Fresh out of ideas...again. Just another day for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The three of them sat in their clubhouse, pondering on any more bright schemes to earn their cutie marks.
“Do you guys have anything?” The orange pegasus Scootaloo asked her friends. The unicorn Sweetie Belle tapped a hoof to her chin and sighed.
“Nothing...” She huffed as she slid her notepad to the side.
“What about you, Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo turned to the red maned filly who was looking out the window towards the darkness of Everfree forest. “Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo tried to get her
friend’s attention.
“Oh,” the filly giggled. “Sorry Scootaloo, I was sorta zonin’ out for a second.” Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom an odd look and shook her head. “I was thinkin’ about the new pony coming to town that Pinkie Pie was talkin’ about.”
“Wait,” Scootaloo said. “There’s a new pony in town?”
“Duh, Scoot,” Sweetie Belle said. “Twilight received a letter from Princess Celestia like two days ago.” She cleared her throat and began to speak in a regal voice, trying to imitate the princess. “Dear Twilight Sparkle, there’s a new pony coming to Ponyville, he might seem like a total weirdo, but please be patient with him.”
“Yeah, everypony in town knows about it by now.” Apple Bloom said. “Pinkie went around town yesterday handin’ out invitations for his welcome party.”
“What!?” Scootaloo hopped in surprise. “Why doesn’t anypony ever tell me about these kinds of things!?”
“Did Pinkie get an invitation to the new pony?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I don’t think so,” Apple Bloom said.
“Hey, don’t you guys ignore me!” Scootaloo yelled in dismay.
“He didn’t?” Sweetie Belle asked stepping beside Apple Bloom. “Maybe we could look for him in the forest and give him his invitation personally!”
Apple Bloom brought a hoof to her chin. “You guys aren’t thinking...we could get our marks by delivering messages?”
“We could be like, delivery foals!” Scootaloo said trying to get into the conversation again. “Sorta like that one pegasus; what’s her name?”
“You mean Derpy?” Apple Bloom asked; Scootaloo nodded eagerly. “I dunno; her cutie mark is just a bunch of bubbles, do ya really want somethin’ like that on your flank for the rest of your life?”
“Not all cutie marks are the same, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo explained. “There’s another mailmare named Raindrop, and her cutie mark is; surprise, three raindrops!” Apple Bloom thought for a bit. “C’mon, girls!” Scootaloo came between them and put a hoof on each of their shoulders. “Who’s up for an awesome night of crusading?” Sweetie Belle smiled in concurrence. Apple Bloom gave a weak, nervous smile.
That evening, a loud cheer roared out of the club house: “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DELIVERY FOALS! YAY!!!”
---
“Excuse me, Applejack?” Rarity knocked on Applejack’s front door, trying to get the orange earth pony’s attention. A few moments of silence followed by the sound of a door unlocking was her response.
The door opened, revealing a very tired looking Applejack, her mane was tangled. She brought a hoof to her mouth and let out an labored yawn. “Rarity? It’s kind of late, dontcha think? It’s been a long day of harvestin’ and I really need to get some sleep...as soon as Apple Bloom gets home; speaking of which, I haven’t seen her since this afternoon...” She put a hoof to her chin in concern.
“That’s what I came here for!” Rarity hoarsely whispered. “Sweetie Belle hasn’t come home yet, either! I haven’t seen her or her friends since this morning!” She paused for a moment and gasped. “You don’t think they could’ve gotten themselves into trouble, do you?”
Applejack yawned again and wiped the tiredness out of her eyes with a hoof. “I dunno...” A hint of worry found its way into her voice. “They could just be at their clubhouse and could’ve lost track of time, or something.”
“Nope, I already checked there,” a loud voice above said, startling both of them. Applejack looked up and frowned.
“Rainbow Dash, how long have you been eavesdroppin’ on us!?” The cyan pegasus gently floated from the roof of the house down to the ground.
“I just got here!” The pegasus scoffed. “I overheard that you guys were talking about-”
“Aha, so you were eavesdropping on us!” Applejack accused.
