statement.
Thorn felt a lump form in his throat, “You mean… he did this?”
The elder then gave Thorn a serious look, “That’s right kid. I’d recommend burning this scene into your memory because if this is what he does for fun, imagine what he would do if you made him mad.”
“Y-yes sir.” Thorn felt a cold chill go down his spine as he followed his superior back to their base.