//------------------------------// // Chapter One - Scent // Story: Fury of the Forgotten // by davey- //------------------------------// note: the spacing of this doc fails on mobile devices. Deal with it google docs: probably better formatting: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bGzEogSDlBx1iITRUWMt9qub3QnBhLmuf9u_rAZtxFU/edit Fury of the Forgotten by Davey- Chapter One - Scent The melodic chirping of birds drifted gracefully into Twilight Sparkle's bedroom as she smiled proudly at the numerous stacks of books surrounding her bed. "Perfect! I've completely finished with Equestrian history!" she announced to no pony in particular. Lifting her gaze from her books, she stared out at the shining sky. Still smiling, the purple unicorn levitated yet another stack of books over to her bed. "Now to catch up on some physics!". Giggling with glee and rubbing her hooves together, the over enthusiastic filly pulled the first book off of the stack and began to flip from page to page, her eyes darting back and forth as she took in both old and new information. So much unknown! Nothing will spoil this day! Celestia’s day slowly grew into Luna’s night, signalled by the appearance of a milky-white crescent amongst the glimmer of a thousand stars. Twilight continued to read feverishly, attempting to take in as much of the knowledge her books kept from her before... Too late. The unicorn released a long and truthful yawn, stretching her forelegs carefully, releasing the tension that lazing around all day had built up in them. A second yawn more powerful than the first indicated the end of today's study session. She had just now noticed the strain she had put on her eyes, squinting them to focus them in on her window. Night already? Did I really read for that long? It was a slight shock, even to her, how dedicated she was sometimes, but with Spike sorting books all day and Owlowicious delivering a letter to her parents for her, it was very logical that she could become fully immersed in her studies, undisturbed. Reluctantly closing her book, she carefully levitated a few of the stacks aside so she could manage to reach her bedroom door. I better clean up a little before bed. A lavender glow surrounded the iron handle as it silently turned in Twilight's attempt to make as little noise as possible since Spike preferred to sleep early in the night. At this thought, the unicorn turned her head slightly towards the bed of her number one assistant, but adopted a quizzical expression at his absence from the small bed. If he isn't sleeping, then where is that dragon? I haven't seen him all day... Twilight paused with the door half open, trying to remember what Spike had last told her. He didn't mention going anywhere, or do something unusual, where could he have gotten off to? As if on cue, the purple scaled dragon shot through the open door like a bullet, wrapping his arms tightly around Twilight's right foreleg, unintentionally digging his claws in and drawing a few trickles of blood as a result. Twilight Sparkle shouted in pain louder than she would have liked and immediately scolded the dragon. "Ow! Spike! Let go of me! What has gotten into you! That is no way to behave!" But as her anger faded and she gazed down at the still clinging Spike, she realized that he was crying loudly, his half hidden eyes as red as the sun. Twilight instantly entered panic mode, worried about her baby dragon. "Spike? Are you okay? What's wrong? Did something happen to you?" The questions began to fly out of the frantic unicorn faster than the distraught dragon could answer them. "Twi-tw-twi-ow-owl-ow-", he stuttered before returning to his deafening cries. The dragon dug his claws in deeper, as if holding on for dear life. Twilight attempted to shake him loose, but to no avail. Twilight had seen Spike upset before, and more than once had she dried his tears, consoled him, and brought him a big ice cream sundae to cheer him up... but this time was different. The tiny dragon showed no sign of removing his little claws from the unicorns foreleg as he screamed pure misery rather than simple sadness through his sobbing. Something is horribly wrong. As each second passed, Twilight's leg pain faded, only to be replaced with the mental stress of Spike's unstoppable fit. Each shriek from the clearly traumatized dragon pierced the unicorns heart. No time to figure this out, something must have happened, something bad. The purple-coated mare finally managed to push her assistant aside and bolted out the door towards the staircase. As she approached the top step, a wretched smell caught her attention, resembling discarded food left to rot in a dumpster for weeks. No, this is stronger... almost like some form of decay. Pausing momentarily in a vain attempt to place the scent, it began to overpower Twilight's senses. The smell that now assaulted her burned at her eyes from its pure strength, forcing them shut. As the putrid smell of death hung in the air around her, it began to pull Twilight’s stomach into her throat along with all of its contents. Oh Celestia. Falling against the railing of the staircase and holding her stomach, the lavender mare began to dry heave violently. The taste of bile filled her mouth, pushing her closer to vomiting with each outburst of severe coughing and gagging. Through her hacking and heaving, Twilight's