Rainbow Dash tensed up. “I was saying that I already checked out their clubhouse, and none of them are there!” She lifted herself above her friends. “If you ask me, I’d say they’ve gone off to do more of the crusading that they do.”
“Where?” Rarity asked, anxious to find her sister.
“Well, last I saw them, it was earlier today, when Pinkie Pie was telling them about the arrival of somepony who was new. She even told them that he was living somewhere in the forest.” She brought a hoof to her face. “And I guess they got the idea in their heads to go looking for him...”
“This is just great...” Applejack commented. “Apple Bloom knows better than to run off into that place this late in the evenin’. Girls,” Applejack sighed. “We’d best start lookin’ for them.”
“Applejack, dear,” Rarity said. “Do you think we should tell the others?”
Applejack waved a hoof. “Nah, I think we can catch up to ‘em fast enough, especially since we have Rainbow with us.” The cyan colored pegasus felt herself swell up with pride.
“Yeeeaaah,” she blushed. “I bet I can find those foals in ten seconds flat! Don’t you guys worry!” With that, Rainbow flew off into the direction of the forest. Applejack didn’t even bother to stop her.
Rarity and Applejack exchanged looks; Applejack had a smile, Rarity had a concerned frown. “I’m sure they’re alright, sugarcube,” Applejack placed a hoof on her friend’s shoulder as they followed Dash into the Everfree forest.
---
I felt myself resting on a very soft surface; something that felt like freshly baked bread...or maybe even a cloud? My eyes open slowly, to nearly be blinded by the rising sun over a horizon of other clouds. I recognized immediately where I was.
I was having that same dream again.
I stood up immediately, to hear the calm, motherly voice speak to me; however, this time I could make out a few of the words that she was speaking: Seek...Redemption...Peace...Always there... The voice ceased at this moment and a miasma of darkness enveloped the rising sun. This fog proceeded to seep towards the ground below the clouds I was resting on. I looked down to see the same town of Ponyville as well as other, larger cities, and an enormous castle jutting out of a mountain. The darkness consumed all of these things, as the sky turned from a peaceful blue into a blood stained red color. The shadowy vapor then proceeded towards me.
I felt the inky blackness consume me, and I felt as though I couldn’t breath.
I awoke with a gasp to find myself still in the darkness of night (slightly before midnight to be precise.) “Damn it all...” I mutter as I sense a familiar presence approach.
---
Three foals wandered the darkness of the Everfree forest that night. “Hey, guys,” a frightened Apple Bloom spoke up. “I’m not so sure that this was a great idea...” She gazed around at the various vegetation, their limbs shrouded in darkness made them look like menacing creatures out of a nightmare.
“Quit being such a chicken, Apple Bloom,” The orange pegasus Scootaloo said.
Sweetie Belle giggled. “Look who’s talking...” Scootaloo puffed up in anger and was about to yell at her friend when the sound of twigs snapping caught all their attention.
Apple Bloom let out a small “eep!” as the three fillies crowded together at the base of a nearby tree.
“W-what was that!?” Sweetie Belle stuttered while holding on to her friends.
“I-I dunno,” Scootaloo whispered. “But whatever it is, it c-can’t be as bad as a,” she gulped. “Cockatrice...” All three of them remembered the beast with the head of a chicken and the body of a snake that could turn a living creature to stone.
It was at this moment that all three foals locked eyes with two beady red orbs in the buses on the other side of the dirt path.
---
“Can ya see anything from up there, Rainbow?” Applejack asked the pegasus as she came back into view.
“Not yet, girls,” she frowned. “But if we keep following their hoofmarks, I think we’ll find ‘em soon enough!” She said with confidence.
“Yes...” Rarity said, worried for her little sister. “Well, we best keep-” her sentence was interrupted by what sounded like the screaming of several young foals, followed by a deep, guttural roar.
The three mares exchanged short glances, before they made a panicked dash in the direction of the screaming, expecting the worst. They all recognized the roaring animal as well.
Manticore is the word that ran through their minds.
