A Lost Soul Returns: The King of Monsters

by Dark Star the Crazed

Hunger For Joy.

Twilight and Fang awoke in Fang's bed at the break of day. They smiled at each other and kissed. "Good morning Love." Fang ran his hoof along her side down to her flanks and smiled at the little blush that Twilight had on her face.

"Good morning to you to stud." Twilight smiled and made her eyes half lidded causing Fang to blush. It had been a week since the war had ended and Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and Appleoosa had taken well to becoming part of Transylmaneia permanently. Some ponies actually preferred it to being part of Equestria. They couldn't explain why they liked it better. They all said that it just felt right.

They both heard their stomachs growl and smiled at each other letting their fangs come out. Quickly they latched onto each other’s necks. The sweet tastes of passion fruit and pomegranates filled their mouths. They released each other’s necks and kissed again, wiping the blood from each other’s fangs. They smiled and walked out of the room, down to the castle's great hall when Pinkie's coltfriend ran in and up to them before beginning to talk a mile a minute. "Guys! ThereissomethingwrongwithPinkie! IaskedhertocomeovertoomyhousesoIcould-" Fang shoved a hoof into Jekyll's mouth while Twilight rubbed her ears.

"Twilight... Did you understand a word he just said?" Twilight shook her head. "Jekyll I am going to take my hoof out of your mouth. Talk slowly so we can understand you ok? Nod if you understand." The green earth pony quickly nodded. Fang retracted his hoof and Jekyll took a deep breath and started over.

"You guys know how Pinkie's birthday is in a week? Well I wanted to give her something that comes from the heart so I asked her to come over to my house so I could paint a portrait of her. We were on our way when I noticed that she had disappeared. Then she came stumbling out of an ally and she looked terrible! Like all her joy had been taken away! She is in the hospital right now..." The green stallion looked up at them and he had fear in his eyes. "She's on suicide watch..." Twilight and Fang looked at each other, lit their horns up, and teleported outside the Ponyville hospital. "Wait for me!" Fang and Twilight turned to see Jekyll dashing down the road. He overshot and crashed into a wall. "I'm ok!" He got up and ran into the hospital followed by Twilight and Fang. The two ponies followed Jekyll to the room where Pinkie was being kept. All of their friends were there.

Fang looked at his childhood friend. "Soul... Could you help me? I want to check something on Pinkie. I just need you to hold her still." Soul nodded and they entered the room. "Oh before I forget... Again... Would you like to be my best stallion at the wedding?"

Soul blinked and turned to Fang. "Dude it would be an honor... Only if you be best stallion at my wedding... Yes I am going to get married.... Eventually..." Fang smiled and nodded. "Good now... What do I have to do?"

"Hold Pinkie down so she is on her stomach. I need to check the back of her neck." Soul nodded and focused on the shadows causing them to form tentacles, grab Pinkie's legs, and force her down onto the floor. Fang walked over to the shadow bound mare and brushed away the part of her mane that covered the back of her neck. "Yeah... That's what I thought happened to her... Soul look here." The blue unicorn shade walked over to his friend and looked at the back of Pinkies neck. It looked like a Lamprey Eel had bit her and pierced the skin.

They looked at each other and nodded before walking out of the room. Soul looked at the mares and their coltfriends. "Have any of you seen a clown in town recently?" The ponies all shook their heads. The sound of struggling was heard and the group turned to see The Crusaders struggling with Hex and Gavroche. The colts were holding the fillies down while a nurse injected them with a relaxant. "Hey Hex! What's going on?"

Hex Looked at Soul and his sister. "The girls were trying to drown themselves in the lake." The fourteen ponies walked over to the colts. Dash, Thunder, Rarity, Spike, Aj, and North followed the doctors who were carrying the crusaders away. Before they did however Fang checked the back of their necks. They had the same mark as Pinkie.

Fang looked at the two colts. "What happened? Tell me exactly what happened while you were all near the lake." Gav and Hex looked at each other.

"We were playing tag with the crusaders when this earth pony clown walked up and asked if we wanted to see a magic trick. The girls stopped and said yes and we went to go get some ice cream for everypony. When we got back the girls were trying to drown themselves and the clown was gone." Gav nodded at Hex because he had explained what had happened correctly.

"Ok everypony it is clear to me what we are dealing with here. It is a Devorabit Felicitas. Their name means 'devour happiness'. They are also known as Laughter Vamponies. As their name suggests they feed off of happiness. It is unknown what their true form is, but they always take the form of something that they associate with happiness and laughter. Clowns." He turned to Soul. "Come on. We have a demon to kill." The shade nodded and the two began to walk off when Jekyll blocked their path.

