Wrath of Dead Horse

by TerryCandleStick

Chapter 1: Emergence of Evil

Long ago, before the imprisonment of Nightmare Moon, there was a unicorn named Noble Quill. He was known for his ardor for success and his knowledge of magic. He accepted any challenge brought to him, and each one he conquered with vigor. Although, and perhaps because, he was one of Princess Celestia's closest advisers, many rumored his magic to be dark in nature.

One day, the rumors were confirmed by Star Swirl the Bearded. Noble was driven from Equestria, but not before vowing to conquer the land and sit on the throne of the Pony Kingdom. The surrounding kingdoms were informed of the vow, and they agreed to report any information acquired concerning him. Years passed without any word or sign of his attack.

Then, after a pony’s lifetime, the nations neighboring Equestria ceased communications one by one. Noble Quill finally attacked with a massive army consisting of minotaurs, griffons, and ponies that all marched, like himself, posthumously. As his force advanced, the land grew lifeless and the clouds became thin and wispy.

His force attacked multiple cities across the land simultaneously. The act of war drew the Equestrian Army from the Castle of Two Sisters and the Crystal Army from the Crystal Empire. In its undefended state, Noble Quill attacked the Castle directly with a small squad of his most powerful units. The Equestrian Royal Guard was no match for the evil Unicorn.

In the battle for the Castle, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna narrowly escaped with the Elements of Harmony. Noble Quill, claiming victory, promised a belligerent future for Equestria with endless expansion and conquest. But his reign was cut short. The two Princesses used the Elements of Harmony and destroyed Noble Quill and his elite units, but not before presenting the pristine emerald in which he had bound his soul.

The sisters proceeded to take the gem beyond the borders of Equestria. However, before their task could be fulfilled, Noble Quill’s magic took hold of Luna through a crack on the emerald. Using her, he vowed that he, Dead Horse, would return to take the land he coveted.

“Celestia released her sister of his control and saw that they were near the place of evil known as Tartarus. There she buried the flawed gem. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna then helped restore the neighboring kingdoms.”
Twilight Sparkle looked up from the book. “Isn’t the story exciting?”

“Not exciting!” Pinkie Pie said. “Like, super-duper scary!”

“Naw, it isn’t scary!” Rainbow Dash said and reared back onto her hind hooves and began shadow-boxing. “I could take down that Noble whoever like THAT!”

“Noble Quill, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight corrected her. “And you wouldn’t be able to touch him. The book goes on to describe his enchantments. Let me read you my favorite…”

“Hold your horses there, girl,” Applejack interrupted. “This ain’t no slumber party, so there ain’t no need for more scary stories.”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, I agree. Besides, there’s no reason to indulge ourselves with such a dreadful tall tale this early in the morning.”

“How can you call it a tall tale, Rarity?” Twilight protested. “This book details one of the greatest threats to Equestria and Princess Celestia’s and Princess Luna's reign. It’s an extremely important historical account.”

“But why did you have to read it when we are checking on Tartarus and its security?” asked a lump under a blanket.

“Because, Fluttershy, Dead Horse is responsible for many of the military procedures across Equestria," Twilight answered. "And it is an old tradition that erudite and military ponies come here to pay homage at least once to remember Noble Quill in hopes that this gesture will prevent his return, and...”

“Oh Twilight that Dead Horse story is ah bunch of hogwash!” Applejack admonished Twilight as she would Apple Bloom. “You should know better than to believe it.”

Twilight smirked proudly. “Well, since you don’t believe me, then you will just have to see for yourselves when we go inside Tartarus.”

“When we what!?” the other five ponies exclaimed together.

Twilight nods confidently. “That’s right! I am going through the mouth of Tartarus when we arrive and remembering Noble Quill, thus allowing me to check it off my bucket list.”

Rainbow began snickering. “Wait. Let me get this straight. You have a bucket list? And you put on it ‘remember storybook villain’? Haaah…!” She collapsed onto the floor laughing.

“He’s not a storybook character! He’s real!” Twilight shot back, feeling indignant.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Applejack said forcefully. “The train's coming up on Tartarus. We'll let Twilight pay her homage so we can finish our inspection for Princess Celestia."

As they all disembarked the train, Rainbow continued snickering. This intensified to full blown laughter when she saw all the ponies that had come to pay homage, all dressed in suits and dresses. "It's like a comic book convention hosted by The Stallion's Warehouse," she laughed as she clung to a tree.

Suddenly, the slow influx of new arrivals turned into a literal stampede moving back towards the trains. Twilight succeeded in flagging down one of the ponies.

"What's everypony running from?" She inquired earnestly.

"The gates!" The stallion practically yelled in panic. He had a distinct Canterlot accent. "The Cerberus is gone! It' s not inside nor anywhere outside! I'm not sticking around all those evil things... not without Cerberus here!" He then tore himself away from the discussion and continued running towards the train station. But a bit of his panic took hold in Twilight.

“This is bad! Really, really bad! No, not bad, it’s terrible!” Twilight promulgated frenetically. “Without Cerberus to guard the gates, all the evil things locked away can get out to destroy Equestria!”

Almost instantly, Rainbow seized Twilight and began shaking her. "This is no time to panic, Twilight! We have to make sure those things don't escape! Snap out of it!"

"Darling," Rarity said, frowning at Rainbow, "weren't you just laughing at Twilight about how ridiculous all this, eh, Dead Horse business was?"

"Yes," Rainbow turned and dropped Twilight. "But this isn't about Dead Horse anymore. It's about Equestria being attacked by Tirek again. Or worse."

“Well come on then!” Applejack said, helping Twilight to her hooves. “We’ll just find that big ol’ doggy and chain’em back up."