vision began to blur, her head aching from the barrage of pain the scent caused in her sinuses. The burning sensation of her stomach's acid flowing into her esophagus rose to her mouth, finally winning the battle against her will as she hunched over and expelled the vile taste from her mouth. The vomiting intensified as the putrid flavor of her half digested meals passed over her tongue, creating a sickening taste within her mouth. What in Equestria could produce such a scent? Something so strong that it could induce vomiting? Dare I find out? --- Concealed behind a certain unicorn’s bed, a small purple dragon resided, curled into a ball with one claw in his mouth. Why? Why would anypony do this? Spike began to viciously bite down on his thumb as past images of the day flashed in his mind, causing his head to ache painfully, like nails being driven deep into his skull. “Ahhhhhhhhh!” He screamed as his thoughts drifted to the sight in the library no more than six minutes ago. “D-d-did he d-do someth-thing to deserve th-that?” The dragon managed through burning sobs. I wish Twilight hadn’t run down there... --- Barely regaining control over her stomach and the burning pain in the pit of it, Twilight staggered down the stairs while levitating a tissue to her mouth, wiping away the last of the vomit. But as she approached the base of the staircase, the scent grew in intensity, almost driving her back into her sickness. Stay strong Twi, you have to find what Spike found. At that thought the innocent bookworm gritted her teeth and fought with determination to carry on, focusing all of her energy into resisting her stomachs yearning to vomit, but as she drew closer to the source of the smell, the determination was replaced by fear and nausea. The source of the deathly fragrance? A small desk with something wretched concealed behind it. Please Celestia... She held her breath, her face burning as she began grinding her teeth slowly. Feeling each drop of sweat crawl slowly down her face, the fear she felt intensified as each hoof fall brought her closer and closer to what had reduced Spike to horrifying anguish. Closer to what caused her to vomit profusely from scent alone. Closer to what would steal her innocence away from her forever. As Twilight approached the scent, a glare from a nearby light caught her eye through its reflection on top of the desk, almost beckoning to her, drawing her in. That’s strange... this desks finish is too worn to reflect light... Her curiosity gripped her and pulled her closer to what appeared to be a form of liquid spread over the desk top, a liquid she recognized immediately, but couldn’t believe. Is that... Blood. Dark crimson smears coated the old desk in grotesque amounts, intentionally having been lead in a trail to the back corner where it formed a disturbingly large pool, dripping slowly over the edge to the ground below. As the intrigue of the spectacle drew the unicorn closer, the smears began taking the appearance of letters that had been carelessly painted out of some poor creatures blood. Is this some kind of sick joke? The thought of somepony the purple mare trusted pulling such an insensitive and disgusting prank like this renewed the nausea from earlier within her. With her legs trembling, Twilight fought to lift her hooves and move them forward, trying to reach a distance at which she could read the twisted text, taking note of what had been used to create the horrifying message. Twilight’s mouth hung open as her eyes settled on what seemed like a bunny, damaged beyond all recognition with a severed paw used to dot the letter ‘i’ that she could now make out. i will take everything from you Twilight’s body ceased all motion, her heart feeling as though it were refusing to beat in her chest, but rather finding a new home within her throat, gagging the unicorn with each of its relentless beats. This can’t be a joke. Her mind began to race as a million questions without answers assaulted her at once. ‘what does it mean?’ ‘who would do this?’ ‘what have they done?’ ‘where did the blood come from?’ ‘what did the blood come from?’ ‘is this what traumatized spike?’ ‘what if it isn’t?’ ‘is there something worse?’ ‘where is the smell coming from?’ Growing dizzy from the mass of inquiries she was failing to sort, Twilight began to lose balance, wobbling from side to side. Vision swaying, she crossed her hooves repeatedly as she sidestepped left and right. Slowly regaining control over her now jello like legs, she once again felt the rage of her stomach attempting to betray her once more. FIghting as long as she could, Twilight eventually gave in and settled on leaning over to vomit once again. Having previously relinquished all of her past meals on the staircase, the putrid taste of pure bile stung at the unicorns throat and tongue. Come on Twi, keep control, it’s only going to get worse... She shuddered at the thought of ‘worse’. --- Carefully, Spike pushed Twilight’s bedroom window open, allowing the cool night air to sweep in and envelop him like a comforting blanket. Night. Luna’s gift to every citizen of Equestria. As he stared up at the deep blue glow of the sky, his eyes reflected the small glimmer of the stars that dotted the mystic expanse. Where should I go? The dragon considered this for a moment, realizing the hopelessness of his situation. Rainbow Dash