Cursed Crusader

by Caffeinated Pony

Nightmare Night

I looked up, seeing the bright moon hovering in the sky over Ponyville. It glistened like a freshly cleaned guillotine above our heads. I could hear the sounds of laughter and cries of fright around town, and as we walked I swore I could hear a faint slithering sound when we passed an alley. Scootaloo was dressed as a mummy, wrapped up in gauze and purposefully walking with an exagerated limp. Apple Bloom was a Reaper, and walked with a scythe she had borrowed from her farm. We had to be careful when she turned, as the sickle of it was sharp enough to cut deep if she wasn't careful. I supposed it was a good thing that Scootaloo was covered in gauze, in case that happened. I was a ghost, and had my mane full of a powder that made the pink color look very faded. I had tried to get Rarity to cast a spell on me that would make me half-invisible, but she didn't want to risk it.

This was probably going to be our last actual Nightmare Night. We had told ourselves that last year, of course… and here we were. Now that we had our Cutie Marks we thought that maybe it was time we stopped going around town asking for treats. After all, last year's supply of them had mostly gone to waste. Rarity didn't like sweets enough to eat as much as I brought home, and my stomach didn't like it when I ate too much at once. Scootaloo on the other hoof was more than at home eating an absolutely crazy amount in one sitting. We were almost done, and just had to head to Fluttershy's house to get her homemade peanut butter and cookie dough treats. She had taken to just sitting on her porch on Nightmare Night, passing out candy to whatever foals were brave enough to walk to her home in the night.

The path that led to her cottage was right next to the Everfree Forest, with enormous trees looming over us as we walked. I watched the treeline in silence, trying not to think about whatever was in there. I remembered the time that we once had to escape a cockatrice in there, and shook my head. That had been awful… just thinking about it gave me chills. I think that Apple Bloom saw my reaction, and decided to take my mind off of it.

“Hey Sweetie Belle, I was thinking. Can we stay at your place tonight? I like keepin' my stash of candy to myself for a bit, y'know?”

I nodded, just fine with that. She had an enormous amount of siblings that would have their hooves in her bag the moment she walked in the door. Rarity didn't care, she was having wine with her own friends. We would be back at the house at about the same time as her, so it didn't matter. Scootaloo shuffled along beside us, occassionally blowing a piece of stray gauze away from her mouth, or adjusting it with a hoof. She hadn't wrapped it the best, even with my help. I heard the rustling of leaves behind us, and walked faster. As nice as it was to be outside after dark, with nopony supervising us for once in our lives, it was rather scary. Scootaloo, being her usal self, looked back at where the noise had come from. Seeing that there was nothing there, she shrugged and kept walking.

There was something innately terrifying, and thrilling about the Everfree Forest. There was an aura of the unknown about the whole place. The weather acted with no pegasus to guide it, and the plants all grew wherever they could. Dangerous creatures slithered, crawled and wandered the woods untamed. Some of them were docile, but others ate ponies, or worse. I didn't know what the 'or worse' was, though. Rarity had been really vague about what could possibly could be worse than being eaten, possibly alive. That had just been what she had told me to scare me away from wandering into the forest and never coming out again. Combined with the many stories that we had heard growing up, on top of our own experiences, we all knew that going into the woods for even a few minutes held a sizable chance of injury.

Soon Apple Bloom took out a small flashlight from her cloak, lighting the path ahead of us. The moon was stuck somewhere over the Everfree Forest at the moment, and travelling on the shadowy walkway to the reclusive pegasus was testing our nerves. We all walked closer to each other, and I swore I saw things moving just outside of the beam of light cast by the flashlight. Scootaloo, in her typical form, decided that she would talk instead of let us simmer in silence.

“So you think we'll get everything that Fluttershy has left for this? It's really getting late…”

Apple Bloom shrugged. “Maybe she likes to keep some for herself?”

