Alucard was back in the forest for the second time that day. The ponies were talking amongst themselves, theorizing on the manitcore’s demise and what it could mean for the town and the forest. The dhampir was silent, trying to anticipate the reactions of his small walking companions upon seeing the body.
Rainbow scouted ahead for the body. The others followed her lead, picking their way through the brush carefully and on the alert. Their chatter was quiet and their ears moved constantly. It was easy to see that the forest made them uncomfortable. Zecora’s previous words floated through his head.
Soon enough, Rainbow called for them. The group went silent as they entered the clearing. A small brook nearby made the only noise, bubbling peacefully in contrast with the tense mood of the ponies.
The body was a husk, Alucard had truly taken everything it had to give. It looked mummified. The earth had only just started to reclaim its body, yet no scavengers had touched it. Either the animals of the forest could sense the unholy death it had suffered, or the lack of blood had spoiled the meat.
Fluttershy turned away for a moment, squeezing her eyes shut at the sight. She looked stricken. But then she opened them again and they were steeled. Moving with purpose closer to the beast, she inspected it closely.
“It hasn’t been dead long, a day maybe. Two at most.” At her words, Twilight overcame her squeamishness and moved to stand beside her.
The purple unicorn spoke up, “That must be why the wolf didn’t attack Zecora. It wasn’t hungry. But this body is whole… What did it take from it that made it look like this?”
“Maybe it took it’s water! So it’s all dried up now. OH! Maybe it stole the manticore’s soul, leaving nothing but a dead husk…” Pinkie said ominously, giggling morosely. The other ponies glared at her. Alucard simply boggled at the cheery pink frizzball.
Pinkie’s smile fell only slightly at their response. “Sorry. That was a little dark.” She looked at the ground with concentration, trying to puzzle out what the appropriate amount of humor should be for standing next to a rotting corpse.
“Anyway, Pinkie is right. It’s completely dried up. But why would it take its water? There’s a stream right over there.” Twilight conjured a notebook and quill, both floating in the air next to her head and writing independently.
Fluttershy moved up towards its head. Putting out a hoof, she gently pushed on the head to test a theory. “It’s neck was broken. That’s why there’s no gouges in the ground or blood on it’s paws. It had no chance to struggle.”
The thought made Fluttershy sniffle a little. The poor thing’s life had been snuffed out in an instant. She wondered if it had even felt the pain from the break. How terrifying… It was probably getting a drink of water. Completely unaware... Alive and at ease one second and dead the next. She did not know if that was a mercy on the part of the killer or not. All she could discern was that whatever had taken down this big manticore was incredible efficient.
Fluttershy withdrew the hoof that was still rested on its head and looked down, spying its neck. Twilight moved up to where her friend was and followed her eyes. There was a patch of its mane missing.
“What is that?” She murmured to herself.
Her friends had moved closer, but were a respectable distance from the body still. They were quiet, letting the two ponies work. Fluttershy took care of animals of all kinds, so she had dealt with unsavory things before. Twilight was a voracious consumer of knowledge, the smartest pony any of them knew. Between the two of them, with their combined expertise and cunning, there was no doubt in the others that they could figure out what was going on in this forest.
“Hey, could someone hoof me a stick?” Twilight called out over her shoulder. The others scrambled around, searching the ground. Alucard looked up, walking to a nearby tree and breaking off a small branch. He stripped the leaves and twigs off the side, then handed it to Twilight.
“Oh, thank you.” She took it with her magic, and prodded the patch. Alucard moved away back toward the others, getting a look from Applejack that could peel paint. She was getting ready to scold him furiously for carelessly ripping a branch off a tree, when Rarity, looking green as it was, nudged the farmpony with a meaningful look.
Twilight and Fluttershy ignored the whispered bickering that started behind them and continued their investigation.
“Look at this bite-mark. The shape is odd. Fluttershy, have you ever seen any teeth like this? This looks nothing like a wolf. Zecora said it looked like a regular timberwolf, but not made of wood. I had almost started to believe that the manticore had its magic sucked out or something else strange like that, but… Look at the position near the side of the neck.”
“It… sucked out its blood. Most have torn the jugular.” Fluttershy’s voice quivered through the air. The shape of this mark… She had seen this shape before.
“Like a giant mosquito. But to take everything that it had… And there’s nothing on the ground. It didn’t spill a single drop...” Twilight continued to mumble to herself, but was no longer heard.
Fluttershy knew exactly where she had seen this sort of shape. The way the canine holes were placed, the flatter front teeth… Her head turned to look over her shoulder.
She had seen these teeth bared down above her, twisted into a fierce snarl with red eyes glowing above them.