//------------------------------// // Conflicting Goals and Eradicating Bridges // Story: Dawn of the Vanguard // by Mystic Song //------------------------------// Zachary was roughly shaken awake. He slowly opened his eyes wincing as they adjusted to the bright noon day light. Groaning softly he turned his head to look at whatever was continuing to shake him. Large purple eyes stared at him. Zachary sharply pulled away in shock. Only to choke himself on the collar that grimly tied his head to the large sturdy tree he was pushed up against. He tried to move his arms however with a rising fear that threatened to claim his mind, he found that there were heavy shackles on his wrists. Thick chains led from his shackles and embedded themselves deep in to the ground. While looking at the ground he realized that his ankles where chained like his wrists. He barely registered as his large black wings started to beat uselessly while he kicked violently testing the strength of the chains holding his feet to the ground. 'What the hell are these things made of?' Zachary thought angrily as he struggled harder, rattling the dark purple chains loudly. In a last ditch attempt to leave he began to pool his magic getting ready to make another earth shaking explosion... "I wouldn't do that if I was you." A calm distinctly feminine voice cut like a knife through his concentration, ending his spell. Zachary looked up, back into those unnerving analytical purple eyes. "Those chains will drain away your magic before you build it into another explosion," the purple alicorn next to him said in a strong authority filled voice, "I know that you can understand me because of that spell you used Rarity to put onto yourself. So to move things along Zachary I will tell you who I am and what I want. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, direct protégé of Princess Celestia, and I want to ask you a few questions." Her voice shifted into a softer tenor and her gaze became gentle, "I hope that after we have learned from each other we can be friends. Then you can come with us to Equestria and see that both our races can benefit from our continued friendship." Throughout Twilights explanation he kept perfectly still as the information he had been given by her sank in. He looked up at her and her kindly smiling face and spoke, "So you can understand me then?" Twilight grinned brightly at how relaxed Zachary sounded, "Yes I can." "Well then," he smiled back, his face dripping in artificial sweetness, "fuck you and every title you have owned, have now, and may own in the future." Twilight's face dropped, spurring on Zachary's now razor sharp grin, "W-what?" "You heard me. Go fuck yourself." Zachary said channeling every last bit of disdain he had felt over the last month onto his face. "B-b-but Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie said that you became friends easily. If your trying to get on their good side why aren't you trying to get on my good side." Twilight said pointing an accusing hoof at him. "I was nice to them because they were nice to me, you on the other hand," Zachary rattle the chains holding him down for emphasis, "have chained me to a spirit damned tree after you have poisoned me! So you know what! Go fuck yourself, and while you're at it tell Applejack that what she gave me tasted like shit." Really he knew he was laying it on pretty thick, but the moment they had drugged him his mission had been finished. The Alicorn Princess had what she wanted and what she should have expected, a very ignorant and very irritated human. Whatever happened now would be totally up to him and after weeks of acting like a blind dire pup he was done with being nice. Twilight stomped the ground trying to enforce what authority she had, "By the power given to me as princess of Equestria..." "Will you shut up! I barely even know what Equestria is!" He snapped, his black wings flapping in time with his annoyance. "But everypony knows what Equestria is." Twilight said pushing past his anger to what she thought was her victory. "Yes everypony. You see Miss Twilight that last time I checked I wasn't a pony," he pretended to look himself over, "nope not a pony." "You know what I mean!" Twilight shouted, "You're just trying to distracted me so I don't find out about your plans to take over Equestria!" "Again with Equestria. Why in the Kin-hell would I want to take over Equestria!" Zachary shouted back perfectly hiding his inward flinch. 