The cries were anguishing.
Rainbow tried her best to shut out Fluttershy's wails and weak strikes at the door as she nervously paced the cottage, hoping Zecora would step through the front entrance at any moment to deliver her healing concoction. The poor, afflicted mare trapped behind Rainbow's amateur carpentry screamed until her voice was raw and fatigued. Judging from the coughing and hacking that began to overtake her voice, Rainbow, safe on the outside, would have assumed she were coughing up blood. Whatever was going on on the stairs to the knitting room, the Element of Loyalty could hear it all whether she wanted to or not.
After several moments, the coughing, heaving, and straggling wails stopped. All was silent behind the door.
Rainbow gave a quiet gasp, her eyes quickly darting to the barricade. A tear formed atop her cheek as her every moment with Fluttershy flashed before her eyes. Every adventure with their friends, every moment saving Equestria, every quiet afternoon lazily exploring Ponyville.
Was it all over?
Dash took a few quiet steps towards the door to listen more closely, her heart in her throat.
Suddenly, a terrible guttural shriek came from beyond the wood, accompanied by bashing and slamming the likes of which would make a yak jealous. Dash hurriedly threw herself against the door, hoping they both could withstand this renewed assault.
"Don't hurt yourself like this, Fluttershy..." She thought, pushing herself against the door with all her might. "Then again... she's so infected she probably doesn't feel any pain anymore..."
Zecora could barely make out anything in her hut for all the magical haze her tincture gave off, but she continued her chanting as she carefully added the final ingredient that had been delivered just in time... at least, she hoped. When last she stepped outside, the moon was on the rise. The fact that Fluttershy was running out of time was one that she simply had to put out of her mind as she finished a ritual not performed in centuries.
When she'd finally incorporated the herb into the mixture, the bubbling in the cauldron intensified for a moment and the mist belched from the liquid's surface like an erupting volcano. Zecora had to shield her eyes and nose from the onslaught on her senses, but after a few moments, the calm returned. The potion had taken on the appearance as described in her old manual, and while much of it had effused away, there was still enough left in the cauldron for more than a few doses.
Hopefully, Zecora thought, one was all they would ever need.
Where Fluttershy's desperate cries had filled Rainbow's heart with pain, the sound of splintering wood now filled it with dread.
Despite her best efforts, it had barely taken Fluttershy more than a minute or two to gnaw, bash, and snarl her way through the door. Rainbow could do nothing but back away slowly with her hackles raised as she unbelievingly watched a forehoof, then a fanged muzzle, then another hoof, break away at the boards and try to force their way through a self-made hole.
Dash couldn't bother to think in this moment, only to act. Refusing to abandon her friend and any chance of saving her, she quickly grabbed up an assortment of nearby objects from the kitchen and, blocking the way to the front door, stood to face whatever was about to emerge from the hidden passage.
But as a glowing, blood-red eye came into view, Rainbow's deepest animal instincts told her one thing that her mind couldn't accept: this wasn't Fluttershy.
Though she looked about like she had when under the fruit bats' spell, this creature was altogether more ferocious. It craved not nectar, but blood, and was determined to glut itself on the nearest thing that breathed. Its teeth would've been more at home in a wolf's mouth, or a bear's, but looked nightmarish in a pony's muzzle. Not only long fangs but carnassials too glinted in the growing moonlight. The claws at the thumbs of her batlike wings now looked more like talons, sharp and wickedly hooked. Her hooves were about the only thing that seemed unchanged, for even the texture of her coat and mane had morphed to suit the will of this illness. Her Cutie Mark, much as before, had become three pink bats with red eyes.
As she slowly emerged from the door, growling under her breath, the creature paid no mind to the various splinters and pieces of wood that clung to her flesh. Nothing was going to keep her from her prey of choice. Her wings spread out slowly and menacingly, casting a grim shadow on the floor of the once-peaceful cottage.
Rainbow Dash, with a little hesitation and no small amount of fear, reared back the hoof holding a teapot and launched it in the direction of the predator. Though it satisfyingly shattered across the creature's face, leaving a long cut across her muzzle, she merely shook her mane and continued her ceaseless march forward, eyes locked on those of her quarry.
Her legs trembling and her wings tense, Rainbow couldn't but throw a couple more items lamely at the creature before her courage broke and she jetted for the door. Immediately, the creature was after her on its leathery wings, a horrific screech accompanying its single-minded desire to kill. Dash managed to shut the door between the two of them, hoping to stall for a few seconds while she broke into full Wonderbolt speed towards Zecora's abode. Yet another door, this one unlocked even, was no match for the creature's might, and while she couldn't fly as fast as her prey, she nonetheless trailed her into the night sky, crying out for blood as she went.
