Fear
Mayor Quartz sighed heavily and readjusted her reading glasses as she sat at her maple wood desk in her office, safe behind the walls of her home, which was further protected by the walls surrounding Hollow Shades. Those walls had been there for as long as Quartz could remember from when she was still just a little filly. To her they had always been a symbol of safety for the town and its ponies, always keeping the dangers of the forest at bay.
"A fat lot of good that did us," she muttered as she inspected the latest draft she had penned to the Princess. It was another request of assistance in dealing with the bug bear. The latest of many, and likely the latest to be ignored by the so-called nobility who would never even consider sparing any resources in helping a little town on the other side of the mountain range.
Sighing a second time the middle-aged pegasus mare let her gaze drift to a window, and she looked outside at Luna's moon as it steadily rose over the horizon, bathing the tree tops in a wan light. At the moment however her thoughts were more focused on the group of ponies that set out earlier that morning.
Now, several hours after the fact, they still had yet to return, and Quartz would be lying if she said she wasn't starting to worry about them. Quartz did mean what she had said to Roughshod the night before he left the relative safety of the town. She truly did believe that he was a great addition to the community, and Celestia strike her down if she didn't care for him and his family. She and Rose Flare were already good friends before she even met him, and Quartz felt that she had extended that friendship to Roughshod.
But the fact remained that neither he nor the ponies he had brought with him had come back from the woods, and Quartz was beginning to fear the worst. Many different scenarios ran through her mind, some involving the bug bear.
"Come on Roughshod," she said quietly as she stared at the distant tree tops. "If you don't get back soon Rose is going to have my hide."
Sighing again Quartz returned her attention to her desk and the stacks of paper neatly assembled on it. She eyed the draft meant to go to the princess with a certain amount of distaste, knowing she had already given up on that option days ago. Scowling as she did so, Quartz brushed the paper off of her desk with a wing into a waiting trash bin.
She only hoped that her contingency plan was not so unreliable as those big wigs in Canterlot. Celestia knows how much she offered to pay him to take care of their problem. With luck it should be any day now that he would show up at her desk and declare a job well done, collect his fee, and be on his way. She had initially been a little worried about what would happen if Roughshod happened to encounter him while out in the forest, but then figured that the vast majority of Hollow Shades would be more than willing to forgive her for trying out different alternatives in ridding themselves of the bug bear.
As Mayor Quartz pondered how she would bring this up at the next town meeting, she became aware of some sort of commotion going on outside. Letting her curiosity get to her, Quartz stepped away from her desk and trotted over to push the window open with an outstretched wing. She poked her head outside, ears twitching as she tried to pinpoint the source of the din. It seemed to be coming from town gates.
Spotting a pony who seemed to be coming from that direction, a green pegasus mare by the name of Nano Breeze, Quartz called out to her and asked, "Excuse me but do you know what is going on by any chance?"
Nano Breeze nodded and replied, "Yeah, Roughshod just got back. They're getting ready to open the gates right now."
Quartz felt her excitement rise when she heard that. She quickly thanked the other mare for the information and began to make her way over to greet the returning ponies. She didn't even bother using the stairs, instead choosing to fly there from her window. In short order she was at the gates just as a pair of ponies were getting ready to open them to allow entry. With a creak and a groan the doors parted, exposing the interior to the outside. Quartz could just make out the silhouettes of four ponies trotting briskly back into the lantern light. But there was something off to Quartz for some reason, though at the moment she could not recall why.
Soon everypony was past the gates, and doors were closed with a jarring thud.
"Welcome back Roughshod," Quartz said in greeting. "It's about time that you showed up. How was your trip."
Quartz's sarcasm was false, and everypony knew it. She truly was happy to see them back, she was just hiding her anxiety behind a mask of annoyed disappointment.
Roughshod chose not to comment on it and simply said, "Thanks for the welcome party Mayor. And you're not going to believe what we found out there."