'Careful buddy,' he thought as Twilight face hardened with disbelief, 'Even though it is technically done, the very way you swear could still make your mission end in something worse than complete failure.' "You want to take over Equestria because that's where you used to live, and now you want to take it back from ponies!" Twilight raged as she tried desperately to make sense of what she was hearing. "The last time I checked I lived here, not in Equestia." Zachary snorted, "For all I care you can keep your piece of shit Equestria." ...And. Wow, Twilight looked pissed. Well they did always tell that his mouth would kill him one day. "Equestria. Is not. A piece. Of shit!" Twilight grated out bright purple magic swirling dangerously around her, "It's a wonderful place because it's peaceful, and nice and everypony gets along just fine! Also we would never do anything evil because, because evil is wrong!" Twilight's throat roughly scratched as she tried to yell away her doubt. Zachary gave her a questioning look, "You wouldn't do anything bad?" "Yes. We would never do anything wrong and only fight to protect the ones we love." Twilight huffed placing a hoof against her burning throat. "So you wouldn't do anything bad like, peace forbid, betraying your friends." Zachary a devious smile cruelly gracing his lips. "Right I would never..." Twilight voice tapered away at Zachary's implication. "Where is Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie anyways? They seemed so happy to introduce us a couple of days ago. We even had a party to celebrate." Zachary smiled sweetly, his faked innocence a thin silk over the sharp dagger in his voice. "I-I-I," Twilight stuttered before hardening her eyes, "No! You're just trying to manipulated me like you did them I won't fall for this! By order of Princess Celestia...!" "Again with this Princess Celestia, why the hell is she so important!" He snapped, the way how Twilight kept on bringing up Celestia’s name was starting to irritate him. If he wasn't trying so hard to vent out weeks of frustration he would have noticed the red flag that his irritation was. "Princess Celestia is important because she is a very powerful ruler of Equestria and she entrusted me to find the humans!" Twilight snapped back, her face turning red at her anger. "Princess Celestia is a ruler of Equestria and she entrusted you to find humans?" Zachary asked changing his voice's pitch just so, making him sound curious in all the wrong ways. Twilight eyes widened at the dangerous undertones in Zachary's voice, "Stay away from Celestia!" "Why, is she important to you?" Zachary grinned widely as he saw her regret clearly in her wide eyes, "Well then maybe I should go to Equestria. That's where you princess is isn't it? I wonder how important a princess is, whatever that is. Wait, you're a princess too aren't you? Are you related to Celestia then? You do seem to care about her a lot. Tell me about this Princess Celestia, you say she powerful but how powerful is she really?" Zachary grin took on a predatory air, "She must have some sort of weakness. If she was really that powerful she wouldn't need you to run errands for her. So what is it? Is she actually weak or does she not believe in herself. Does she fear not being strong enough? Or is it something else?" Zachary realized his mistake just as his world whited out with agony. Pain seared through his veins like molten lead as he felt his body pull apart at the seams. Dimly thorough the constant rolls of anguish he felt, Zachary heard the activated shackles deafening hum as his body contorted and his nails bit deep into his palms. As suddenly and violently as it came the pain left and he finally stopped screaming. Now if he only could remember when he started. He panted hard as the echoing in his ears dimmed and he was at last fully returned back into the waking world. He forced himself to look up the Alicorn in front of him as her horn glowed an angry purple from its recent use. "If you ever threaten anypony ever again," Twilight trailed off as her horn glowed brightly causing the shackles to hum menacingly, "I am I clear?" Her ear flicked as though it was banishing a whisper only she could hear. Zachary glared burning hatred into Twilight's eyes before, to her shock, smiling sweetly at her, "Crystal clear." Twilight held his gaze a heartbeat longer before nodding, "Make sure that you are. I will come back with Applejack and Rainbow Dash and you will answer our questions." With that Twilight left Zachary alone tied to a tree in the noon day sun, the burning smell left over from the shackles use was too faint for either of them to notice. Rainbow Dash wasn't really sure what she expecting to see when the human woke up. Maybe that he would be shouting swears at them in his strange language, threatening to kill them and their families. Or that he would be cocky and say something along the lines of 'If you think that these petty chains would hold me think again!' then he would break free and try to gobble them all up. What she was not expecting was silence. He didn't even look at them. Even when Twilight introduced herself and Applejack to him. He didn't try to get out of the slumped sitting position he was in. His long black hair hanged loosely in front of his face making it impossible to see where he was looking. It was really starting to freak her out. "Hey Twilight are you sure that he's okay? I mean what if they die if the don't move every minute or something." Rainbow Dash said not liking the idea of killing something. "Oh he's fine. Zachary is just being difficult he will come around in time." Twilight said tightly, rubbing her ears as if trying to silence an unheard buzz as she continued to go through her equipment bag. "If you say so..." Rainbow Dash said as she watched Applejack get close to the human. The apple farmer stood in front of the sitting human and heatedly glared at his slumped form. He still didn't move, or acknowledged her presence. She snorted angrily, and slammed