Dash knew she had to keep tabs on her pursuer; if she were allowed to wander off in the direction of Ponyville, or civilization in general, there could be a full-scale pandemic on hers and Zecora's hooves. So, the tiny part of Dash's thoughts that were still together told her to keep flying, lead her in circles or something, until she tired or could be subdued. The rest of her mind told her to fend for herself, since she didn't like being mercilessly hunted by the terrifying specter of what used to be her friend.
Thinking quickly, she analyzed the landscape below her; at her speed, she'd reach Zecora before long. Folding in her wings, she quickly dove towards the forest below her, the cold air biting at her face as she fell. Judging by the sounds behind her, the predator followed. Closing her eyes just long enough to break through the leafy canopy, Rainbow popped her wings back open and proceeded to put her agility training to the test, weaving in between and around the twisted snarl of branches which kept the Everfree shaded in the day but now felt like a deathly maze.
She could hear branches crashing behind her, leafy boughs being knocked to the forest floor as the fiend chasing her fell further behind.
"Just gotta keep moving..." Dash thought. "Almost to Zecora's..."
Left...
Right...
Up...
Down...
Right...
Up...
...CRASH!
Though her mind slipped for just a second, it was enough to derail her. She just managed to clip a stray limb with one of her own, and the snag sent her tumbling down into the undergrowth. Bouncing along the earth, she came to rest in a small clearing, the moonlight hauntingly gazing upon her. Dash had been in worse scrapes, she thought, though few of them involved as many thorns. As she sat herself up slowly, her foreleg burned with pain. She clutched it close to herself with a wing and glanced about her surroundings. Though she couldn't make out any features from a pony's-eye view, she knew she couldn't be very far at all from Zecora's hut. She hoped that she might have a moment to catch her breath and prepare for the final leg of her journey.
But suddenly... noises. From the brush.
Dash's ears snapped to attention, followed shortly by the rest of her. It was hard to make out from the dim light among the trees, but it looked as if the entire forest was moving towards her. It didn't take long for the eerie green eyes to emerge from amid the shadows, followed by a gnarled, woody claw.
A timberwolf.
The ligneous beast pawed its way out from among the Everfree, a rugged growl in its throat as it zeroed in on Rainbow Dash. From a distance of no more than 50 feet, she could hear its teeth gnashing, its jaws readying to leap forward and devour her.
"Didn't think I'd have to deal with two thing wanting to eat me tonight." She thought.
Brushing off her injuries as best she could, Dash pulled herself back up to her hooves and prepared for fight or flight but would end up freezing instead as another surprise came her way. From somewhere in the muffled distance of the forest, a shrill noise, almost like the whistling wind, was gradually growing louder... before it suddenly burst forth from the branches.
It was the bat once again. But this time, her focus was on the timberwolf.
Rainbow's eyes watched in horror and amazement as the little yellow flier, so diminutive compared to the hulking wolf, latched herself onto its neck and began strafing it with her clawed wings and smashing it with her rear hooves. Both creatures snarled, howled, and whimpered in pain as one tried to shake the other free of its body. At one opportune moment when the wolf's thrashing had let up for just a moment, the bat withdrew her head and went in for a larger, more powerful bite. Naturally, the wolf thrashed and whimpered more, fear now invading its eyes, but it was too late. Having made a sufficient opening in the creature's bark-like armor, the vampire proceeded to carve her way through the timberwolf's neck, vines in lieu of muscles snapping with each sickening crunch of her jaws. The mournful cries of the sylvan beast eventually faded, and its vegetative form, held together by nature's magic, was undone as its lifeless head thumped to the ground.
The victorious predator almost seemed to admire her kill for a moment, and Rainbow wondered if she had killed the creature for her own protection, out of some sense of protectiveness that lingered towards her. Then she looked at the severed head again and realized that wolf could just as easily have been her. The beast's eyes had turned back upon her. It was then that Rainbow noticed the gash on her foreleg, the one that had struck the branch. During the spectacle, she'd unknowingly bled down her hoof, the streak of red smudging onto part of her torso as well. Once again, she nervously locked eyes with the creature, whose eyes were fixed upon the wound and upon her. Those sinister, unblinking eyes...
There was a moment of silent tension between the two, as though trying to decide who would act first. Rainbow was ready to take to the sky with a twitch of a muscle. Her opponent stood catching her breath and licking her lips, likewise ready to leap at a moment's notice. Rainbow wondered if this was where it all would end.
There was another crackling sound in the bushes. Predator and prey both turned to it.
"Shetani!"
Zecora stood in the moonlight with a stern, grim countenance. She had equipped herself with a facsimile of armor from her homeland and strapped to her sides were several vials of a strange greenish liquid. She also carried a knife and wooden stake strapped to her shoulder.
"Hii inaishia hapa."
