The Remaining: Transformations

by Xvern

A Picture Tells...

CRASH!

Bloodshot lavender eyes shot open at the sudden loud noise that seemed to echo in the still empty castle. Many images flew through the alicorn's head as she charged her horn. All those thoughts were dispelled at the accented voice that echoed down the halls.

“Twilight? Where ya at sugarcube?”

“Over here Applejack!” Twilight called back as she crawled out of her bed and used her magic to sing open the doors to her chambers. Having seen the doors open, Applejack made a beeline for the room. When she stopped outside, Twilight knew that something was wrong. Her close friend looked to have run three consecutive Running of the Leaves without pacing herself. Her tongue hung out of her mouth as she panted in an attempt to cool down. Sweat matted down her fur, though there was so much of it that it also dripped to the floor beneath her.

“AJ! What's wrong?”

“Last night, Twi, last night I woke up to this strange howling coming from the Everfree. It was so loud and... angry. It had woken up my family as well so Big Mac and me decided to stand watch outside while Granny Smith took care of Applebloom. We thought it would die down but it kept going for most of the night. It finally stopped just a couple hours to sunrise. I just couldn't sleep though Twi, there was just something wrong about that howling!” she explained quickly, barely taking time to breath.

“What? Do you know of anything that could howl like that?”

“Well, if'n I knew that, I wouldn't be here, would I?” she replied testily. Twilight didn't comment on it as her friend had stayed up almost all night listening to whatever it was that had made the noise.

“No, no I guess you wouldn't. Who could...”

As if a switch had been thrown, both of their eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

“Fluttershy!”

-_-_-_-_-_-

When the sun had hit James' face, he had immediately gotten up and began moving again. With only a scavenged energy bar as sustenance, he was again trekking through the woods. The howling had stopped, he noticed, which meant that the Infected died in the night or that it was free and on the hunt. From experience, James knew that it was the latter.

With his eyes constantly scanning his surroundings, James noticed a second thing: these woods were different. He didn't know how, or why, but he could tell that he was nowhere near where he was yesterday. Back in the other forest, the trees were green, healthy, and grew at natural intervals. In this forest, the trees were black with gnarled branches that grew more like weeds than trees. James found himself baffled as to how he hadn't run smack dab into one of the twisted plants in his sprint last night.

He froze, his ears straining to hear anything. That was it though, there was nothing to hear. No birds chirping or feral dogs barking. No buzzing of insects or splashing of fish. There was just silence. How didn't I notice it before? he asked himself. The silence was deafening and he knew that each and every step he had taken had been echoing through the silent woods. The Infected could have tracked him.

SNAP!

James dropped low, careful of noise discipline, as his head shot around to face the sound. It came from his left, where a particularly batch of trees stood. Only small gaps were left visible through the trees' vines and branches. Even through those small gaps, however, he could see a familiar bipedal shape. It was barely twenty meters away, stalking through the overgrown foliage. Besides the one stick breaking, it was otherwise silent, moving with grace of a predator.

A powerful scent hit James' nostrils, just about causing him to gag in reply. It was the smell of unwashed bodies, human feces and urine, and rotting gore; the smell of the Infected. Fighting back the wanting to barf, the man smirked. He smirked because he knew that if he could so easily smell the Infected, that meant that he was downwind from it. Thus it would be harder for it to smell him.

Still, he steadied his grip on his rifle, slowly bringing it to bear on the Infected. He didn't know if he could get a shot through the trees but he wanted to be ready if the thing did notice him. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead when the Infected suddenly stopped. It was in this brief moment that a part of James realized that this was the same Infected that had sent him tumbling off the cliff. It's blond hair now had thorn branches entangled in it while it's jumpsuit was even more torn up than before. He realized that it may not be long before he was being chased by a deranged, naked woman through the woods. He nearly laughed at the imagery his mind conjured up.

Following the Infected's path of sight, he found what had caught it's attention. There, standing in a clearing with a face that James would title 'dumbstruck' was a small, brown coated horse. Large saddlebags were on it's frame and a white... pith helmet rested on it's head. Even stranger to the human was the camera that it wore around it's neck. While James was confused at the strange appearance of the small horse, the Infected merely saw potential prey.

The camera suddenly flashed, sealing the small horse's fate. With an angry, incomprehensible cry, thee Infected took off at full speed for the small horse. The horse stood still, rooted to it's spot in fear. Even so, the camera flashed two more times before the Infected tackled the horse to the ground. What came next sent shivers up James' spine.

The horse screamed. It screamed and... shouted in some strange language. Shortly after it began, thee screaming stopped with a sickening snap. Only the sounds of breaking bones and ripping skin followed the silence. A silence that shook James out of his stupor.

Sorry friend, he thought, It was you or me.

Quickly and quietly, James moved away from the feeding Infected. Though the sounds the dead horse had made brought bile to his mouth, he had to take advantage of this distraction. His only consultation as he beat feet was that the Infected would completely devour the body, leaving no chance of spreading the disease.

-_-_-_-_-_-

“Did you hear that?” Twilight asked, suddenly skidding to a stop.