I was too busy looking around, having seen something moving along the side of the path. I could see the lights of Fluttershy's cottage ahead, and knew that we were nearly there. We arrived soon after, finding that the door to her home was shut, but the bowl of treats was still there. We shrugged to each other, and I took a small portion. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo divided the rest between them. We all turned to go back, looking down the trail. It seemed to stretch on infinitely to the town, and we all stared. Apple Bloom took the lead, and the rest of us followed. I trailed behind, worried about the things that I swore I saw flitting around in the dark. The farmhand looked like she was fearless, and that gave me some confidence.

As we walked, things went from bad to worse. As the lights from Fluttershy's cabin vanished, the flashlight began to dim. We had used the same one last year when we'd walked this route, and now the batteries were dying. As we walked the light began to slowly dim, and we had to squint to even see where we were going. Soon it was completely dark, and as we continued we couldn't see the path we were going on. We passed underneath the canopy on a rough part of the path, and even the sky and stars vanished. Scootaloo got in the center of us, resting both her wings on our backs so we didn't seperate.

Everything was just fine, until we hit a tree. We all bounced off of it nose-first, and fell into a pile an top of each other. Apple Bloom looked around, her flashlight now almost completely useless. I had an idea, thinking back to a simple charm that Rarity had taught me years ago. My horn flashed, and a small light appeared at the end of it. It was about as bright as a nightlight, but it let us at least see where we could put our hooves. That didn't help us much… because we now had no idea where we were. The path was nowhere to be seen. Thinking, I said.

“Let's just try to retrace our steps, then we'll find the path.”

The other two nodded, and I smiled at my own cleverness. We walked back the direction we'd come from, hoping we would find the path again. The light on my horn took a lot of focus, which I lost sometimes if I tripped or had to watch where I was going. Ten minutes passed, and soon my sense of importance at how smart I was waned. The path was still nowhere to be seen, and we were running out of hope. If anything it felt like we were farther from our homes than ever. Soon I stopped, looking between the two of them.

“Maybe… uh… we could climb a tree, and that would show us where we are?”

Scootaloo looked up at the absolutely towering trees near us. There were no low branches to be seen, and considering her weak wings she couldn't exactly fly up there to see where we were. I didn't know how to teleport, or I would just go up there myself. I didn't see any other option than to wander in whatever direction we thought brought us closer to town. We all looked at each other, then began to walk.

---

Hours passed, and we were all exhausted. After what felt like forever, we all saw what looked like some sort of light in the distance. We practically all ran for it, despite our fatigue. No sooner did we get close did we see that it was a candle, with humongous moths flitting around it. The flame danced to their wingbeats, and we all stood there, staring at it. There was no way this had lit itself… so who'd done it? No sooner did we all ask ourselves that did I notice a rather sickly looking pegasus staring at us from behind one of the monolithic trees roots. His eyes were a dark black where they should have been white, with a vivid blue around the edge of his pupils. I felt like screaming, but that would just make everything worse. My friends would panic, and it might scare whoever that was. Instead I did the next thing that came to mind, and I pointed at the stranger so my friends would see.

Apple Bloom stepped forwards, seeming visibly unnerved by the pony. “Pardon us, we got turned around back there and we can't seem to find the way out of this place… do you happen to know a way back to Ponyville?”

The sickly looking stranger stepped into the candlelight, revealing that it was a stallion. He looked awful, with his unwashed mane tied back with plant fiber chording and unkept fur sticking out all over him. His skin clung to his body like the leather stretched over a drum, his stomach dipping far into his body. I could assume he hardly ate at all. He looked between us all, standing a whole head and neck above us.

“I do… but, if I tell you the way back. I'd like something in return.” He said, his voice hoarse and quiet.

Apple Bloom looked very wary of the stranger, holding her scythe tightly. “Uh… sure, I suppose. What is it y'all want?”

“I'd like a good meal, please.” He said, looking directly at me.

I froze, then looked down at my candy. Surely he didn't mean that he wanted something so bad for him, especially in his state? He looked like he had been cursed, or had some kind of disease. I looked to Apple Bloom, who nodded. I walked up to the stranger, keeping what I thought would be a safe distance from him. I set my candy down, waiting for him to take it. No sooner did I step back did he smile, showing very well kept teeth. It was unnerving, to see that he had rather sharp incisors. In my mind I made the connection with predators, ones that ate ponies like me. No sooner did I move to back further did he shake his head. He didn't seem to be referring to the candy.