The zebra grabbed up the knife in her muzzle, and, gritting her teeth around the handle, carved a line of red into her own fetlock. The creature's eyes immediately focused in on the fresh wound, and a hiss emanated from its toothy maw. Zecora prepared herself to run back from whence she'd came as she made herself the next target.
"Rainbow Dash! We must lead her back towards my tree!" Zecora called out as she began to turn tail. "We must trap her and dose her to set our friend free!"
Nodding, Rainbow leapt into the sky again, her wings sore but more than capable of carrying her to this crucial victory. She made sure to keep track of Zecora from just above the canopy; whenever the vampire got a little too close, she would risk a flyby to grab her attention or give her a gentle smack with her hoof, distracting her just long enough to buy time for Zecora's hooves.
Finally, when Zecora's hut came into view, it looked more beautiful to Rainbow than Canterlot ever did. There was still a fair bit of distance between the zebra and the beast hunting her, so Rainbow dove closer to her ally's side.
"What's the plan?" she asked briskly.
"We must get her to fly in through my door. I've set a trap there that should pin her to the floor!"
"I've got just the thing!"
Sweeping through her flightpath to grab her attention, Rainbow led the creature in a high loop through the night air to give Zecora time to reach the door. Holding it open and giving a whistle, she signaled with her wounded hoof in the direction of the trap. Giving herself one last burst of speed, Rainbow pulled ahead of the ever-more-frustrated predator that pursued her, finally placing herself in the doorway, all six limbs spread wide to expose as many of her injuries as possible.
The two Pegasi once more locked eyes. The vampire gave the loudest screech yet witnessed, her mind flowing with nothing but the urge to kill and feast.
But she would not sate her hunger this night. Just before the two made contact, Rainbow Dash ducked and rolled out of her way, missing the creature's muzzle by what felt like a hair's width. The bat had little time to realize what had happened and crashed headfirst into Zecora's wall, knocking over or shattering many vials on her shelves. One particular gourd knocked loose a wooden post holding in place a rope system; as the creature hovered over the pit where the cauldron had once sat, she suddenly found herself attacked from above. A thick-corded net, weighted down with stones and other heavy objects, fell from the ceiling and dragged her to the earthen floor, hissing and screaming in anger.
"Quickly, Rainbow Dash! We have no time to waste!" Zecora said as she donned a pair of heavy leather stockings for her forehooves. "We must pry open her mouth and give her a taste!" Plucking one of the vials from her armor, she tossed it across the room to Dash's nimble hooves. As the furious creature writhed and gnashed her teeth in the net, the two of them approached cautiously, Zecora from behind. They shared a determined glance.
"Wait for my cue, and you'll know what to do."
Rainbow nodded once more and gave a steady exhale. Her hooves cradled the vial carefully as she watched Zecora approach the thrashing animal, its face cut up by glass and its coat glistening with sweat. It was almost astounding to Rainbow how this sickness had taken such a gentle creature as Fluttershy and turned her body into a perfect killing machine. This close, it was easy to see muscles emerging that Fluttershy had never possessed, and that Rainbow had to work hard to maintain. But of course, this wasn't Fluttershy, she thought. It was time to fix that.
Zecora, her forelegs protected by her stockings, managed to put the creature in a headlock and fit its mouth through one of the gaps in the net. Still, Dash could tell that Zecora was using absolutely all of her body's strength just to attempt to hold the creature in place.
"Dash, now!" said the zebra, trying to snap the Pegasus from her reverie.
Furrowing her brow, Dash carefully approached the creature on the wing, hovering just above the net until she felt safe enough to lower herself almost on top of it. Though the creature still flailed and snarled, Zecora managed to get a hoof on its snout to pry its mouth open. Dash, careful not to drop the vial, removed the cork in her teeth and slowly poured the elixir down the creature's gullet. Though it coughed and kicked at them, they could now breathe a sigh of relief.
"Is one going to be enough?" asked Dash.
"One should be plenty to ease our friend's woes. But it may not hurt to drip-feed another dose."
After a few minutes more of thrashing and trying to escape from beneath the net, the creature finally settled down and, seemingly exhausted, fell asleep. Every 10 or so minutes, one of them would don the leather stockings and drip some more of the medicine onto the bat's tongue. In between, they bandaged each other's wounds, spoke of their worries, and caught each other up on events. But more than anything, they held each other - they cried together over this whole experience and watched their sleeping friend with hope and fear. Dash had never known Zecora terribly well prior to all this, but she was sure that they would now be lifelong friends.
The two stood vigilant over the sleeping Pegasus, administering her medicine regularly throughout the night, unable to sleep. But hope finally dawned early that morning, just an hour or two before sunrise. When the creature began to rustle, Rainbow prepared herself for the worst. But when the face twitched and the eyes slowly opened, they were the soft blue eyes of a friend. Fluttershy had returned.
"R... R... Rainbow...?"