Fluttershy could hear the creature stumble inside, shuffling slowly as if it were dragging one broken limb behind the others. It was coming closer, drag-thump, drag-thump, drag-thumping down the hall. What should she do? Should she scream? Try to hide? Play dead? It was too late! The monster was at her cell door! It looked at her with pink eyes and a rainbow colored swirl of hair matted against artificial blue skin. It must be, it had to be, a candy pony! "S-stay b-b-back! Stay back or I'll, I'll...I don't know w-what I'll do! B-but you'll regret it!" she cried throatily. I know I certainly will, she thought to herself as she spread her wings to try and make herself seem bigger. Her efforts at intimidation didn't seemed to work, as the intruder just stared at her. Then it gasped. She didn't know candy ghouls to be much for gasping.
"F-Fluttershy!? Is that really you?" asked Rainbow Dash as she stumbled into the low light spilling from the window. A flash of lightning illuminated her so that Fluttershy could see that she was no candy pony after all. Just an old friend she thought she'd never see again. "What happened to you, what are you doing here? Why does Zecora have you chained up like this?"
"Oh, um, that's sort of a long story," said the yellow pegasus shyly. It'd been so long since she'd seen Rainbow Dash she felt suddenly bashful to be in her presence. So much had changed. How could she hope to start explaining things now? As she struggled for words, a scent drifted to her nostrils. Her stomach growled as she took a closer look at her old friend. "Oh, you're injured aren't you? What happened?"
The azure flyer was rustling around in the hallway, for a moment all Fluttershy could see was one blood stained leg, before she returned with a key. "No time to explain. There are things, monsters, out in the storm. We have to get you out of here. We have to keep moving. We can bring each other up to speed while we're on our way to Canterlot." Rainbow Dash unlocked the cell door and limped inside. As she came closer Fluttershy could see that it wasn't just Dash's hind leg that was injured, but one of her wings as well. It hung limply by her side, ruffled and bloody feathers shedding slightly as the wing tip drug along the floor. The thought of all those torn muscles and sinews were more than Fluttershy could take.
"I don't think that's such a good idea," said the suddenly uncomfortable yellow pegasus. She could feel her mouth filling with saliva. The old familiar pain knotted Fluttershy's guts, like snakes slithering around in her bowels. The ache was the worst in her teeth. She clenched them tight, grinding them, trying to will herself to back away from her friend. "You shouldn't come any closer," she whispered. Even as she said this, she strained against her chains, her body pulling the heavy links so taught they vibrated. The rivets imbedded in the wall began to whine and groan. The smell of fresh blood from the wounded pegasus was unbearable. Fluttershy's body seemed to be acting on it's own.
"Why would that be a bad idea?" Rainbow Dash paused, perplexed as much by her friends contrary behavior as her words. "Look, I know I'm a little beaten up and I'm not sure what's been done to you, but whatever is wrong we can't stay here. It's just not safe. I saw," her voice broke and she struggled to continue, "I saw some friends of mine die in front of me today, alright? The things that killed them, that tore them apart and ate them, they are right outside! Or at least, they were..." Dash turned away, uncertain. As fast as the candy ponies were, they should have caught up by now. At the very least they should've been able to hear their perverse laughter in the distance. As Dash turned, she exposed her right side to Fluttershy. Her flank was covered in thin red lines, claw marks all down her side where the liquorice whips had scourged her.
The usually reserved pegasus couldn't take it anymore. "Oh...my," A single drop of saliva fell from her quivering lips. There was a soft patter as one by one her ivory teeth spilled from her mouth as well. The coppery taste of her own blood flooded her mouth, dribbled down her chin, and made her stomach growl all the more. Her bones twisted and popped, bleeding gums making way for something sharper, something sweeter. She felt it spreading from inside, like little hooks tearing at her stomach. She thought she had been famished before, but that was nothing compared to the raw hunger that enveloped her now. It was like a bottomless void had opened inside her where her appetite had once been. She was so very, exquisitely hungry. "Oh please, help me Rainbow. You've got to let me loose. I've been here so long, I don't even know what I'm saying anymore!"