---
I recognized the roaring was the same as that of the manticore I had encountered two nights ago, but the screaming sounded like young children; more than one by the sound of it. I was tempted to allow the manticore alone to feast, thus satisfying its hunger for the night, and it would leave me alone.
But I felt something drive me to take action...Was it maybe guilt or sympathy? I wouldn’t know, for it’s been a very long time since I have felt these emotions (for as far as my memory went, I may have never felt them before.) For the moment, it’s just another feeling that I simply can’t describe...
I lift myself to my feet and dart from my cave dwelling in search of the source of the screaming, with my ears as my guide. I duck into a group of bushes by a dirt path. I see the same manticore that attacked me the first night I came to this place.
My eyes are then drawn to the three screaming fillies huddled at the base of a dead tree. Maybe no more than seven, eight, maybe nine years old? One is a pure white unicorn with a purple and pink mane and bright green eyes, wide with fear.
The second one (I could’ve sworn it was a chicken at first glance?) was an orange colored pegasus with a purple mane, but judging by the size of her wings, she probably couldn’t fly yet. Her eyes were a pale lavendar color, also afraid for her life.
The third one was a regular “Earth pony” as I have heard them be called. Her coat was a pale yellowish color and she had a bold, curly, red mane with a bow in it. (I wouldn’t have guessed that these ponies accessorized.) Her orange eyes closed, pushing tears out of them and I could hear a faint whimper coming out of her.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve have been taught this one basic term of the Dark Brotherhood.
“What is life’s greatest illusion?” The black door asked.
I smiled and respond. “Innocence, my brother.”
That one teaching was absolutely shattered by the sight of these three fillies staring death in the face. I hated to admit it to myself, but that is how they appeared: they were innocent. Listen to what you’re saying to yourself! My mind scolded me. You are a servant of the Dread Father, Sithis!
I shake my head to try and silence the voice; that is when I hear one of the filly’s cry out: “Rainbow Dash, Applejack, help us!!!”
---
The moments that followed seemed like a blur to the three mares. Applejack jumped in between the hungry manticore and the three young foals, shouting. “Get away from my sister!!”
The beast was taken aback for a moment by her sudden appearance, but quickly regained composure, absolutely not willing to let a simple pony dissuade it from its dinner.
As the manticore approached, a bright ball of cyan suddenly struck it in the face, knocking it back a few feet.
“Yeah, you big, dumb cat! Back off!” The pegasus yelled as she landed at Applejack’s side. the manticore roared in frustration as Rarity slowly stepped in beside them, right in front of her sister.
“S-stay away from us, monster!” Her voice quivered, trying to sound as brave as possible. Her horn glowed a mystical white, ready to fling any nearby objects with her magic. “W-we’re not a-afraid of y-you!”
The fillies clinged on to the hind legs of their older sisters (or role model in Scootaloo’s case) thankful that rescue has arrived.
The manticore only huffed in anger as it pressed its forelegs into the ground, ready to charge. “Apple Bloom, you and the girls get behind the trees,” Applejack instructed. The fillies hesitantly obeyed.
“B-be careful, Sis,” Apple Bloom said as more tears escaped. Applejack couldn’t respond as the manticore charged towards them.
Rarity and Rainbow Dash dodged to their left and right respectively. The manticore was greeted by a buck to the face, courtesy of Applejack. The beast backed up slightly, and that is when Rarity used her magic to fling a large rock at it, striking its left hind leg. Normally her magic wasn’t as powerful as her friend, Twilight, but considering the fact that her little sister was in danger, this gave her much needed strength.
Rainbow Dash swooped in with all of her strength and rammed into the back of the manticore’s neck as it turned to face Rarity. It bellowed out in frustration and anger, swiping one massive paw around, catching Rainbow Dash with it, sending her to the ground as she yelped in pain.
“Dash!!” Rarity yelled out as she searched around frantically for another large, blunt object to hurl at the beast. She found the perfect rock, but was interrupted by the manticore tackling her to the ground, its eyes full of hate and rage.
“GET OFF OF HER!!!” A bezerk Applejack screamed as she ran in to buck the monster again It was clearly learning, as Applejack was sent back into the tree the fillies were hiding behind when the manticore gave her a buck from its own, powerful hind legs.