“The road you're looking for is that way.” The pegasus pointed to the left of us. “Now… what is your name?” He asked, looking directly at me.

I looked to the side, seeing that he wasn't looking at Scootaloo. “S-Sweetie Belle, sir.”

“That is a nice name. Now… like the pony before me, I impart to you this wisdom. If you pass on the curse within seven days, to at least four other ponies, you will be cured of it.”

I opened my mouth to question what on earth he was talking about, maybe try and make sense of the cryptic message he had just given me. I never got to say anything though, because a moment later the pegasus lunged at me, his mouth opening and sinking his long incisors into my front left leg.I opened my mouth and let out an ear-piercing shriek, the stabs stinging like two exposed wires being twisted into the wounds. Apple Bloom swung her scythe at the pegasus, and he tried to catch it with his leg, only to have it glance off his hoof and cut a tremendous chunk of flesh off of him. The cut started at his lower thigh, and went all the way to his ribs, having then glanced off. Knowing the strength of the farmhand she had probably broken the rib to top off the enormous flesh wound. Still, it took him a few seconds to realize that he'd been wounded. By that time I was feeling dizzy.

The stranger was bleeding out as he pulled away from my leg, stumbling and falling next to the candle that had lured us there. I felt motor control return to me, and I leaned on a nearby root at my height to keep steady. The stallion was shutting his eyes, his wound healing as I watched him, transfixed at the sight. Still, the cut was far too long and fine for him to recover from. He was loosing too much blood, too fast. On top of his already malnourished state, he was surely dead even with whatever magic was letting him heal so quickly. Apple Bloom dashed over to him, holding her scythe in a ready position. I was secretly grateful that she had brought that thing along… most ponies wouldn't know what to do with it, but the experienced farmer had struck true with the harvesting tool.

“Now what on Celestia's green earth did you just do that for?!” She shouted down at the stallion. “We need to get you to a hospital now!”

The stranger laughed, coughing. It seemed to exascerbate his wound, as more blood came out with each cough. “No, no… I got what I deserved… don't go dragging me away. Just let something come along and eat me. It's better that way. Kind of ironic… somepony dressed like a reaper would kill me. Thank you… I needed that karmic joke.”

Apple Bloom watched the stallion close his eyes, and his breathing stop. No sooner did a feeling of sadness at the stranger wash over me did my vision dim. The strength to keep myself upright failed me, and I toppled over, landing on my shoulder. The last thing that I remembered hearing was the sound of Scootaloo running over to me, and telling me to keep breathing as she hoisted me up to carry me back towards the road.

---

I woke with a gasp in my bed, feeling sweat coating every inch of me. It all rushed back to me in a tidal wave of emotions and sensations. The pity I felt for that stranger, the pain of the bite, the regret I felt watching him bleed out, the world pitching out from under me and Scootaloo's voice ordering me to hang on. My candy was sitting next to my bed, and everything seemed alright. I felt my leg, my hoof finding circular wounds that had healed over some time in the night. I stretched my front leg up, looking at the perfectly bare wound. It had stopped bleeding a long time ago, and now looked like two thick depressions in my skin that had no fur growing out of them.

I stood and looked at myself in the mirror on top of my dresser. Everything else about me seemed to be just fine. It least I thought so, until I looked closer. The more I stared at my eyes, the more I felt dread begin to fasten its cold talons around my heart. Around the very outermost edge of my eyes, I could see that a cloudy black was starting to make its way into the white areas. If I wasn't looking to the sides it wasn't even noticable, and even when I looked far to the right or left it was barely visible. Still, it was there… the same inky shade that had been in that stranger's eyes. I checked every inch of my body in a panic, before realizing that nothing else had changed.