her hoof on the ground beside him making him flinch. "Now ah don't know how smart ya are or how smart ya think you are, but we are smarter. So if ya get the bright idea in your head ta attack Equestria we will know that you and your clan or pack or whatever were the ones to do it. Then after putting an army together we will come back ta this little island of yours and show you and your kin what happens when ya mess with us ponies." She punctuated her point with another hoof stomp, this time strong enough to shake the ground. Applejack sneer was cut out prematurely when Zachary looked up at her. "You cannot shut up, can you?" He snarled. Applejack's eyes widened in shock before narrowing in anger, "Now you listen here..." "No you listen, my head is killing me right now, and at this moment I rather not speak with you any more then I have to. So ask me what you have to and leave me in peace or I swear...!" Zachary stopped as the shackles began to hum again. He caught and returned Twilight's glare before making an overly exaggerated show of closing his mouth. "Um, Twilight what just happened?" Rainbow Dash asked at the human's sudden silence. "I just reminded him why should he watch the way that he acts." Twilight said, strangely shaking her head before taking out a quill and stack of paper, "Okay Zachary if you answer all my questions I promise to let you go, that sounds fair doesn't it?" "Why, yes it does," he said voice thick with sarcasm, "you Twilight Sparkle are a very reasonable pony. You must be great at what Pinkie Pie calls parties." Twilight glared at him and asked her first question, "What do you know about Equestria?" "Other than that it's a shit hole?" Zachary barely hid his flinch as the shackles hummed loudly and the faces of the ponies before him darkened dangerously, "It's ruled by four princesses one who's name is Celestia and the other who is you." Twilight's eyes narrowed at Zachary's incriminating words, "I never told you about the two other princesses." "No, but Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie did." Zachary said not skipping a beat. "Why in tarnation would they tell you that?" Applejack said poking him roughly. "They didn't tell you? And I thought you guys were friends," Zachary quickly continued when Applejack's face darkened further and she raise a threatening hoof at his unprotected face, "I asked them why you came here and they answered." "I'm going to have to speak to them about that," Twilight muttered, neglecting how it would be impossible to ask them without tipping then off on Zachary's whereabouts, "Next question, why did you approached Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie?" "I was curious," Zachary said a small smile gracing his face, "unknown creatures usually attack or outright kill people. You three did which wasn't surprising, but they didn't. I was curious why." "That's it? You were curious?" Twilight ask voicing her skepticism. "Eeyep." He replied, and why does Applejack look murderous? "Why does she look like she's about to kill me?" He asked slightly wary at the fire reflected in Applejack's green eyes. "You should care more about yourself," Twilight said but gave Applejack a warning glance all the same, "Next question what is the closest human settlement here?" Ahh, there it was the somewhat hazy pressure Zachary felt whenever the spell on him started actively working, "The closet settlement is Komerco." A trading post which, like many places from the Great Mixing, was less then dust by now. Twilight grinned, "How far away is Komerco." Zachary keep up his annoyed appearance as he said, "About five Ri Meses from here." "Aha! Now we can..." Twilight trailed off and gave Zachary a terribly blank look, "What?" "I said Komerco is about five Ri Meses from here." Zachary snorted and grinned, "what don't you know your directions?" Surprizing them both, he and Rainbow Dash shared a concerned look as Twilight began to twitch. "Um Twilight you okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, as Twilight's eyes started to twitch. "I'm just fine! Everything is fine. It will be even more fine when Zachary here tells me how many directions there are." Twilight grated out, "Well Zachary." "Anywhere from four," Zachary started. "See nothing is wrong." Twilight said her smile somewhat losing it's lopsided look. "to thirty two. Maybe more depending on who you ask." He finished. Twilight eyes flashed white before she roughly force herself to do what looked to Zachary like a strange one hoof dance. "Okay, forget Komerco. I have other things to ask you." Twilight said, "What do you eat?" 