Applejack wasn’t a medical genius, but she could tell that at least one of her ribs had been broken. She opened her eyes and looked to the side to see her little sister gazing back to her, tears streaking down her face freely now. “A-Apple Bloom...” she hoarsely whispered, trying her best to ignore the pain that had taken over her ribcage. “Run...all of you, get out of here...”
The filly looked at her sister as if she was just told to balance on a rubber ball with one hoof while juggling torches. It felt like an eternity before she answered with a rapid shaking of her head. “No way, AJ!” She sobbed. “I-I’m not leavin’ you here!”
“I didn’t*pant*say I was*pant*giving y’all a choice...” She barely had the strength to stand. “I’m sorry I had to make you do this, Apple Bloom,” a tear streaked down the older sister’s face. She looked over to see the manticore was approaching her. “There’s no time for debate, sis,” she said without taking her eyes off the beast. “Now RUN!!!”
Without further argument, the filly with her two friends ran back down the dirt path. Applejack was determined to at least hold the beast off, by herself if she must. She closed her eyes, pushing out a few final tears. I’m so sorry, Apple Bloom, please don’t blame yourself for this. Big Mac, Granny Smith...everypony...I love you...
She opened her eyes, expecting the manticore to rend her to shreds. Imagine her surprise when she saw a pitch black stallion with piercing red eyes emerge from the bushes and attack with all of his strength.
---
I had to intervene.
These brave mares fought to protect the innocent, an admirable trait, but I still couldn’t understand what compelled me to take action. I attacked the manticore, specifically with my teeth; on the wings.
The membrane tasted rather leathery, but it was soon overcome by a familiar copper taste. While an ordinary horse’s teeth may not be constructed to rip flesh, I am no ordinary horse.
The manticore roared in surprise and pain as it writhed back and forth, trying to shake me off. A large amount of the membrane stayed clenched in my teeth as I was flung back towards the injured horse with the odd hat; I landed not more than maybe ten feet from her. The manticore glared at me as if it had daggers in place of eyes.
“It must remember me...” I say spitting out the flesh. I hear the pony next to me gag in disgust. Now that it was grounded, it raised its stinger, when a large boulder collided into its side, pushing it into a nearby tree.
“I’m not d-done yet...” the white unicorn said in a defiant tone.
The rainbow mane pegasus landed beside the orange one, giving me a suspicious look. I however had my eye on the injured one.
“You there,” I say. She looks up at me with hope in her eyes. “What’s your name?” She looks at me incredulously.
“My name!? Can’t it wait until we deal with this thing!?” All three of them looked mystified as I laughed softly.
“Perhaps,” I said. “I was only going to tell you of a plan.” Her eyes widen.
“Well?” The pegasus asked anxiously.
“Can you perform a distraction?” I asked.
The unicorn laughs nervously. “Oh trust me, my dear colt: Rainbow Dash here is one of the biggest distractions in Equestria.”
Oddly enough, I find myself laughing at this, despite the protests of the pegasus. “Good, I only need the three of you to keep it distracted long enough for me to get behind it and deliver a killing blow.” Those last two words seemed to faze the three ponies, almost as if they didn’t want to kill the manticore! Why wouldn’t they? It had nearly killed them, and their younger kind! Despite this, they all nod in agreement.
The one named Rainbow Dash, lifted into flight, and came at the manticore by one side, while the unicorn, Rarity used her magic and pulled a branch off of a nearby tree and approached the manticore’s other side.
The orange one, Applejack, despite her obvious injuries, charged straight to its front, adrenaline coursing through her.
As the three of them unleashed their attacks all at once, and the manticore flailed about, giving me a small opportunity to get on its back and go for the neck. Rainbow Dash surprisingly manages to keep its stinger at bay by rapidly dodging to her left and right while quickly jabbing it with her hooves as if she were a fighter; it was actually quite comical.
I manage to summon enough strength to leap onto the manticore’s back and hold on to its neck; it was bleeding slightly from Rainbow Dash’s previous attack.
