Colour slipped away from the surrounding woodlands as the sun finally crept below the distant horizon, the greens and browns that had painted the plant life that populated the forest had melted away, the rays of light had diminished, slowly climbing upwards until they had been lost to the dark of night sky, stealing away with them the orange glow that had bathed the threatening woodlands in a layer of comfort leaving nothing behind but the growing, foreboding darkness. As the darkness grew thicker, swallowing up any inkling of colour, Rarity swore that the towering trees became closer and more inward, trapping her with a wall of bark, it felt like they had crawled towards her, threatening to seal her in and making the already tight woodlands even more claustrophobic.
Like a snake coiling around her body, ready to bite, Rarity felt her muscles tighten as worry began to brew in the pit of her stomach, a bead of sweat traced down the side of her face as her panic grew, she'd managed to find herself in the worst possible situation she could be in, without daylight and without a place to make camp for the night Perhaps stopping to give somepony a burial wasn't the best idea Rarity thought to herself frowning. With a yank she freed her crutch from the thorn bush it had been entwined in, taking a moment to revitalise herself Rarity took a swig from her canteen but found it had lost it's previous splendour, the water was now lukewarm and offered no reprieve against her rising panic.
Rarity rested her shoulder against the trunk of a nearby tree, cracked bark poked at he skin like rugged spear heads, robbing her of any comfort that had been possible and despite the night air the bark was warm to touch, hard breaths escaped as the air seemed to change all at once, becoming somehow heavier and thicker, she felt a wash of sticky heat all over her body as well as a feeling of growing neusa churning through her stomach, suddenly her vision parted and even focusing on her relatively simple surroundings became a struggle, heavy eyelids fought with Raritys will to stay awake as her eyes fluttered sending her vision into flickering darkness which did nothing to subside the growing pounding in her head, Rarity felt her mind go numb as a sudden feeling of exhaustion overtook her, her eyes fell closed as sleeps lulling kiss lead her to darkness.
No sooner than she had fell to sleep had her eyes shot open, wide in horror as Rarity realised she'd experienced this kind of thing before, as soon as power reached her horn her ears picked up the sound of uncoordinated hooves tramping through the thick undergrowth all about her, growing slowly closer. All her previous ailments vanished in an instant as she handled her magic with precise focus, quickly grabbing the items she needed, the oil from earlier, her torn and dwindling bed sheet as well as her flint and steel. She worked as quickly possible, using the full extent of her magic to work with all the different items gripped by her levitation in synchrony.
She tore a strip from the sheet with a sharp rip, wrapping it around the piece of lumber and dousing the cloth with oil, she brought the flint and steel to the now torch, trying in vain to get a spark from it all the while she could still hear the phantoms edging closer towards her. She struck the metal against the flint time and time again, growing more frustrated and frantic with each failure. After a final failure Rarity discarded the flint and steel back to her bags with an annoyed grunt, resorting to a more magical approach, with fierce focus she turned her attention to the oil soaked rag, channelling more power through her horn, the magical grip she held on the torch began to falter slightly as her own magically ability was pushed towards its breaking part.
Her horn grew hot as it brimmed with trapped magic eager to escape, beads of sweat dotted across her brow as she grunted through gritted teeth, trying her best to focus the unwieldy magic into the desired spell. Despite her divided concentration and the gowning pain becoming apparent in her temple, the sound of faint galloping didn't go unnoticed, each hoof fell against the dirt like approaching thunder sending Raritys heart beating like a drum against her chest as the danger bore down her like a starved beast desperate for a kill.
“Come on” Rarity muttered her voice strained with concentration, she stared hard at the oiled rag, focusing all her magic onto a single point, a small wisp of smoke appeared that quickly rose into the air, the searing in her horn vanished instantly as the magic jumped to it's target like an invisible ray of heat, creating a minuscule flame on the spot that quickly set the oil alight, engulfing the torch in fierce, billowing flames. The sudden release of the magic had took her by surprise, sending her tumbling to the dirt onto her rump, she rubbed at her temple as if to rub away the dull pangs in her head, the slamming of hooves into the dirt snapped her back to the situation, briskly getting to her hooves Rarity grabbed the torch in her magic and held it aloft.
Moving quickly on her hooves Rarity span about to face the darkness and the invisible assailants that lurked among it, focusing on the thunderous galloping that approached her, she swung her torch out wide with a trail of flickering hanging fire that the shadows moved along with, willing or not the darkness moved at the will of the flame now, it made Rarity feel in control, made her feel strong. The darkness surrounding Rarity dissipated as light once again filled the forest, the flame of her torch shone alone a flickering beacon among the trees, allowing her the resolve to stand firm against the choking darkness and the phantoms that stalked it, the fire gave her hope, it gave her courage they had caught her unaware last time, but now Rarity had light on her side, she was ready.