“Ya, sounded like somepony screaming in the Everfree.”

Again, the two shared a look before taking off again. They were already close to the cottage, thus arriving in no time at all. With no hesitation, Twilight backed off to allow Applejack to take lead. Said farmpony made short work of the door, plowing through the piece of wood and allowing entrance into the cottage.

“Fluttershy? Fluttershy!” Applejack cried before launching herself at the frightened pegasus, lathing onto her in a hug, “Thank Celestia you're okay.”

“Did you hear the howling Fluttershy?” Twilight questioned upon entry into the cottage. Said cottage was packed nearly to the breaking point with animal, all of which were looking at the door and shaking. The entrance of the two ponies had startled them and, had it not been for Fluttershy's presence, they probably would have trampled the two ponies in an effort to escape.

“I-I did,” she muttered as AJ let go of her, “I m-meant to let y-you know, Twilight, but as you c-can see.”

“Your woodland friends needed comfort, I understand,” Twilight quickly replied with a nod as she looked at the animals, “Sorry for our entrance everyone.”

“Do you have any idea what was doing that howling sugarcube?”

“I can't say that I do,” Fluttershy responded, a little more in control of her voice, “It's nothing that I've heard before. Whatever it is though, I can tell that it's very, very angry.”

“No offense partner, but I reckon anypony with two good ears could tell that.”

Fluttershy merely nodded her head before excusing herself to assist the animals gathered in her cottage. With no relevant information gained, Twilight and Applejack exited the cottage to gaze out at the looming woods next to the cottage.

“What now Twilight?” Applejack asked, her voice tinged with worry. She didn't want to think of the consequences if that had been somepony screaming. It had ended so abruptly, she thought with a shudder.

“We need Rainbow Dash,” Twilight stated with conviction, “I need you to get her and have her do a fly-over of the forest. She needs to look for anything out of the ordinary. Tell her everything we know so far, she needs to know that this isn't a game.”

“Consider it done but, if ya don't mind my asking, what are you gonna do?”

“I'm going to inform Celestia and Luna.”

As if to punctuate her statement, Twilight flared her wings. With a down-stroke that nearly blew Applejack over, the youngest Princess was airborne and heading for Canterlot. Applejack continued watching her friend for a couple moments before turning and galloping back down the trail. She had a certain pegasus to wake up.

-_-_-_-_-_-

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but grumble as she flew over the Everfree. She didn't see how some new creature warranted waking her up this early, especially on her day off. So what if it's loud, she thought as her eyes scanned the ground below, Nothing in this forest is ever quiet.

No matter how much she grumbled and complained, she was still the Element of Loyalty. Even if her element had been returned to the Tree of Harmony, her true self required her to answer her friends' plea for help. Thus, she was flying over the Everfree, looking for anything out of ordinary in a forest that wasn't ordinary to begin with.

Hang on she banked around to get a second view at what she glanced, It looks like a pony but... what are they covered in?

Ignoring Applejack's warnings, Rainbow Dash began to descend in a circular pattern. When she got close enough to make out the specifics, her descent became a lot faster as her wings locked to her side in shock and fear. It was only by sheer willpower did the chromatic pegasus get her wings open in time to keep from smashing into the ground. Instead, she absorbed the impact with a slight bend of the legs as her eyes remained fixed on the scene before her.

The pony, if it could still be called that, was torn open was it's chest to it's gut. Everything inside had been pulled out and... chewed on. Hunks of flesh was missing from the pony's side and back while it's head seemed to be attached by just a couple strands of muscle and sinew. Their bags had been torn off and tossed aside, the contents having spilled out, leaving camping gear strewn amidst the blood and gore. The blood pool stretched for several feet around the pony's legs, one of which was missing altogether.

A glint of light caught Rainbow's eye. Happy to have something to focus on besides the corpse, she focused her full attention on the object. She was surprised to find that it was a camera attached to a harness. She was more surprised to find that while the harness was beyond hope, the camera was still in one piece. I wonder if-

SNAP!

Quick as a bolt of lightning, Rainbow grabbed the camera and was airborne again. Without looking back, she banked for Ponyville and pumped her wings at their fastest. As she flew, she looked down to see the camera still cradled gently in her hooves. This further inspection revealed that some blood had gotten on the camera, causing the pegasus to gag.

I hope this was worth grabbing, Rainbow thinks as she angles for Twilight's new castle, where Applejack had gathered the rest of their friends. They are going to be so upset with me for touching down.

It didn't take a genius to see that Rainbow was avoiding thinking of the corpse in the woods... or the creature that caused it.

Author's Note:

Honestly guys? I don't know how to feel about this one. I've never really done something like this before so please keep the feedback coming.

Also, in case you couldn't tell, this does happen after "Twilight's Kingdom". As well, if it seems like any of the characters are acting out of character, feel free to let me know.

Comments

[Bronybro49]

Ooooh shit!!! Can't wait

[Electric Radiation]

It's awesome like how sloly everything is unfolding in equestria so far, keep up the good work and can't wait for the next chapter

[phallus of malice]

You're doing good. Keep up the good work.

[DrMedic]

my friend I need more