“Just hold him for a little more!” I shout as I sink my blood stained teeth into the back nape of the beast. First I feel only fur. Then skin. Then veins...blood...muscle...bone. Its flailing about had started to weaken.
After a few moments of struggle, I clamped my teeth down as hard as possible, blood spraying onto my face. My efforts were rewarded with a satisfying snap! It was clear that I had severed its spine, and Rainbow no longer had to hold down its tail.
I leap off of its back after its roaring had been quieted down to a dull moaning. I could tell that the three ponies were staring at me.
---
Applejack had never seen any sort of sheer ferociousness like this before. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for the manticore; she had, after all, watched animals be put down before, but that was usually due to a contraction of the rabies virus.
Still, she was thankful to this stallion for very well saving her life and the lives of her friends. Speaking of which, he looked up at the three of them; blood caked in his coat and face, which had an expression of satisfaction on it.
Rarity looked as though she were about to faint at the sight. Even Rainbow Dash had to fight to keep down her bile.
He trotted proudly past them and nodded in their direction. He didn’t say any words to them. He was about to return to the brush of the forest, when he was suddenly stopped by something, something fast and orange.
---
“Hey, wait up!” Scootaloo shouted as she zipped up with her two filly friends to the feet of the tall, dark colored colt. “That was so awesome!!”
“Yeah!” The Sweetie Belle concurred. “You should’ve seen the way you and my sis showed that manticore who’s the top pony!”
“Oh come on, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo laughed. “It was obvious that Rainbow Dash helped him the most by holding back the manticore’s stinger!”
“Oh yeah? And you didn’t see Rarity holding its jaw closed with her magic?” As the two fillies looked as though they were about to break out in argument, not even noticing that the pitch black pony had gone by them, Apple Bloom came up to his side.
“Hey, mister...” she shyly spoke up. The stallion stopped and glared down at her. She shrunk back a little bit. “Um, I just wanted to thank ya for helpin’ my older sis and her friends.”
The stallion nodded and spoke to her for the first time. “They probably could’ve dealt with it.” He said flatly, as he trotted back into the thick forest. His voice had an odd sound to it; almost ghostly.
“Hey, w-where are ya goin’?” Apple Bloom held a hoof out, but was stopped by a familiar orange hoof shielding her.
“Somethin’ ain’t right with that pony...” she heard her sister say to herself. “I saw some real darkness in those eyes of his...”
---
If a member of the Brotherhood had watched what I’ve just done, I could kiss my respect, my loyalty, not to mention what little is left of my sanity farewell.
After washing the blood off of my face in a nearby river, I rest back into my cave. With my old stalker now deceased, I could focus on learning more about this world. I learned a few names tonight at least.
Applejack: the orange pony with an odd hat. She has a faint accent that I don’t recognize, and she also had a powerful kick with her hind legs. The young filly, Apple Bloom was apparently her younger sibling.
The pegasus, Rainbow Dash, was a loud, boisterous, obnoxious type. I could tell that from the first few words that she uttered. Oddly enough, her mane looked...naturally colored. She was very fast in flight. The younger pegasus, Scootaloo (by Sithis, these names!) didn’t look anything like her, so she probably wasn’t related.
The last one, Rarity, had a surprisingly Bretonic accent. Her magic was rather useful against the manticore. Sweetie Belle, the younger unicorn, was clearly a relative, based on how similar they looked.
Something about Rarity’s voice however, seemed...familiar. My attention was drawn to the broken mirror I had retrieved, still laying there on the cave floor. My red eyes’ piercing gaze staring back at me.
The younger fillies seemed genuinely thankful to me...their older counterparts however...I saw an essence that was all too familiar in their eyes: an essence of fear.
Author’s Note: Sorry about the long wait for this chapter, but with finals coming up in school and other projects, I’ve been rather tied up recently.
I’ll try my best to get a new chapter up weekly, but I’m not making any promises. It'll likely be a while before I finish this story, but like I said, I'll try and stay with it.
Hopefully by the summer months, I’ll have more time to work on this.
Western_Archer