was out of reach, The Cakes had their hooves full with Pinkie and the little foals, Rarity was in Canterlot for the week, Applejack lived too far from the library, and Fluttershy was too close to the Everfree forest. No pony seemed to have a home for Spike other than Twilight, but recent events had made it too painful to even consider going back to the main floor of the library. Spike thought for a moment, closing his eyes tight in an attempt to hide from his memories. I just need to get away from this. Settling on his choice, he hopped into the window and stepped out onto a large tree branch. Why? The only question that still lingered in his mind stung deep in the depths of Spike’s heart, resembling the feeling of losing a loved one. Hanging his head, the dragon watched solemnly as tear after tear dropped from his eyes to the ground below. Why would somepony take away Owlowicious? --- A blood curdling scream pierced the silence of the library as Twilight drew back in horror from the source of the wretched smell. “No!” She cried as her breath caught in her throat, driving her into a nearby bookcase as she gasped to regain lost air. There, behind the desk with its hateful message was the source of the blood used to write it. No! No Celestia no! Please! Upon the library floor lay an arrangement of small animals in the shape of a crescent moon, all remorselessly decapitated; but worst of all, Twilight’s eyes settled on the focal point of the sociopathic art show... Owlowicious... or what remained of the loyal avion. Her once faithful, second assistant, lie dead in the center of the gruesome moon, feathers half torn out and littering the display. Twilight’s mouth became drier than it had ever been before, as though she hadn’t had any form of liquid in it for weeks. She struggled vainly to rehydrate her saliva-less mouth, unintentionally allowing the vile taste of vomit to make itself known once more to the unicorn. Her brain halted its attempts to figure out what had happened, adopting the plan to just decipher what was in front of her now. Th-this is sick! Gagging, the unicorn felt the vomit once again returning to her throat, faster and more forceful than it had before, expelling itself onto her lavender coat. The acidic solution heated the areas it affected, creating a burning sensation. The source of the vile scent was clear to her suddenly as her eyes, now wide as saucers, took note of the level of decay the critters forming the moon had reached. Their fragile little bodies had been harshly split open in many different places, leaving jagged wounds which allowed their entrails to spill out from every new opening. Judging by the carrion that dug its way through the decaying flesh of the small animals, it was clear the attacker had killed them weeks before, fiendishly allowing them to rot to drive the sick message straight into Twilight’s heart. The look in the vulnerable creatures’ eyes almost cried out to Twilight that they had endured much pain while still alive before being granted the gift of death. Who could do something so horrific?! The saddest sight, and probably the one to cause so much trauma to Spike was that of her other assistant. With his feathers mostly gone and wings ripped painfully off, Owlowicious lay in a heap of fresh blood and organs. His eyes had been removed from their sockets and his talons chipped away. From the display that burned itself into Twilight’s mind, it was clear that they had all been heartlessly tortured before having their necks swiftly broken. No... No please, let this be a dream, a horrible, terrifying nightmare! This is wrong, so very wrong... No! The unicorn collapsed in a heap, her limbs giving up on supporting her torso, aching from their violent, non-stop shaking. Tears streamed like rivers from the eyes of the emotionally damaged mare, her mind repeating the scene in her head, destroying every last bit of sanity remaining in her mind. Twilight’s crying intensified as her breathing and heart rate increased simultaneously, overwhelming her own will. Once again she found herself gasping for air, struggling to overcome the shock of what she had just seen. Slowly, shadows clawed into the unicorns eyes, pulling veils of darkness over her vision, relentlessly dragging her away from the world. She was losing consciousness, and she knew it. Twilight fought as hard as she could for many things, she fought for air, she fought for strength, she fought for clarity, but no matter how hard she tried, she found herself unable to fight for long. Allowing the darkness to consume her, the pained weeping that was escaping her gradually died out, and finally, after what felt like eternity, Twilight grew still and silent. --- From the lower floor window of the now quiet library, a cloaked pony gazed in at the tragic image of the broken unicorn lying unconscious in a pool of her own bile and tears. Barely visible in the concealing darkness of night, her eyes radiated pure malice. Slowly, the mysterious mare began licking her lips deviously, whispering defiantly into the window. “Oh my dear Twilight. I have only just begun my torture. Stay strong, I want you to feel all of the pain that your friends will soon feel as a result of you ever opposing me.” Her words unheard, the figure smiled, turned, and disappeared into the forgotten supremacy of Luna’s beautiful night. ---