//------------------------------//
// The Figure 
// Story: Creature of the Night: Episode One-The Night Guardian 
// by CreatureofTheNight 
//------------------------------//

Ponyville gleamed below as the stars in the night sky shone brightly down upon the peaceful little town. Everypony was sleeping peacefully as they dreamed oflegends, battling evil, saving the world, winning a contest, living their dreams in reality. However, there was one pony who wasn't so fortunate. One pony who tossed and turned in her bed, stuck deep in a nightmare from which only Princess Luna could free her – if she was even aware it existed. One pony whose fear filled the air as she suddenly shot bolt-upright in bed in a cold sweat wiping her forehead with her hooves. Now, nightmares happen, everypony knows that.However, to this pony, it happened every first of the month. This pony did have a name, of course: she was the newest Princess of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight first held her face with her hooves then got out of bed and started to wander thinking about her dreams. 

"That same nightmare again," Twilight said to herself, whispering so she wouldn't wake up Spike who was only a few rooms down from her. She kept walking as she looked around the vast, empty halls "Maybe I need more decorations in the castle," she murmured, unsure, "maybe that's it..." She paused as – just in the corner of her eye – she noticed something outside the castle window. Something... unsettling.

Her dream still fresh in her mind, Fear overwhelmed her senses as she rushed to the window and looked out, seeing a shadowy figure standing on the roof of Sugarcube Corner. She paused, taking in the large bat-like wings On the creature's back. Twilight instantly recognized the species: it was a thestral, a creature of which she had often read. Slowly, it turned to look at her. Twilight froze. The creature had locked eyes with her. There was silence as the two stared down at each other, Twilight's beautiful dark purple eyes staring deep into the figure's bright-red sinister ones. She watched, powerless, as the figure leapt off the top of Sugar Cube Corner spreading its wings and taking flight. Twilight just knew this creature was up to something, and she was sure it could be nothing good. She had to stop it, no matter what. She launched herself off the windowsill, her wings spreading as she dived after the figure. To her amazement, it seemed capable of incredible turns of speed. Before she knew what was happening, it had twisted off its course, so that it was flying behind her. She turned to face it, locking eyes with it again; she could barely make out a few facial features and a sort of dark green color to the pony, as well as a face-mask.

Twilight paused, using her wings to hover in mid-air, as the stranger landed on a rooftop, all the while holding Twilight's gaze. The pony was now illuminated in the moonlight, revealing him to be a stallion who was, oddly, wearing a hoodie with slits that allowed his ears to pop out, and a white face-mask, that she has only seen on the various doctors in the Ponyville Hospital. The stallion spoke, his voice an average male one, with a definite slight hoarse quality to it. "You've seen nothing, Princess Twilight," He said, his red eyes seeming to glow in the moonlight, "Go back to bed."

Twilight hesitated as she felt a bizzare twinge in her head almost telling her to obey this stranger, to go back to bed and forget that she ever saw this strange pony looking at him. Almost as though she were waking up from a bad dream. She felt her body about to listen to this stallion's words, but she shook her head and glared back at him, causing him to look at her with slight surprise. "Who are you?" she demanded of the figure. "What do you want with Ponyville?"

The figure's piercing red eyes were still glowing hypnotically. Twilight could almost feel them burning into her skull, urging her to obey. "I'm no threat, you've seen nothing here, this will all feel like just another bad dream to you," he said in a commanding tone. The strange feeling in Twilight's head seemed to twist and grow the more he stared at her.

Being smart, Twilight squeezed her eyes tight shut. To her relief, the feeling stopped, the nagging feeling subsiding. She demanded again "Talk, who are you?" Silence. Opening one eye to peek, she found him gone. She cursed her idocy. He taken off while her eyes were closed. She could see him flying away; fortunately, he hadn't gotten far.