"Right," Twilight said. "Thanks Rainbow, I needed that. Now, we need eyes in the air!" The blue Pegasus saluted and shot up through the trees.

Twilight continued, "Everypony else spread out. If you see the Cerberus, call Fluttershy over. She can lead it back to the gates faster than any of us.”

The five dispersed, heading in different directions. Fluttershy and Twilight joining Rainbow in the air. Despite zigzagging all around, they didn't see any sign of the huge three-headed dog.

Resigning to defeat, the three met in the air. "Where is that dog?" Rainbow asked.

Twilight shook her head quickly. "I don't know. And we don't know how long it's been gone."

"Do you think one of those other ponies might have seen it?" Fluttershy asked.

"I doubt it. They were the first arrivals of the day," Twilight said.

Rainbow was about to respond when she heard a peculiar complaint from Rarity. “Ugh, why is this mound so icky?”

The three girls in the air looked down at the mound she was on. Rainbow was the first to notice, and she gasped with widened eyes. She stared at the mound that Rarity had climbed, seemingly in shock. In a monotone voice, she muttered, “Twilight, I think Rarity found the Cerberus.”

"Ahah!" The white unicorn screamed and leapt from the rotting carcass. Pinkie and Applejack ran up to see what was the matter.

"This is even worse than I thought!" Twilight exclaimed, once again near panic. "What sort of monster could defeat the Cerberus? It had magical enchantments to help protect it!"

"Probably the sort of monster that could make it decay this much in one night and scare off all the guardsponies posted near the entrance?" Pinkie offered. This was enough for Twilight to narrow down the list of villains.

With a shudder, Twilight said, "Girls, I think Dead Horse is the one that broke out." She began searching intently for evidence to support her hypothesis.

"Please don't say that thing is real!" Fluttershy begged as she walked backwards from the corpse. "Please don't say any of this is real. That poor Cerberus."

"Yeah, come on, Twilight," Rainbow agreed. "There has to be something else."

"Then how do you explain this?" Twilight said, almost triumphantly. She stood over a line of hooveprints. "As you can see, the front left hoof has a large crack. This is consistent with Dead Horse, who also had a cracked left hoof." Suddenly Twilight became alarmed. "Fluttershy, you're backing into his blight!"

The yellow Pegasus spun around to find herself surrounded by withering vegetation and ground that had taken a sinister shade of brown. Nearly in tears, she screamed and ran out towards her friends. "What happened to it? Who could have done... is it really him?"

Twilight looked her right in the eyes. "Yes, I'm sure of it. Dead Horse has escaped Tartarus. We have to inform Princess Celestia. Let's go!"

They ran as fast as they could along the walking path. From it they could see the blight coming like the tide, slowly and steadily making its way toward them. The train station burst into view as they rounded a corner. To their glee, the train they arrived on was still there.

The conductor seemed overjoyed upon seeing them. "Thank Celestia, Princess Twilight. I saw all those ponies, and I heard rumors of the Cerberus having gone missing. I refused to leave you, but I've been scared sick."

"I'm afraid those rumors are true, and something has escaped Tartarus," Twilight said softly. The conductor's fear seemed to wash over him with renewed strength, but Twilight placed a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. "I know. But right now, I need to get into Canterlot. As soon as you can manage."

The conductor nodded shakily, but after taking a deep breath, he worked smoothly over the controls. In seconds the train lurched backwards once, twice, and then was moving steadily towards the turnaround. Moments later it was screaming down the tracks, so fast that it inspired Applejack to stick her head out the window and give a holler.

But her distraction from the emergency was evanescent. The blight's path through the forest had nudged it up against the tracks, though the train was just outside of it. Some of the trees in the distance were already taken by the blight; they were barren of leaves, pale, and dead. But others were in the process of being consumed, and they were slimy and withered. The ground cover wasn't fairing any better, and what could be seen of the forest floor was that frightening shade of brown.

On the caboose, Rainbow stared into the sky with a worried expression. "Look!" She pleaded. The clouds were thin, wispy, and a sickly yellow color.

Pinkie walked up behind her. "I don't think those are going to rain lemonade when they settle over Equestria."

"They aren't going to get to Equestria," Rainbow said harshly. She dodged inside quick enough to snatch up a bag and then jumped out the open caboose. She returned a moment later, the bag full of the cloud. "After I show this to Princess Celestia as proof that Dead Horse has returned, I'm going to take this to Cloudsdale. Maybe it can pump out some clouds to block the blight clouds."

"That's a great idea!" Twilight exclaimed and jumped off her seat. She pulled out the book on Dead Horse. "Now that we all have acknowledged that he is our present enemy, we need to know what he can do."

"Yeah!" Rainbow was the first to get to the book. "Once we get a game plan, there's no way we can lose!"

The other girls cheered in unison and then settled down to read the book with Twilight for the remainder of the trip. When they arrived in Canterlot, they charged straight to the throne room.

Twilight threw open the large double doors. "Princess Celestia we have just returned from Tartarus, and we have a big problem. Noble Quill, the Dead Horse, has escaped!"

Princess Celestia looked alarmed at first, but then she laughed gently. "Princess Twilight, while I do enjoy the occasional bout of facetious joking, I don't think such an individual should be the subject of it."

Rainbow was next to jump in. After a quick bow, she opened the bag and released the sickly cloud. "She isn't joking."

The rest of the girls came into view then. Together they bowed, and Applejack stepped forward and spoke. "I didn't wanna believe her myself. I didn't wanna believe any part of that Dead Horse story." At this point, both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were rising from their thrones. The cowgirl continued, "But when I saw the cracked hoofprints, the spread'n blight, and the dead Cerberus, I knew I had to believe her."