'No point in lying', Zachary thought before saying, "A little bit of everything." Twilight face took on a definite 'Aha' look before she reached inside one of her bags and magically took out a medium sized translucent container, "So you eat things like this?" She said before opening it. The putrid smell that left the container seeped into every thing unfortunate enough to be near it. Zachary eyes watered as he desperately tried to hold down whatever he last ate, "What is that?" He coughed out. By the Three he could feel the stench burning the back of his throat! "Some Manticore steaks from the Griffin Lands, wanna try some?" Twilight said brightly swinging the container closer to him. "Get that thing away from me!" Zachary choked. Twilight ears fell back as they twitched sporadically against her head, "But I know that you eat meat, why won't you have this?" Zachary looked at what Twilight was trying to feed him and felt as acid tickle the back of his throat. It was putrid, plain and simple. Pale white green mold infested the off coloured burgundy meat causing it to crack and deform. Small black lumps spotted and clustered on its surface and was sprayed by the pale pink and clear separating juices that leaked from the sweating chuck of flesh. "That has to be the most disgusting thing I have ever seen." Zachary hacked, the fact that Rainbow Dash and Applejack were hacking with him was little comfort, "How old is that thing?" "Only a couple of months." Twilight as the meat swished in its own disgusting juices. "A couple of...are you trying to poison me?" Zachary then blinked, going over what he said and his current position, "Rephrasing that, why are you trying to poison me with rotten meat?" "I'm not trying to poison you," Twilight said thankfully closing the container, "I'm trying to establish a greater connection between us by showing you that I'm not afraid of what you eat." "By poisoning me with rotten meat?" Zachary snapped pushing away the illness he felt. The source of the smell was gone but he could almost taste the aftermath. "I'm not trying to poison you!" Twilight snapped back a grimace spreading across her face, "Why did Pinkie Pie say that this was easy?" Zachary eyes narrowed and his face was masked with disbelief, "Pinkie Pie told you that getting me to eat rotten meat was easy?" "No, she said, 'Zachary is really really really nice and likes bake goods and other things if you want to be friends bring him something good', why are you not cooperating?" Twilight expired. "Maybe because when Pinkie Pie gave me something she didn't poison me, and then tied me to a tree?" Zachary deadpanned. Twilight glared at him, "That still doesn't explain why you were nice to her, Rarity or Fluttershy. Didn't Pinkie Pie technically attack you too." "There is a difference between trying to be friendly and failing miserably, and being outright malicious." Zachary snarled. "I'm not trying to be malicious! I just want to learn more from you, so just accept my peace offering already!" Twilight said horn glowing as she went to take out the container again. "No." Zachary bit out. "Why not?" Twilight glared her hoof dragging angrily into the ground. "Because it's rancid! No one would eat something that rancid." Zachary snapped, "Maybe if it didn't look like it wanted to be put out of it's misery I would consider feeding it to a flesh eating plant." He breathed out evenly, "If you're going to give something meat at least make sure it's fresh." "That's what you want, isn't it?" Applejack low voice interrupted crudely, the poison in her green eyes swirling into a hateful mess, 'For us to give you the freshest tastiest critters tah eat." "Applejack maybe you should calm down." Rainbow Dash said moving to pull Applejack away from the instantaneously silent human and alicorn. "How can ah calm down when this monster is demanding that Twilight go and get him something fresh to eat." Applejack spat as she got into Zachary's face. "I don't think I'm in the position to ask anybody anything." Zachary said matching Applejack's heated glare. "Oh ya think you're so great don't ya? Well listen to this I'm never going to let you monsters eat another pony as long as I'm an element. Do ya hear me?" Applejack said getting closer to him. Zachary smirked, "I understand perfectly, as long as you're an element." Applejack smirked back matching his false sweetness, then she struck out. He didn't notice the pain until after Applejack removed her hoof, a mass of black feathers held tightly within her grasp. Zachary could hear the surprise in Twilight and Rainbow Dash's gasps as he felt the pupils of his eyes contract into slits. A low hissing sound escape his mouth as he forced himself not to shout. Instinctively his wings curled in on themselves. Small reddened bits of skin hugged tightly to the feathers in Applejack's grasp. "Applejack what do you think you're doing!?" Twilight shouted pulling Applejack violently away from Zachary and held her in a levitation spell. "I'm taking back what is ours!" Applejack shouted down at the alicorn. "Applejack what are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked her eyes wide at the large black feathers hanging limp in Applejack's hoof. "You know exactly what I'm talking about Rainbow Dash. We all know how Zachary and his kin got these I'm just taking back what is yours." Applejack said letting the black feathers fall like dead leaves on the sun warmed ground. Rainbow Dash turned a sicking green, "You can't just pluck him!" "I thought you would understand. Seeing him there...don't you feel angry at how he just using them? Them there wings, those are pony wings he shouldn't have them!" Applejack snapped and struggled against Twilight's spell to address Zachary, "Do ya hear me you monster! Those wings, that magic, that strength it isn't yours how dare you use it against us! You laugh and smile