"Uh...okay. You sure changed your tune fast there Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash replied, instinctively taking a step back. But this was Fluttershy, right? She wasn't a threat of any kind. "Whatever, I guess it doesn't matter. What matters is we get to Canterlot as quick as possible. Princess Celestia will know what to do." The wounded pegasus moved to unlock the collar around her friends neck. The smell was driving Fluttershy wild, it was all she could do to hold still and let her friend unbind her. The yellow mare leaned in close, inhaling the scent of her friends blood matted mane. She couldn't stand it a moment longer, an impossibly long tongue slid out of her mouth and gave one of the cuts on the side of Dash's face a long, indulgent lick. "Hey, cut that out!" Dash jumped back, her injuries making her wince at the sudden motion.
"Oh, don't be mad," Fluttershy cooed, wriggling in her chains, each motion violent enough to make the links creak. All the rivets save one had snapped free from the wall. The last one just barely held on. "It's just you smell so good Rainbow Dash. We haven't seen each other in so long. And you're just so sweet for helping me. So very sweet..." She smiled with jagged candy teeth, sharp as shards of glass as she growled, "I could just EaT...YoU...UP!" On the last word the final rivet pulled loose and the chain that held her fell to the floor in a series of deafening clangs. Fluttershy roared, her mouth dripping with her own blood as she launched herself at Rainbow Dash. With one wounded wing and a wounded leg, the Element of Loyalty didn't stand much of a chance. It was sheer luck that she was able to dodge Fluttershy's first lunge. Unfortunately this put the pony, who had been her best friend since childhood, between her and the only exit from the room.
A guttural laugh choked its way passed Fluttershy's teeth as Dash's eyes darted around the room, looking for an avenue of escape that just wasn't there. In a yellow blur, Fluttershy flew at her again, this time her jaws closing hard on Rainbow's foreleg as she raised it to defend her face. Dash screamed in pain as she felt the sticky fangs bury themselves in her flesh. She flailed, trying to shake herself loose. All she managed to do was to knock over one of the shelves. Fortunately it fell on top of the transformed Fluttershy. Shattered glass and crockery slid all over the floor as empty jars and bottles crashed around the pair of pegasi. The heavy shelving popped Dash loose from Fluttershy teeth and trapped her former friend underneath. The monstrous Fluttershy thrashed, wailing and screaming angrily. Rainbow Dash didn't look, and instead hobbled towards the cell door as quickly as she could, fresh blood streaming from her legs. Before she made it halfway across the room, she felt something wet wrap around her injured hind leg. Fluttershy's sticky tongue curled up her limb, tight as a boa constrictor, and began to drag Dash back towards her wide waiting jaws. This was exactly how Pinkie Pie ate her in her dreams every night. This realization sent her into a series of panicked shrieks. She didn't want to be eaten alive, least of all by one of her friends!
Yet that's exactly what would have happened had not the front door suddenly banged open. Something massive and dark trudged inside, galloping at full speed, and rammed Fluttershy back against the far wall of her cell. Her tongue broke loose, part of it staying wrapped around Dash's leg while the rest slid across the floor back into the pegasus mouth. The looming figure ripped the quivering severed tongue off of Rainbow Dash's leg, exposing several new puncture wounds where the barbed tongue had broken the skin. He then bodily carried her out into the hall before finding the key, slamming the cell door, and locking it tight. Big Macintosh snorted, whether in anger or satisfaction it was hard to tell.
Fluttershy was already at the bars, her teeth gnashing her own lips into bloody foam, her severed tongue spurting ichor through the gaps. "S-she's one of them? But she was fine a moment ago. I don't understand," in spite of herself Dash felt tears welling up in her eyes. She'd seen too much horror in too short a time, too much blood and too much carnage. Now one of her friends she thought she'd never see again had turn into a flesh hungry ghoul right before her eyes! It was just too much to take. She felt her mind threatening to come unhinged as she wailed, "What in Tartarus is going on!?"
"Answers I have if that's what you seek," said Zecora as she came in out of the rain, "But first, to your wounds I should take a peek."