"I'm coming with you. He hurt Pinkie... He hurt the mare I have a crush on... I want to make him pay." Soul and Fang stared at him and nodded. The three of them walked off and towards the park and lake where the crusaders had seen the clown.

"Jekyll. I know that you are a very talented artist. Would you mind painting a portrait of the Devorabit Felicitas' true form? I have been meaning to catalog the different types of monsters and demons that roam this world. I will pay handsomely." Jekyll thought for a second before nodding.

"Pennywise the Dancing Clown at Ten O Clock." Fang and Jekyll turned to where Soul was facing and saw the clown talking to Ditzy's daughter Dinky. It had two tufts of a red mane sticking out the side of its head in the shape of two balls. It wore a blue and black suit with red balls where buttons would be and had a braided tail. Other than that he looked like a normal pony. The clown clapped his hooves and a pie fell on his head causing the little unicorn to break out laughing hysterically. They saw the clown lick his lips and open his mouth. A long red tongue with the mouth of a Lamprey Eel at the end emerged and wrapped around the laughing filly. The tongue was about to latch on when the clown was tackled by Jekyll.

"Fix Pinkie and The Crusaders right now!" The green pony began to punch the clown in the face. The clown growled and threw him off. The clown gave a loud roar and ran off quickly followed by the stallions that hunted it. It lead them into the clock tower and ran to the top. Jekyll followed it while Soul and Fang stayed behind. He had told them that if the clown was going to die that he wanted to be the one to kill it. The stallion reached the top of the clock tower and couldn't find the clown. "Where are you coward!? Show yourself!" The sound of hoof steps made him turn around just in time to see the clown tackle him. Jekyll felt the clowns hooves wrap around his neck. He couldn't breathe. He looked to the left and saw a can of black spray paint. He grabbed it and popped it open before spraying the clown’s eyes. The clown screamed and let him go, it touched it face and Jekyll saw that its face was melting slightly. "This is acid you scum!" He sprayed it again and kept spraying as the clown stepped backwards. After five steps it reached the edge, lost its balance and fell. The clown was dead on impact. A group of small lights emerged from its body as it turned to dust.

The orbs flew towards the hospital and Jekyll followed them. Soul and Fang followed as well. They followed the orbs until they reached their friends and one of the orbs flew into Pinkies room and entered her body. Her deflated mane perked up and became poofy again. "Where am I? Why am I in this hospital gown? I'm not sick! I'm too happy to be sick!" As she began to bounce Jekyll ran into the room and glomped her. Pinkie blinked and it took her a few seconds to register what had just happened. "Hey Jeky!"

"Pinkie! Your back!" Pinkie blinked at Jekyll and giggled.

"Yay I'm back! Where did I go?" Jekyll blinked, blushed, and let go of her. "What's the matter Jeky?"

"Nothing! Let's just get you out of here and to my house so I can paint a portrait of you." Jekyll looked away to hide his blush only for it to increase when he felt his marefriend's legs wrap around his neck.

"You don't have to be embarrassed of your feelings Jeky. I know you love me and I love you to. You should never hide your feelings. It will only end up hurting you. Ok?" Pinkie smiled as Jekyll nuzzled her neck.

"Yeah I guess you’re right. Anyway let’s get going I want to get started as soon as possible. I want to be finished with it before your birthday." Pinkie smiled and hopped up before bouncing out of the room and out of the hospital. The nurse saw she was back to normal and discharged her.

Twilight and Fang went to the library and began to talk about wedding plans while everypony else went home. Soul went back to Trixie's house and went upstairs to the room he lived in when he noticed something. The window was open and a piece of paper was attached to the wall with a kunai. He walked over and took it off the wall. On it was what he could only describe as a poem.

Soul blinked. "The buck is that supposed to mean?" He shrugged and tossed it onto the floor before going to bed for the night. Outside, on the roof of Ditzy's house a bipedal creature with bony hands and glowing yellow eyes looked towards the window of Soul’s room. Its body was swathed with black cloth bandages that covered its entire body and face excluding the eyes and hands. A stray cloud fired a bolt of lightning and the creature disappeared in the flash of light.

The sound of a maniacal laugh rang throughout the sleepy little town and disturbed the silence. That night Soul had a nightmare a black, skeletal, dragon with six legs. It sat upon a giant throne staring down upon Soul. It opened its jaw and breathed out a dark black flame that engulfed the shade. Soul woke up the next morning screaming.