Quartz's eyebrows rose in response, and she glanced at the rest of group. The feeling of something wrong returned, greater than before, but Quartz chose to ignore it in favor of hearing what Roughshod wanted to tell her. "Well?" she asked. "What is it then?"
"The bug bear is dead," he replied, to which everypony in earshot suddenly stopped what they were doing, and looked at the four ponies with surprised and disbelieving expressions, and they all began to clamor at once.
"Did he say the bug bear's dead?"
"Are you sure?"
"What did it look like?"
"Does this mean it's safe to go out now?"
Roughshod cleared his throat, and everypony quieted down to hear him speak. "Yes, the bug bear is dead. We all saw it with our own eyes."
At this all the ponies present had gone from disbelieving to relieved. Even Quartz felt a sense of joy pervade her being as the thought that there was no more bug bear to worry about, and she resolved to give her alternative solution a bonus when he came back.
"But that's not all," Roughshod then said, and the expressions of relief faltered slightly. They then disappeared completely when they heard what he said next.
"The bug bear wasn't just killed. It was torn apart and picked clean by another predator. . . . We don't know what it is yet, but whatever it is, it is much bigger and much more dangerous than anything that lives out there right now."
Everypony fell silent, unable to say anything at the revelation that there was something even worse than the bug bear. Quartz chose that moment to speak up, addressing the ponies gathered around.
"Don't worry everypony. Just go home, get some rest. We'll have a town meeting in the morning to discuss this issue, when we're all rested and recovered."
The ponies appeared to be unconvinced, but decided to go ahead and humor the mayor and started filing away back to their business. Some returned to chores they were performing when the group came back, while others simply went home.
"I don't know what to say Roughshod," Quartz said as she watched them leave. "A part of me wants to thank you for telling me the bug bear's dead, while another part wants me to hit you for replacing it something that might be even worse. Are you sure what you're saying is true? Are you sure that it was another animal that killed it?"
Roughshod nodded. "I'm sure," he answered solemnly, to which Quartz sighed heavily as a headache began to accumulate. She rubbed her forehead with a hoof, and chose to distract herself by inspecting the rest of the ponies that had went with Roughshod. She still could not shake the feeling that there was something wrong with how many there were. Then, it clicked, and the red pegasus' eyes went wide with realization.
There were only four ponies that she could see in Roughshod's group.
"Roughshod? Wasn't there another pony with you?"
Roughshod glanced backward, and panic entered his voice when he too realized what, or more accurately, who was missing.
"Where's Harp?!"
"Star?! Nightshade! Roughshod?! Where are you guys?!"
Harp was hopelessly lost as he wandered aimlessly through the dark forest, cursing his fortune and cursing the others for leaving him behind, even if it was unintentional. Harp himself had not even realized he had become separated from the rest of the group until nearly half an hour ago. He thought they had heard him notify them when nature made its call, but apparently he was mistaken on that front.
Harp was on the verge of panic as desperately tried to regain his bearings, as all he could think about was the fact that he was now all alone in the woods with Celestia knows how many things prowling around that would be all too willing to make a meal out of him. Wolves, lupis-minors, lupis-majors, mountain lions, maybe even a hydra or two. And that wasn't even counting the unknown predator that had killed the bug bear. Out of all of them that was the one Harp wanted to run into the least. At least he knew about the others and what they could do, but this new monster, whatever it was, was completely unknown to him, and that terrified the stallion more than anything.
"Mister Mortar?! Star! Come on you, just tell me where you are!"
The only reply that Harp received was his own panic stricken voice echoing through the trees. It almost seemed to be mocking him in a way, and he began to lose hope that anypony would find him, or even come back for him. It was far too late into the night now, and anypony that came out here to look for him would only be putting themselves at risk. And as much as Harp wanted to be rescued as quickly as possible, he knew that he would just have to hold out until morning until somepony came to find him.
Assuming there was going to be anything left of him to find. Harp hated to think what could happen the brief span of hours until morning.