and throw it in our face like you're proud of them. How dare you eat ponies like they're nothing but a way ta get stronger so ya can eat more. What in Tatarus is wrong with you?" "Applejack I think you should take a breather this is obviously getting to you." Twilight spoke loudly cutting into Applejack's rant, wary of the dark glare Zachary was giving them, "Rainbow Dash go with her and make sure she doesn't come back until she cools down." Rainbow Dash nodded as Twilight gently let Applejack still fuming form down, "Okay, come on Applejack." Applejack stared at the human and returned his dark look. She raised her hoof as the human tensed, a low sounding growl leaving his throat. "Applejack, now!" Rainbow Dash snapped pulling at Applejack's tail, dragging her away. Twilight watched until Rainbow Dash had taken Applejack to a safe distance before turning back to Zachary. "I'm sorry about that she can get really, um, passionate at times." Twilight laughed awkwardly, "Are you ready to answer some more questions?" "Do I really have a choice?" Zachary replied forcefully. "Okay next question," Twilight said as she tried to hide her winch, "Where are your hunting grounds?" Rainbow Dash watch from a safe distance away as Twilight continued to question the creature. Applejack stood beside Rainbow Dash with a hard glare on her face, and if Rainbow Dash was honest with herself the apple farmers constant glaring was getting to her. "Will you stop glaring? It's like your trying to kill him with your eyes." Rainbow Dash said willfully ignoring Applejack's outburst. Applejack was just stressed out, they all were. Just look at Twilight, she was so jumpy and kept on complaining about a headache she had. So there really wasn't any reason for Rainbow Dash to be worried by the way Applejack had acted out, there wasn't. "I just don't like it." Applejack spat, "You know all the horrible things that humans have done. Whose to say that he won't try to do those things again. And don't say that can't happen, did you see how he fought? Imagine how strong his whole pack is! Think about it, five or maybe even fifteen monsters like him stomping around Equestria? It would be chaos!" "Applejack stop. Acting like this is going to get us nowhere." Rainbow Dash grated out, "Just let it go. I'm not saying that you should be best buddies with him, just stop provoking him." Applejack glared at Rainbow Dash before breathing out slowly, "Fine I won't provoke him, it's just he..!" Rainbow Dash counted each breath Applejack took as she tried to steady herself, twenty seven laboured breaths, "Alright, alright I'm calm let's go back and help Twilight, okay." Rainbow Dash carefully studied Applejack's relaxed face, demanding that any leftover spite to reveal itself and disappear. Finally when she felt her eyes burn Rainbow Dash replied, "Okay let's go over to Twilight and see what she's asking it." "So do many humans keep their hair long?" Twilight ask oblivious to Applejack and Rainbow Dash coming over. "Just the ones that want to." Zachary snorted barely acknowledging their return. "Hmm, so that means it more for style then anything." Twilight hummed tapping her quill lightly against her face, "Does that mean you keep it that long to be desirable to the females of your race?" Zachary's gave Twilight his most puzzled look, "Why are you asking that? No wait, why do you want to know?" "I'm just curious." Twilight said writing something down. "Come on Twilight ask him something interesting." Rainbow Dash said impatiently. "Like?" Twilight asked as she took out a fresh sheet of paper. "How fast he is?" Rainbow Dash said jumping at the chance to feed her curiosity and forget the dark way Applejack and the human were looking at each other, "l mean when we were fighting he was like a blur! Not as fast as me of course, but still pretty fast." Rainbow Dash said. "Hmm I don't know." Twilight said tapping her chin. "Lets ask him. Zachary, how fast are you." "I don't know." Zachary said finally turning away from Applejack's glare. "How do you not know?" Rainbow Dash said desperate to kept their conversation from falling apart. "It's kinda impossible to measure speed." Zachary said as if the very thought annoyed him. "Hmm that's right, you wouldn't have the technology to measure something like speed." Twilight said writing something down as Rainbow Dash deflated. "If you don't mind I have a question I'll like to ask," Applejack said stepping up still glaring paying little attention to the looks Twilight and Rainbow Dash gave her, "Why are you trying to get so close to Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity? What's you motive." They could almost see Zachary's thoughts display on his eyes as he hesitated to answer Applejack's questions. Then to their combined shock, Zachary smirked and said, "Pinkie Pie is funny and tries to make me laugh. Rarity tries to make sure I look my best even if she should give up on my hair, and Fluttershy? She just leaks kindness. They're nice. I want to know them better, that's it." Warily Rainbow Dash notice that the expression on Applejack's face didn't change throughout his explanation. Still the same angry accusing look, "I don't believe you. You're probably just waiting for them to