The hooves were mere feet from her now but stopped dead in the tracks as if the phantom had come to a sudden halt, not a split second later a blood curdling screech emitted from the bushes to her right, puncturing the night air like a knife in the dark, the shadowy figure of an equine topped with a gaunt, dead face sprung from the bushes screaming, trailed by a mass of billowing black mist and dark smoke that bubbled and curled about its form moving independently from the phantoms own, acting as seemingly separate entities. Rarity fell back screaming, her previous composure shattered under the threat of attack, acting on impulse she blindly swung the torch, smashing it into the phantoms side in an explosion of sparks and shadows.
The creature screamed in agony as it went whirling into the undergrowth, black smoke erupted from it's side along side a strange ink like substance, the pitch black liquid spurted from the creature into the air like a water fountain, it strangely sizzled and bubbled before hitting the ground however and evaporated into nothingness. The creature rolled across the ground before smashing into a tree trunk with a painful thud, sending splinters of bark cascading about the area, distorted growling escaped the being as it wasted no time getting back on it's hooves with rigid and uncoordinated movements, Rarity followed its example, pulling herself up on her crutch she growled at the beast, gritting her teeth she held her torch in front of her, ready to fight.
The things mouth opened wide releasing a hollow breathless scream, it rushed towards Rarity with a whoosh of smoke and mist, who was far too slow to respond to the surprising speed of her attacker, the phantom charged into her, lifting her from her feet and slamming her into a tree, she only just managed to hold her grip on the torch as the back of her head slammed against the tree creating sharp sudden pain. She let out a yelp, the phantom struck again, landing a head butt straight against her nose that almost instantly filled with thick blood. The creature flung it's head back rearing forward to land another head butt, Rarity dodge this time and the phantom slammed it's face into the awaiting bark, spraying Rarity in a shower of chippings and splinters, without hesitation she raised her torch slamming it harshly into the creatures back, it screamed in pain once again, losing its hold on Rarity who dropped to her hooves taking advantage of the phantoms pain she raised the torch high, smacking it's back with the flame once more sending the Phantom to the dirt.
With a furious, blood fuelled screech she delivered a final blow into the Phantom, scattering it to the four winds as it exploded into a swirling maelstrom of mist and smoke that fled into the dark woods with a fading scream, before she even had a moment to catch her breath three separate screams sounded around her and in a moment her enemy was upon her, two phantoms leapt at her from either side, their ghostly screams promising death and pain. Acting fast Rarity threw herself forward, rolling beneath the approaching phantom before her, the two collided into a bubbling mass of inky darkness and billowing smoke on the ground in front of her, before she had time to process it the third slammed into her with a heavy shoulder barge sending her skidding along the dirt, it pounced atop her but was met with a whack to the side of it's face from Rarities torch, spraying it's dead face with hot sparks.
It reeled back in pain, its scream punctuated with sickly gargling whilst black ooze dripped from its quivering mouth, Rarity jumped forward and swung her torch back around, slamming it into the other side of its head with another rupture of ooze and sparks, arcing it around she followed up by repeatedly bashing the Phantom in its head each bash punctuated by a grunt of increasing frustration, dropping the torch low she swung up with yell, the phantoms head exploded into a mess of smoke and ooze on contact with the uppercut and it too split, fleeing to the tree line with a scream. She turned her attention back to where the two had collided, but nothing remained, no mess of inky black and no phantoms either, Rarity arched an eyebrow In confusion a confusion that was quickly broken by a pair of hooves slamming into her face, sending her tumbling to the ground and breaking her hold on the torch.
Every nerve in the side of Raritys face screamed as it flooded with overwhelming agony, she coughed and spluttered, staining the brown dirt with a splatter of crimson red blood that dripped from her stinging mouth and nose, lying still her body shook in pain and fear, clenching her eyes shut Rarity squeezed out a single tear, hearing the lonely tear break against the hard floor triggered something in the back of her mind, bringing her new, determined resolves. Shakily getting to her hooves, she stared down the phantom that prowled about her, fury awoke inside her as it's cold dead eyes met hers and throwing caution to the wind she charged with phantom.
The creature jumped at her with furious intent, screaming bloody murder as it closed on in her, Rarity threw herself towards the dirt, rolling underneath the looming phantom towards her torch she quickly fired up her horn grabbing it, she rose it high above her head and span on her hooves, bringing the flaming weapon down on her awaiting foe. To her shock, her torch connected with nothing but the hard dirt as the phantom split before her into a stringy black mass like some unseen force was tearing it apart, the inky tendons that held the splitting mass together snapped becoming flailing whips that struck at Rarity with a crack, sending her skidding backwards, the tendrils retracted back into the inky blobs , the liquid seemed to hiss and pop as it distorted and crumbled, quickly taking on the form of two growling phantoms ready to attack.
Lost in her shock Rarity didn't realise their attack was already upon her, swinging her torch far too soon, she left herself completely defenceless against the attacking phantom that delivered a head butt straight to her shoulder sending her flying backwards into the awaiting hooves of the second phantom that planted a swift buck to her side, luckily for her the leather armour to the brunt of damage causing her to stumble slightly, taking her chance she swung again with all her strength, only to miss again as the phantom skidded sideways in a shadowy trail, travelling behind her and reforming with it's ally for a moment before bursting out it's side once again in a burst of sizzling black fluid.