He knew that the chances of him getting through the night unscathed were slim at best, but Harp was willing to take that chance. He needed to find a place to stay, to lay low until somepony could come for him. Unfortunately there did not seem to be any areas like that where he currently was, so Harp decided to peek around a bit and hope that he came across a tree with branches that were low enough for him too reach. Hopefully he would also not run into that monster, wherever it was.
Angela was surrounded on all sides by darkness.
All that she could see in every direction was an inky blackness so deep and stifling that its presence threatened to crush her under its weight. No matter where she looked the only thing that could be seen was nothingness. Just sheer nothingness.
"Hello?" she called out into the dark, hoping for an answer. "Is anyone there?"
Silence.
Beginning to feel nervous, Angela called out again. "Hello? hello, can anyone hear me?" Again, there was no reply to her plea, and Angela was starting to panic as she thought of a million different possibilities for why, none of them good. her breathing quickened as the darkness seemed to somehow become even more oppressive than it already was. She was alone. Alone and afraid.
Then suddenly, she did hear something, but it did not comfort in any way. It was not the consoling voice of a friend, nor was it the gentle shuffle of footsteps coming to greet her. It sounded more like something was lurking unseen in the darkness as it moved around her.
Suddenly Angela the sound of something shriek behind her, and she whirled around to face its source, but all that she saw was the same pitch black landscape. The shriek came again, louder this time as it came echoing out of the void. Angela still could not see what was causing, and her breathing became difficult as fear built up inside of her. Feeling she had no other choice she bolted in the opposite direction the sound seemed to be coming from, her bare feet thudding against the ground as whatever was hiding in the dark gave chase.
Angela did not know what was pursuing her, nor did she want to know. All that she knew was that she just had to get away, to keep running until she escaped from its malevolent presence. But it seemed that no matter how hard or how fast she ran she could still feel that whatever was chasing her was steadily gaining on her.
Another shriek came, and Angela imagined that it was right behind her, and she began to cry out of desperation and terror.
"Please. . . please no," she pleaded tearfully. Just then something large and heavy slammed into her from behind, causing her to stumble and fall. She curled up on the ground and covered her head with her arms. She sobbed loudly, hoping desperately that it would just leave her alone. Her sobbing faded into soft crying as she expected her death to come at any moment.
Except it never came, and the screeching fell silent. Realizing that nothing was happening Angela tentatively opened her eyes, expecting to see some horror waiting for her to do just that so she could see it as it mauled her. But there was nothing.
Even stranger, she was no longer surrounded by shadows. Instead she was now in a forest full of trees with white trunks and red leaves. But however happy she was to have somehow escaped, it was outmatched by how. . . off everything felt about the forest. Angela could not quite explain it, but there was something that was just wrong about the setting. it was a feeling that seemed to pervade the whole area like a harmful fog.
Uncurling from her fetal position, Angela slowly stood while glancing around nervously. She tried to simply ignore the feeling, but no matter what she could not shake the sense that there was in fact something profoundly deviant from the norm, especially around the trees themselves.
Taking a cautious step forward, Angela inspected the bark of one of the trees, and to her surprise and confusion she found the rough texture of its trunk formed lines that spelled a single word.
Liar.
Perturbed by the discovery, Angela walked over to another tree and found that it too had a single word scrawled onto its side.
Thief.
Everywhere Angela looked the only thing she could see were trees with those same two words on their trunks. Then it seemed that those words began to whisper in her ears repeatedly, growing louder and louder until she felt the need to clutch her head in an futile attempt to ward them off.
"Stop. . ." she whimpered. The words did not stop, but instead grew louder and louder until Angela was forced to her knees. Then , abruptly, another word rang out like the bell of death, silencing all the others.
Murderer.
"No, please I. . . I didn't mean to. . ."
Angela looked up and saw that the word had now replaced the other two, and was scrawled onto every tree.
Murderer.