lower their guard so you can eat them." Zachary face darkened into a glare, "I would never do that." If possible Applejack's glare hardened further, "That's a load of horse apples you...!" "Applejack wait! I think he's telling the truth. If he working on instinct it makes sense." Twilight said looking up from her notes, "He wants to make them members of his family." "What." Twilight ignored how her audience had spoken at once and went on, "Think about it Fluttershy is the element of kindness, Pinkie Pie is laughter and Rarity is generosity. Those are the perfect traits for a family member to have." "Yeah, no." Zachary deadpanned cutting into Twilight's tangent. "You don't think those are perfect traits?" Twilight said with a frown. "Oh those are good traits, just no on everything else you said. Besides," the pensive look that crossed Zachary's face was so short lived that Rainbow Dash didn't really believe that it happened at all, "My family wouldn't take anymore members." Twilight paused briefly at his explanation, and said slowly, "How many members are in your pack?" Rainbow Dash froze. She knew that this could be very important if he told them how big his pack was they could prepare themselves if they attacked. Well at least that was what Applejack always said. Zachary looked at Twilight with confusion, "My what?" He asked. "Your pack. You know where you go to feel protected. Where you bring back the kills you make to feed the younger members." Rainbow Dash saw that Twilight was losing him, "Ugh, you know? Your pack leader and his or her mate, your pack brothers and sisters?" "Are you talking about my family?" Zachary carefully asked. "Well yes." Twilight said. "Well then it's just three. My sister, my mother and me." Zachary said with a certain finality that worried Rainbow Dash. There was something wrong with how he said that, but she didn’t know what. "What," Twilight said then shared confused looks with her and Applejack, "I thought that you would have, um, more humans in your pack or family." Rainbow Dash noted that for the first time Twilight gave Zachary look that held actual worry, "Did something happen?" "Nothing happened. Both my parents are orphans, and they only had me and my sister." Zachary said calmly. "But you said that there was only three of you including yourself." Rainbow Dash said in confusion and suddenly wished she didn’t at the pained look that barely sparked on his face. "I think I can answer that Dash," Applejack snorted before looking into Zachary's eyes, "his father or pack leader probably left them to die to save his own neck when he saw how hard it was to provide for them. Thats what animals do, right Twilight?" "Applejack you can't draw conclusions like that!" Twilight said shocked at her rudeness. "That was so not cool and very uncalled for." Rainbow Dash wishing that she hadn't allowed Applejack to comeback. "It's not like it can't be true," Applejack said before turning on Zachary, "isn't that right you..." Applejack froze. Rainbow Dash followed her gaze only to freeze alongside her. Zachary was growling. Rainbow Dash knew that this wasn't like those times that Pinkie Pie said she tried to out growl him and they both ended up laughing at how ridiculous they looked. This wasn't like that at all. Zachary's lips were pulled back giving them all a full view of his sharp teeth and large white canines as his anger grew. His eyes flashed dangerously reflecting a dark soul clenching blood lust as the deep threatening sound continued to leave him as he snarled. Unconsciously Rainbow Dash started to step back, she didn’t what was happening but she knew that she had to get away now. When she was about to jump into the air and take flight she saw Twilight's horn lit up brightly at the corner of her eye. "Hurk!" Rainbow Dash watched in shock as Zachary loudly screamed out in pain and went into convulsions as the binds on him glowed bright purple. It wasn't until Rainbow Dash saw the only whites of his eyes did she try to make Twilight stop. "Twilight stop! I think your really hurting him!" She shouted gaining Twilight's attention. "That's impossible." Twilight replied, "The spell is suppose to just separate the magic from his body." "Wouldn't that kill a pony." Rainbow Dash asked in worry. "Yes, but his species obtained magic they weren't created with it. So it shouldn't really be hurting him too bad if at all. He's just over reacting." Twilight said nervously as Rainbow Dash noted that he had stopped screaming but the chains continued to rattle alongside a heavy thunking sound. "Twi I think you better check on the human." Applejack said a slightly panicked hitch in her voice. "What is it Apple...By the sun..." Zachary's convulsions had gotten worse. His head violently slammed against the rough bark of the tree with each uncontrolled twitch. Leaving a large dark wet spot on the tree as the bark scraped harshly against his unprotected head. His lips were pulled back in an unconscious grimace showing that his teeth were clenched tightly. A thin trial of blood leaked out of his mouth revealing that his sharp teeth had punctured through his tongue and the soft flesh around it. Bright red burns covered the skin under the shackles on him and snaked around his