Twilight backed up and chased after him, trying to catch this mysterious stallion. Sensing that he was being followed, he turned to look at her. Twilight closed her eyes and dashed forward as she felt an unearthly force pushing her down,giving her no choice but to plummet towards the ground at an unimaginable speed. Panic-stricken, she flapped her wings as hard as she could, but to no avail. The force only seemed to get stronger.Her eyes widened as she approached the ground and prepared for the worst. Suddenly, she felt an awful yank as something seized her mane from above. She flinched as something sharp jabbed into her neck, and she tensed up, freezing in place. She opened her eyes and found herself on the ground, the stranger floating above her, his wings flapping. "Sorry," The figure said to her quietly, "I only meant to push you out of my way, not to the ground"

Twilight, who had not been expecting an apology,noticed the figure had his head down as he adjusted his face mask then looked up at her. He turned, and then paused as he felt Twilight holding him in place with her magic. He turned his head, an almost symapthetic expression on his face. Twilight was taken aback. "H...How..." she stammered, " that spell is supposed to hold you in place. You shouldn't be able to move at all." Despite Twilight's attempts to tighten her magical grip on him, the stallion landed, and began to walk towards her, albeit slowly, fighting her restraint. Her spell wasn't working! In despair, she grabbed some nearby rocks and prepared to throw them at the figure to defend herself, when suddenly he had reached her.

The Figure gripped her horn with a forehoof, interrupting her magic. She felt him looking her in the eyes again, and closed them on instinct as he suddenly moved her head to look at her neck. He whispered "That can't be good." He moved his hoof off her horn and backed away from her.

"I have made a terrible mistake, ma'am," he said apologetically. "I'm taking you to Zecora, she knows about me, and she also knows how to fix the error I made." The figure sighed. "I am not an enemy, Miss Sparkle, I promise. Zecora will help you, and then afterwards, you must pretend you never saw me." Suddenly his voice echoed like a legion as Twilight realized that she was looking him in the eye, but this time it was too late. "Now...sleep." Unconsciousness overwhelmed Twilight, her mind becoming a perfect blank as she collapsed before the stallion's gaze. He slung her tired body across his back and turned around, heading into the Everfree forest.  





Twilight wanted so badly to go on sleeping. She felt so tired, so very tired, and was sure that she would like nothing better than a little more sleep. A dull ache in her neck had other ideas, nagging at her to get up. What in Equestria had she been doing last night?

Twilight yawned, blinked, stretched, and finally (and reluctantly) sat up. "Spike!" she called automatically. But then she looked about her, her eyes adjusting to the gloom. Gloom? That was odd in itself. She had been expecting the morning sun shining through her bedroom window, not this strange darkness. Her eyes took in the shelves, filled with old manuscripts and weird-looking potions; the ancient artifacts of another civilization that lined the walls. Realization dawned, she was in Zecora's hut. But why? Suddenly, the events of the night before came flooding back to her. She shuddered.

She was startled by Zecora's voice from behind her. "Good morning to you, my little one. The new day has already begun.

"M- morning..." Twilight mumbled, struggling to recall details. She remembered that the strange pony had stopped her from falling, apparently grabbing her mane in his teeth, but what then?

"Now is not the time to brood," insisted the zebra. "See, I have brought you a little food." She set down a small tray next to the mattress in the middle of the floor on which Twilight had woken up. On it was a large bowl of what looked like soup. Twilight gratefully gulped it down.

Again, she felt the twinge in her neck. On instinct she went to touch it, only to feel something she didn't want to feel, something that made her skin turn as white as the zebra who lived in the Everfree. Zecora looked at her friend and said "Blood is not usually a common sight, but one I find often when I talk to the Creature of the Night"

"The Creature of the Night?" Twilight asked her, "is that the name of the Figure I saw walking around Ponyville last night? Who is he? That can't be his real name... can it?"

"Those are secrets he had me swear to keep, though keeping it from my friend makes my heart weep" Zecora commented. "All you truly need to know is that that Creature is friend, not foe"

Twilight was skeptical about that as she looked at the blood on her hooves "If he's so friendly, why is my neck bleeding?" 

"He came to me telling about an accident he had a part to create, had me spare you from a horrible fate" Was the only response that Zecora would give. "What fate he spared you from I cannot say, for his secrets are his and I will keep it that way"

With Zecora's help, Twilight slowly got to her hooves. "Thanks...I guess. I better head back, Zecora." As she walked back she started to think about this mysterious Creature of the Night. What kind of accident could have only been cured by Zecora's remedy? What kind of a pony could just resist her grip like that? How did he put her to sleep without a horn? However, all those questions were at the back of her mind as one stuck out from the rest: Just who or what was the Creature of the Night?"