"No!" Angela screamed, and she quickly stood up to run. She did not know for how long she ran, as time seemed to both fly as fast as a hawk and move at snails pace simultaneously. She only knew that when she stopped she was in a wide open area. No monster in the darkness, no trees with the word murderer, not even grass, just flat empty ground as far as she could see.
Angela stepped forward, looking all around in fear, when suddenly she heard something crunch beneath her feet. Startled by the sound, she hesitantly looked down, and saw both to her confusion and disgust that she had stepped on the chalky white skeleton of a bird.
And next to the bird was the body of a rat. After the rat came the skeletons of large wolves, each having a star shaped mark on their skulls. After them came the bug bear. And it did not end there, for she saw that piled on top of them were the bones of various creatures. Everything from ponies to hydras, all piled up in a massive and grotesque mountain of death. And sitting at the very top was the remains of a human skeleton, and even though there was no way to identify who it once was, Angela knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she recognized it.
Angela stumbled backwards in horror and fright, until another sound distracted her. And it seemed to be coming from within the pile. The bones began to shake and rattle as something moved underneath the the surface, just out of her sight. Then it burst from the top, throwing bones in all directions, and Angela was forced to shield her eyes. When she uncovered them she saw what had been lurking in the mound.
It was the wraith, in all its terrifying glory. It was coated in blood that dripped from its talons and jaws in streams of red, and when it exhaled Angela was left choking on the scent of death. The monster immediately took notice of her, and after a brief lull in activity it began to creep down towards her.
Angela wanted to leave. She wanted nothing more than to run away as fast as she possibly could, to just get away from the wraith, away from the skeletons, from her past, from herself.
But she couldn't. Angela was rooted the spot, and all she could do was watch helplessly as the wraith drew nearer, until its tooth filled maw was only inches from her face.
"W-what are you?" she whimpered softly.
In response the wraith tilted its head quizzically, as though it had heard an odd sound. Then, it spoke to her in a perfect imitation of her voice.
"I am you."
The monstrous creature then reared backwards as it raised its two meter long claws threateningly.
"And you are mine."
The wraith lunged at her, and Angela screamed.
Angela snapped awake in less than a second as phantom sensations of claws ripping into her body assaulted her senses. She shrieked in alarm and fright, trying to fight off the attack. Seeing her multiple arms she temporarily forgot that they were her own as she flailed them around in an attempt to fend off the wraith of her nightmare. When she finally realized that she was not in any immediate danger Angela stopped, and she took a few deep raspy breaths to calm her racing hearts.
It was dark, she noticed, and the moon was now high above in the starry sky. The cool night air washed over her pale skin like a blanket, and she felt her heart rate slow down, and she was able to think more clearly as a result.
Relax Angela, she told herself. It was all just a dream. Just a nightmare.
Unfortunately her reasoning did very little to make her feel better, much less help her forget the details of the dream. Feeling strangely sick, Angela curled around herself with her tails. She glanced at her surroundings with a wary eye, almost expecting the wraith from her nightmare to be lurking in the shadows cast by the trees. As far as she could tell she was in a hidden grove with a substantial amount of underbrush, which did a pretty good job of hiding her from sight. She only wished it did as well in concealing her from her own thoughts.
She remembered everything with crystal clear clarity now, from her first moments as a wraith to the grave memories she had kept hidden and suppressed for years.
Until now she had neglected to really ponder what had become of the bug bear when she had transformed into a wraith, as the little details of the encounter seemed to have slipped her mind. She had just assumed that it had been scared off by her presence, and chalked up the strange loss in memory to the stress of going under a complete change in species. But now she could remember it all, thanks to her scuffle with those wolf things. The fight with them had jogged her memory, allowing her to remember in near perfect detail that she had killed it, that she had torn it apart.