body. They burns stood out sickly on his pale skin as they started to peel off in yellow flakes and bubbled a pale moist runny milk white. "Twilight, stop you're killing him!" Rainbow Dash screamed as dark thick blood oozed from his nose. Twilight screamed in wide eyed panic as she forcefully ended the spell. They stood in silence as he didn't move. Then, like a puppet with its strings cut, he collapsed forward. His neck snapped back as the collar on him dutifully kept him tied to the tree. The clearing was silent save for the low hiss coming from the burnt skin under the shackles and collar. "Oh Celestia what did I do?" Twilight whispered in disbelief as she slowly moved to the unresponsive human. Slowly she raised a hoof to try to look at his face, when she brushed his black hair away she yelp in fear and quickly tried to get away. Rainbow Dash looked between the shell shocked Twilight, wide eyed Applejack, then to Zachary's still body. At that moment she knew that she had to do something. "We have to get Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash said pass the heavy lump in her throat, getting the attention of Twilight and Applejack. "Rainbow Dash we can't do that," Applejack said her mind still seeing the events that happened moments before, "Until yesterday Fluttershy thought that all we want to do is attack the humans. If she sees this..." "Then she will think we are monsters that attack helpless creatures, and will never want to talk to us again." Rainbow Dash said before taking a steadying breath, "That's better then conforming what she thought and being murderers on top of that." Applejack stood in silence before speaking again, "Fluttershy doesn't have to know about this." Rainbow Dash fumed, "Of course she does if she doesn't come here he is going to die." Applejack worried over her lip before saying, "Is that really a bad thing?" Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide, "What are you..." "Just hear me out, is it really a bad thing if he dies?" Applejack said avoiding looking at the still human in front of her, "Think about it. Twilight can do more studies like this, and we can tell the others that his pack found him and brought him back home. Also, also if his pack finds whatever is left of him they will think this place is dangerous, and will never come near here or this shore again. So they'll stay away from the idea of crossing the Griffin lands and going into Equestria. If you think about it like that, isn't it a good thing that we killed him?" Slap! Applejack slowly turned back to Rainbow Dash. She raised a hoof to her painfully stinging face. "Who in Tatarus do you think you are? The Applejack I know would never act like this. She wasn't a-a, a Celestia damned monster!" Rainbow Dash spat her hoof still in the air. "Rainbow Dash, I..." "Don't talk to me. Don't even try to do anything just, just go get lost. I'm getting Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash didn't look back as she sped off into the sky toward their broken camp. Twilight knew the exact moment when Fluttershy saw Zachary. No other pony could scream like that. No pony should scream like that. Such a shrill piercing sound shouldn't even exist. "Fluttershy I..." Twilight started. "GET HIM DOWN!" Fluttershy was of course talking about how Zachary was still chained to the tree. With a flash of purple light Zachary was released and fell to the ground. Fluttershy quickly flipped him over and paled. There was so much blood. Too much blood. Fluttershy placed her ear against his chest and gasped pulling her head back in shock, and began to shake her head in disbelief. He didn't have a heartbeat, he should have a heartbeat. Then she put a hoof over his nose and breathed into him. Three large puffs. Then three compressions on what should be his diaphragm. Repeat. And Repeat. And Repeat. Zachary coughed roughly spitting up bile and blood, then he painfully breathed in on his own. Sinking with relief Fluttershy put her ear back to his chest and listened to weak but strengthening heartbeat. "Fluttershy..." Fluttershy looked up to see that Pinkie Pie was standing beside her hoof raised uselessly. "Is he...is he..." Pinkie Pie's tears darkened her pink coat. Fluttershy turned back to watch Zachary's barely moving chest, "He's alive but he needs help, our help. Pass me my scissors from my medical bag I need to remove his shirt. Rarity?" Rarity stood away from them and stared at Zachary's bloodied body. She couldn't understand how there could be so much blood. It leaked everywhere and stained everything it touched, the ground, the shirt she made him, his skin all tainted a bright red. Rarity was horrified at how raw clearing smelled and how that terrible sickening smell, the smell of burning flesh, was coming from Zachary. Too much blood, to bad of a smell, too much blood, the smell, the blood! "Rarity!" Fluttershy snap bringing Rarity back into the world, "I need you to help me take these cuffs off. Please, we have to save him." Rarity forced herself to run up to Fluttershy's side, and began pulling the still warm cuffs off. "Oh Celestia." Rarity whimpered as a layer of skin wetly peeled off with the cuff. "You doing fine, just keep going," Fluttershy said as she took