The zebra shaman had mixed together several ingredients to make a calming potion to help Dash relax as she set about her work. Zecora focused most of her attention, and several different vials of potions, to tending to the wounds that Fluttershy had given Dash. She used tiny metal forceps to extract bits of candy teeth from her leg and a few meaty chunks of the pegasi's tongue that had gotten left behind. These she tossed into the fire beneath her cauldron where they wailed and dissolved into blue flames. After that had been taken care of to her satisfaction, she set to work cleaning and binding the other wounds. Only as she worked, she gasped, and quickly gathered together more potions, moving quickly to wash out Rainbow Dash's other wounds with the same sizzling substance she had used before. The forceps came out again, and this time were heated to move more easily beneath the flesh, prying out bits and pieces of liquorice that Dash hadn't even realized were imbedded in her body. It took the better part of the evening to clean out all her wounds, stitch the longer ones shut, and bind her delicate wing. Zecora did all of this with patience and care, making sure every wound was coated in a bright syrupy concoction and each scrap of candy was consumed in flame.
Meanwhile, it seemed Big Macintosh had seen to Fluttershy. There had been the sounds of a struggle and harsh laughter that had been choked into a shriek that had wound down to a pitiful squeak. She'd seen him go by with a broom and dustpan full of shards of glass and broken crockery. Now he came back into the main room, his cloak covered in splattered viscera, before returning to Fluttershy's cell with what looked like a rivet gun and more chains. Whatever was in the calming potion Zecora had given her worked fantastically well, as Dash watched all of this going on without so much as a twinge of curiosity or apprehension. Part of her, way in the back of her mind, knew that something about this situation was odd. She'd been living and working over Ponyville ever since the fire and yet she didn't recall seeing Big Macintosh or Zecora in all that time. She'd just assumed they had disappeared along with everypony else. Why had she done that? More than that, it made sense the zebra might still be around, but hadn't Big Mac been in town last Nightmare Night? Had he been there when whoever had been responsible had laid their curse on the defenseless town? If it weren't for the potion, she wouldn't have been able to hold still for all her questions. As it was, it was some time later before she felt some of the warm cotton inside her head clear away. She felt conscious enough to inquire where they had even come from, not that she wasn't grateful for the rescue.
Zecora explained that she had been in the forest collecting ingredients for the concoctions that had been used to clean Rainbow Dash's wounds and a special draught that would keep Fluttershy's more monstrous impulses under control. The main ingredient for both was star fruit, a special plant that absorbed the suns rays during the day and then expelled them during the night. The fruit had to be harvested right at sunset to make sure it had absorbed the maximum amount of sunlight, but before it would start exuding it again. This would have been dangerous work in the Everfree Forest, even before the gloom beneath the trees had begun to be haunted by candy ponies, so Big Mac had accompanied her just in case. The storm suddenly blowing up hadn't helped matters, and they had ended up being late getting back. It turned out to be most fortuitous that she had harvested the star fruit today, however, as she had run through what was left of her supply of pre-made potions tending to Dash's wounds. She'd be up all night preparing more.
"Wait, wait, hold on. You have a cure for those weird candy monsters that attacked us in Ponyville?" asked Dash, uncharacteristically reclining on a pile of pillows with a steaming cup of tea in her hooves.
"I'm afraid that is not the case. Though my potions power does ward this place," said the zebra, blowing on her own cup of tea to cool it. "My brew can stop the infections spread, but I'm afraid it cannot resurrect the dead."
"Infection? So those things were ponies that got sick?" the azure flyer looked over to Fluttershy's cell door. The yellow pegasus had refused to show herself again after what had happened, and instead had hidden herself beneath her blankets and stuffed animals. "Is that what's wrong with Fluttershy?"
"Yes, and no, it's hard to say. I'm not quite sure what's made her this way. The fact is she's the only one, who doesn't crumble in the light of the sun," intoned Zecora grimly.
"Eeyup," said Big Mac, his own tea sitting neglected on a table by the large easy chair his massive bulk reclined in. In the firelight from the bubbling cauldron, Rainbow Dash could see that his entire body was covered with burns and scars. He had put a patch over his right eye and seemed to grow uncomfortable under Dash's gaze. "Them other ones, the bad'uns, they melt in water and crumble away in sunlight, but they can come back from that. It's only fire what puts em down for good, least as far as we've been able to tell."
"I think that's the most I've ever heard you say," said Rainbow Dash, somewhat incredulous.