She remembered that, in the moment, she had even enjoyed it. And that thought alone terrified her more than anything. More than being hunted by the ponies or being eaten by some predator of the forest. Neither one of those fears could compare to the sheer terror that she had taken satisfaction in taking a life, even if it was in the defense of her own. She was afraid that she would take satisfaction in it again, whether it be with beast, pony. . . or man.
Please. I'm sorry. . . I didn't mean to, she whimpered, keening sorrowfully as one memory in particular that she had struggled to forget rose to the surface of her mind.
She was telling the truth. Angela truly had not meant to take a life years ago that night. She had just been so afraid. She had let her fear for her life blind her to the situation. She may have been a thief, but Angela had never wanted to take life. But she had, and she done it again with the bug bear and those wolves. Her nightmare forced her to remember.
Coiling tighter around herself, Angela was almost disappointed that she no longer had eyes to shed any tears as she let out quiet and mournful keen. She tried to go back to sleep, but it would seem that she would find no more rest for a little while yet as her thoughts refused to quiet down and leave her be. Resigning herself to the fact that she would not be sleeping anymore tonight, Angela rose up from her little spot on the ground, choosing to wander aimlessly, hoping she would somehow be able to forget in the next few hours.
It had taken hours for him to finally track the beast down that had taken his original quarry from him, and now there it was, its pale gray form weaving between the trees at a slow pace like a wingless dragon. To the untrained eye it might have been missed as it moved under the light of Luna's moon, but Gerald was far from being a novice. He had been hunting all sorts of rare and dangerous animals in his line of work, and may the Princesses strike him dead if he was outwitted by a. . . by a. . . whatever this thing was. Truthfully the old griffon had never seen anything quite like before in his life, even during his expeditions in Zebrica. It was just so unnatural, even the tatzlworm looked tame in comparison, what with its lack of eyes, extra arms, and feet that morphed into tails.
Of course when he had come across the corpse of the bug bear, and discovered that something had gotten to it before him, Gerald had been furious at the prospect that he might not be payed. He couldn't go back to the mayor and say that he had failed, his pride was too great for that. He couldn't lie about it either, not only because of his pride but also because she had requested that he bring evidence of the kill, and he couldn't do that when there wasn't even enough left to bring back on a dinner plate. It did not help that he had already been trying to track the bug bear ever since he first heard of its escape from Tartarus, only to find that something else had beaten him to the punch.
Yes, Gerald had been beyond furious that not only would he not have the bug bears head mounted on his wall, he wouldn't even be getting paid for it either.
That is until he realized something. If whatever had brought down the bug bear was still in the area, then there was a chance that he might be able to salvage his efforts. After all, whatever could maul the bug bear like that would no doubt make a suitable replacement to put in his trophy room.
With this in mind Gerald had set out to track down the beast, even going so far as to set a trap by using a wild boar, and it was not long until he had discovered the culprit. And he had not been disappointed in the slightest. Not only did he get to see that the creature was least as big as a house, he was even lucky enough to witness it wage a short but violent fight with a trio of lupis-minors and win.
At that moment he could not have cared less if the mayor of Hollow Shades paid him or not, all he wanted was the chance to bring it down. And if it kept going in the direction it was currently heading, he would get that chance. All the griffon had to do now was wait for it to set off one of the traps he had erected specifically for it, and the with any luck the beast would be dead before the night was over.
Sweet Celestia! Things are starting to get complicated!
Unfortunately I don't have any questions or polls or any of my other nonsense to bore you with and. . . ah who am I kidding? Of course I have a question!
I was thinking that maybe the fight scene that I wrote with Angela and the lupis-minors was a tad short, and could have gone on for a bit longer. You know, more violence and stuff like that. So I am putting it up to a vote. Do you think I should? Supply your answer in the comments below.
As a side question, what do think is going to happen with our protagonist?
As awlays, arelt me to ayn erers in the conents.
Thanks!
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It feels like you are setting up Angela to be trapped or killed because of her past sins affecting her mind. Either that or she is going to break under pressure and kill everything around her when she does.