the scissors from Pinkie Pie and began to remove bloodied cloth. Silently they worked hoping that they could see the black haired man smile again. Unnoticed to them, Twilight with wide eyed horror displayed on her face slowly backed out of the clearing and ran away. From them, from Zachary's mangled body and from the unforgivable horror of what she had done. Twilight didn't think about how dangerous it was to blindly run through the forest, she had to get away. Away from the screaming, and crying and blood. There was just so much blood, and the human's eyes... They were so hollow, nothing but a horribly blank, milky white stare. Every time she entered it felt as if the cold, black empty stare of every cracked ashen white skull in the room was directed at her. They smiled ceaselessly at her with warped and broken teeth or shattered hanging jaws while they watched her, judging her and the motives she had for coming into their unhallowed grave. Twilight ran faster. Away from the cold grasping hands from her nightmares that always caught her and forced her to see the horror that killed them. The hands laughed at her as she kick and struggled and screamed. "Leave me alone!" Dislocated bony hands pulled at her mane and tore into her skin. "Stay away!" Broken jaws creaked as the skulls they were attached to mourned and begged, and wondered why. Twilight wept openly, "I'm sorry!" The shrieking echoing voices of those empty skulls which had followed her from the swap surrounded her, and burrowed into her mind with their ceaseless torturous mantra. Liar. Liar! LIAR! ‘The Humans overjoyed at such a prospect believed the King, and worked under the ponies of the land. They assumed that they would be treated as the ponies and would have the ability to leave whenever they felt the need to.' "I'm not lying! I didn't want to hurt him! I didn't want to hurt any human, I wanted to save them!" She screamed into the suffocating darkness of the unforgiving forest that resided both in her mind and around her. “I know it looks like that Dash, but if there is even a slim chance that they survived I want to find them and maybe bring them back and fix this whole mess.” Twilight had intervened her voice and very being glowing with the possibility of peace. LIAR! The uncompleted skeletons dragged their mangle corpses after her, always right behind her screaming their truths at her. Twilight gasped for air only to choke on the memory of grave dust. "I’m sorry Applejack for doubting you. As always your honest heart was right. We do have to use force if we want to make sure that Equestria is safe from the humans, but we're doing this my way" "we need more information on how their magic, or what I believe to be magic, works so that I can make the proper suppressors for whatever we might face." "If we can find a sure weakness, any sort of gap in their strength, then we can chain that strength down." Twilight tripped slamming hard against the ground. She kicked out trying to battle away the tormented souls that caught up to her. Her struggles were in vain and she could feel as the shadowy monsters of her mind crowd around her and ripped deep invisible lesions into her flesh. The whites of Twilight's eyes turned a raw red as she cried, "Please! I just wanted to make sure that my family and friends would be safe. I don't want to hurt the humans, I wanted to protect them! Please leave me alone!" LIAR! “I have made the perfect…suppressers, and I know that with these we will be able to capture a human for ourselves.” She smiled into the uneasy faces around her. Twilight clamped her hooves over her head, trying to block out the accusing voices that assaulted her. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please, I didn't want to hurt anypony!" She scream and kick another invisible hand away. To her shock her hoof connected with something. She looked around to find that she had returned to their campsite. Her gaze went to her feet and the the toppled pile of drawings she had kicked. A wrinkled drawing had gently floated next to her face. On it was a crudely drawn picture of three humans. They grinned happily up at her, eyes shining with a brightness that contrasted the horror on her face. "Yes everypony." Flawed blue eyes had laughed at her, their owner smiled brightly even as heavy chains held his grim fate, "You see Miss Twilight that last time I checked I wasn't a pony." The screams that tore from her throat ripped through the abandoned campsite and echoed along with the groans of the tortured dead that scraped mercilessly against the inside of her skull. She kicked out violently, tearing and distorting the smiling happy family destroying their image. "What kind of Princess ignores the suffering of others?" Fluttershy had said her eyes reflect her anger and disbelief. How could her friend do something this horrible? Twilight raw throat choke out a horrified dry scream, she forced herself off the ground fighting against the invisible snares of her mind to once again blindly run into the darkness of cruel forest. The demons of her mind relentlessly pursued her, their cracking voices changed and warped cruelly, another word replacing and strengthening their maddening mantra with a new agonizing groan. MONSTER.