Rarity screamed and threw herself at the phantom, swinging again and again in flurry of enraged but clumsy attacks that the phantom seemed to effortlessly dodge, spliting and shaping it's from around the burning weapon just before she could land a hit, blind in her rage Rarity did nothing to intercept the second phantom that barrelled into her side, grappling her to the ground it flung it's maw wide and howled into raritys face, it's hanging mouth producing black mist. Growling back she slammed her torch into the creatures face, holding it against the pale, dead flesh eliciting an extended, piercing scream from the phantom, steadying her hooves under it's stomach Rarity kicked it from her only to be met with a pair of black hooves falling on her, she rolled over instantly as the hooves pounded against her sword, she silently thanked the weapon for saving her back for a change before rolling again straight into the phantoms backs hooves and disrupting it's balance. Rarity propped herself up on her crutch and struck the phantom in it's flank in a mesh of sparks and shadow, it flung it's legs outward desperately, bucking rarity straight in the forehead not a sound emitted form the unicorn as she flew threw the air, drops of blood glinted against the flame as they dropped to the dirt.
In the darkness Rarity felt a trickle of warm blood travel down her forehead to her muzzle, joining the blood that trickled from her nostrils, dripping into the pool that formed at her mouth, her eyes opened and shut as she fought to stay conscious, her vision was blurry and parted and she struggled to focus on what she could see, the torch sat like a dying flare in the corner of her vision, irritating her eyes and worsening the deep thumping in her head. The phantoms were squirming and popping, screaming against the pain of the burns that Rarity had left them, she looked to her right, her crutch was split, broken and useless in two parts and a mess of splinters, to her right scattered belongs that had fallen from her torn saddlebag.
A trail of black mist erupted from the back of one of the phantoms as it was pulled into the other, it's head snapped back sharply staring Rarity down and growling, the raw animalism of it's growl was gone, it sounded spiteful and venomous as it gazed upon her with it's dead eyes that now seemed full of hate, it took slow steps towards her it knew it had her now, she had lost and it was toying with the prey, ready to make the kill, she watched it's face twist and contort in ways she couldn't seem to comprehend in her current state of mind, was this happiness, pride, was the awful beast attempting to smile at her helplessness. Rarity tried to push herself up on her hoof but found her cheek fall hard against the cold dirt, her leg weak and shaking falling under her weight, the white-noise that whistled through her brain made way for the clarity of slow, approaching hooves coming her way, each thud spelling out her doom.
Rarity racked her brain for an out, trying to think past the numb pain around her face or the constant ringing in her mind, her eyes travelled from the intense light of the still burning torch across from her to the canister of oil that was lead at her side, it took her mind a moment to process the information that was already laid out in front of her, she gasped wide eyed as the idea pinged into existence becoming clear to her, on shaking legs she got to her hooves swaying from left to right as she struggled to stay balanced, she tried to use her magic but couldn't get her horn to respond to any command, scooping down she grabbed the handle of the canister in her mouth, craning her head to the side she threw forward, throwing the cannister towards the waiting flame, falling down as the momentum of her own action was too much effort to expend.
She watched as the canister arced through the air hitting the ground with a hard clunk, the lid fell open and oil rushed gushed out creating a spreading pool that crept ever closer to the dwindling flame, rarity watched on with hopeful anticipation as the phantom stepped closer it's black hooves landing into the pool with a splash sending precious droplets hurtling towards the flame, a fire broke out instantly, tearing through the oil pool in seconds surrounding the phantom in a roaring, burning fire. It began shrieking in terror as the fire spread to it's body engulfing it in a layer of dancing flame that tore at its dark skin, it split in two in a last ditched effort to escape from the burning but nothing more than a limping shadow engulfed in fire walked from it, falling to the floor and crumpling inwards as it burnt away into nothingness, the phantom trapped in the rising blaze screamed aloud in horrible pain as it's skin seared and cracked under the intense heat, it flailed about, truing on the spot before it swayed and fell into the flames, it's screams became quieter and quieter until eventually they faded into nothingness, leaving on the low rustling hum of the.
Rarity stood mouth agape, taking uneasy, laboured steps forward toward the fie her breathing was slow and raspy, she stared intently into the raging blaze the fierce orange reflected in the sapphire of her eyes, there was no from to be see among the licking flames, no burning body left, again it was as it always was in these haunted woodlands just her alone and scared, a blinding flash entered her vision and she heard the sound of thunder break the silence quickly followed by the light patter of rain as the first drops of rain broke against the canopy above, bloody and bruised with a face numb with pain and a slow, rhythmic thump still rolling through her mind, Raritys legs betrayed her, falling to the dirt her mind slipped into unconsciousness and all was black.