I think longer fighting Scenes would bring someone (like me) more into the Battle. You know feel like the Character, feeling all the Emotions, the pain, the fear and last bur not least the Action.
But in the end it's all up to you too decide.
And also: Keep the good Work up.
*clears her throat*
Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
The bug bear is dead,
and soon you´ll be too.
This was a short poem from me Schrödingers Katze, for Gerald the Hunter. Thank you. *bows and leaves the stage*
Okay, butchered poetry aside, I think the fight with the star wolves was okay. The sequence with the nightmare made up for the shortness, showing the Wraith-Persona slowly taking over Angelas mind, crushing her with guilt over past and future kills. The part with the forest was a bit God Child-ish but the bit the the human skeleton on top of Mt. Bone, very nice.^^b
What´s gonna hapen with Angie in the future? Well then, let me take off my medicine and let me think about it.
I see blood. Raining down on the land, staining it crimson. A tortured soul. Guilt over past sins. Creeping darkness, yet a speck of light. Flickering, like a match in a tornado. Forecast: gory with a slim chance of slavation.
Ouch, that hurt. Hope that made any sense for you. By the way, that makes 100 caps please.
except he doesn't realise the wraiths full potential and power!
more please!
so will there be more monsters not in the mlp but from the game?
Can't remember when this is happening but if Luna is around, I wonder how long it'll take for her to notice nightmares?
As for Angi getting trapped, well thats the best spot to learn Supernova or Warp Blast.
The only thing i dont like is that someone made a Evolve displaced before me... oh well, no use crying over spilled milk, especially when the story is good!
in the next chapter: one dead birdy
6544747 Nothing stopping you from going ahead and making your own great story.
6544630 Luna seems to be slacking off on the job.
6544590 Maybe, maybe not, but not in this story. I already have plans.
6544387 Nice little poem. And thanks for the input about the fight scene.
6543814 Not in this story, but definitely in the sequel.
Hey dude mind if I make a story about a displaced behemoth that was put into Angela's equestria?
6551111 Hmmm. . . I'm not sure. I already have a plan on how I want Hollow Shades to end, so if you do, would you mind too much if I asked you to place it somewhere else in Equestria? I hear that the Badlands are quite lovely this time of year, and Chrysalis could use the company.
Ok or in the everfree or is she apready there. But yeah if you want me to I could do tge badlands.
Poor Geralt. Trying to hunt a monster at least twice your size with just traps isn't going to do more than piss it off. Besides, it can obviously see or else it would of already been lunch. Anyway, Angela needs self control to the level of Celestia during a Blueblood rant or else risk losing control of the monster she has become. However, keeping it in the back of her mind for emergency situations... That's just good planning.
.........Scrub. Getting lost in the forest with the monster about. Shame on you.
Oh, so those wolves are Lupis minors...
Gerald... You don't know what you're getting yourself into.
...Okay, no, you're getting into a hunt.
...But you see, it's not you who is hunting... You are the hunted...
Okay, now, I'm rather interested.
6552559 I'm waiting for the inevitable Supernova attack when she is cornered
Geralt, Geralt, Geralt... you don't have any idea what piece of Kurwa Blyat you're going into...
I really really REALLY did not want to be right. Go on Harp, run back to Maggie. Please?
Luna is seriously slacking on her job, I see.
I hope the idiot pony guard falls into one of the traps.
7592025
Wiedzmin?
7592025
Right word would be Pizdec.
Good luck Griffon. It takes machine guns to take these fuckers down, and you use crossbows
Honestly Hollow Shades acts as a carbon copy replacement for Ponyville so much that it's becomes annoying. It has orchards owned by the infamous family. it's located right next to the Forbidden forest. Sweetie Drops has a hideout in unnamed location, presumably HS. The city that threatened by now deseased bugbear.
10047583
Machine guns grenades electrical pincers things and the nuke as well as a bunch of other explosive rounds to even lay a dent on them