Zecora laughed, "You'll have to excuse Big Mac, for words he does not lack. But it has been some time since we've entertained, a cute pony mare soaked by rain," she said with a wink.
Big Macintosh blushed and fidgeted for a moment, but then seemed to regain some of his composure. "Nope...that ain't it. It's just she's gonna have a lot of questions. If we wait for you to figure out a way to rhyme everythin, we'll be up all night while you give her cryptic answers what are about as clear as mud."
That made the zebra draw herself up haughtily, turning away from the red earth pony with a flick of her stubby tail. "Well if that's the way you feel, then by all means, you tell her what's the deal. I've got more potions to make. You can explain if she can stay awake." Zecora stormed off, abandoning her tea to gather more ingredients for the cauldron. Dash had a hard time suppressing a smile. It was like watching an old married couple have a fight. But then, she thought, she really did have a lot of questions and she would appreciate some more straight forward answers. She couldn't think of any pony she had ever known more straight forward than Applejack's brother.
"So are you and Zecora...?"
"Whut? No. Nope," said Big Mac quickly. "Nah, Zecora and Fluttershy just ain't got nopony else they can depend on way out here. Ah help around the place and do the heavy liftin'."
"You say they don't have anypony else to depend on out here, so why don't you guys just move to Canterlot? Why not just tell everypony what's going on?" asked Rainbow Dash
"Well, Ah reckon part of it has ta do with the star fruit. This is the only forest in Equestria where that stuff grows. The other part, well..." Big Mac rubbed one of the scars on his face with one hoof. "Me an' Fluttershy ain't exactly presentable to pony society anymore. Ah could probably get by, but that poor filly in there ain't gonna be fit to be in a crowded place in the state she's in. We ain't quite figured out what sets her off, but every now and then that monstrous side comes out and it's hard to put away again. Sometimes it's blood, sometimes it's her gettin' hungry, and sometimes it's just as likely as not a full moon. For now, Zecora thinks it's better if we just stay out here and warn others away until she can come up with a more permanent solution for these candy critters. Ah'm afraid most normal ponyfolk can't do much against these things. Only purpose they serve is to fatten em up or get turned by em."
"By a more permanent solution, do you mean a cure?" asked Dash, hopefully.
Big Mac shifted uncomfortably in his chair before he answered, "Well, yeah, that's what Fluttershy in there is hoping for. Something that'll break this curse on her and let her go back to bein' who she was before. But like Zecora said, there ain't no curing the dead." He took a long slurp of his tea before continuing. "When yer fully turned yer soul just seems ta leave ya. All ya become is a mindless candy coated carcass, a murderous puppet on liquorice strings made to laugh and dance and sing. Ain't none of them got much of a mind of their own. It's the Candy Mare making their corpses move. Zecora has ways to make them go to ground, but it ain't nothin' permanent, and we ain't sure it would work on their master."
"Their master?" questioned Rainbow Dash. "Who? This Candy Mare you spoke of?"
"She's more of a whut than a who," grumbled Big Mac. "She's the one what did this to Ponyville. Ah don't know the particulars, but Zecora says she's some kind of high level manifestation of a hateful grudge, fueled by ancient magic and a tortured child's soul." Rainbow Dash just stared at him. "Hey, Ah'm just tellin' ya whut Zecora said! Whut Ah know about her is she's a walkin' talkin' massacre waitin' for any opportunity to wreak as much havoc as possible! Only thang is she wants ya ta see it comin'! She likes to play with her food, and she ain't picky about eaten it all either!" Rainbow Dash jumped as the earth pony stomped one hoof hard into the floor.
She'd never seen Applejack's brother so angry before. She was starting to get a clearer picture of what was really going on. As strange and terrifying as some of Big Mac's words were, everything she'd seen in Ponyville only confirmed what he had to say. Still, there were other questions she needed answered. The tea had left her mouth dry, or perhaps the enormity of her next question had. Either way she swallowed hard before she asked, "What happened to you and...to Fluttershy, that made you guys like this? What really happened in Ponyville last Nightmare Night?"
The earth pony took several deep breaths, calming himself down. He'd managed to spill his tea on himself, but didn't bother wiping off his cloak One more stain wasn't going to make it look any worse. "That's kind of a long story. But if'n ya promise not to interrupt too much, I'll tell ya."