I was still Sweetie Belle, an amazing singer from Ponyville… and I was alive and well at the moment. I told myself that to distract from the awful feeling that was gnawing at my heart. I might still be alright mentally, but what was happening to me? I felt a bit nauseous just thinking about the state that stallion had been in when we had found him. Would I end up like that? I almost instinctually went over to the bag of candy I had gathered last night. I took a piece and popped it into my mouth, sucking on it. For some reason it didn't have the normal burst of flavor that I had always loved from sweets. Instead it just tasted vaguely like the green sour apples it was supposed to emulate, but in the most washed out, bland way possible. I spit out the candy, wrapping it in its wrapper before tossing it into the garbage bin beside my bed.

Last night was ruining my appetite, but I still needed to eat something. I went to my door, figuring that I should at least have breakfast. I felt tired again as I walked down the stairs to the kitchen. I passed Rarity in her workroom, with a glass of fizzing soda and water on her desk. She'd had the blinds and curtains to the windows shut, and I put two and two together. She must have had a very fun night. I wished that I could say that. Trotting my way into the kitchen I poured myself a bowl of wheat crisps, sitting down as I poured the milk in. I immediately winced at the taste. It was almost like I was trying to swallow cardboard, it was so tasteless. I could still stomach it, though… so I powered through the cereal before drinking the milk.

I went back up to my room afterwards, feeling fatigued by the time I had reached the proper landing on the stairs. I stumbled a bit as I entered my room, leaning on the door for support. My bed looked like the most beautiful, comforting place in the world at that moment. I shut the door and collapsed onto the mattress, shutting my eyes once again. I just needed to sleep this off… it would all be better tomorrow.

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading this prologue chapter! I'm hoping this fic grows a lot as I write it, and any feedback you can leave me in the comments is greatly appreciated.

Comments

[Scorch215]

Hmm....sounds interesting.

Will read later.

[Lethrael]

Dear Caffeinated Pony,
I have read your story and as usual,
I will make a commentary about it.

First, what I like:
It's a nice little introduction in a Werwolf, Werpony, uhm you know what I mean, story.
The first person perspective is good.
Your main character Sweetie Belle is a good choice for it.
The whole build up is on the point for me.
But a few minor flaws are driving me out of the story.
First, why would the three didn't tell anybody about the curse?
And no I didn't mean to question it, but they've seen the fast healing process
and are not confused about it?
Even if they are heading home or in the hospital together,
Rarity would questions them what simply had happened.
I half presumed, that Sweetie Belle would be under guidance
from the magical Uni- or Alicorn Twilight at this point.
Or is still in the hospital for treatment or monitoring.
Bites are very dangerous and the doctors are knowng it, so monitring and really good treatment is applied.
Back to Twilight.
She knows many thing about curses and the Cutie Mark Crusders
have heard the strange prophecy,
so they have to question her friend or mentor about it.
Yes it's just an introduction for the story, but a few things could be better, I think.

Sorry for my nitpicking.
I have enjoyed the good perspective
and the interesting ideas behind your story.
Yours Lethrael

[Caffeinated Pony]

7414435

See now this is the kind of comment that I like to see when I log in! I appreciate this level of feedback a lot more than most others. Things that question me on how I'm writing the story and what I intend to do with the whole thing.

Of course I can't answer it all without spoiling everything, but in regards to telling an adult, the CMC have already told Rarity as of the start of the second chapter, but hadn't at the end of the first. The other two Crusaders are nervous for their friend, hoping that it'll be okay even if it most likely won't be. Of course upon seeing her again they won't share that optimism, and they tell her older sister what happened now that they are in over their heads. Much like any teens, they don't want to admit their mistakes and foolishness until they have to, and Sweetie had seemed mostly fine besides fainting. That could be attributed to the sight of blood, though (much like her older, more theatrical sister). Her friends were in denial about it at the end of chapter one, like anyone going through a harrowing event. By chapter two, they realize it would be terrible for Sweetie to not tell somepony.

Thank you for your comment! I appreciate it.

[Victus454]

7414435 wait I thought this was a vamp pony story

[Cross Lament]

Soon Sweetie's mane will grow out in horrific 80's style. She's a Whampire.

[MrEditor]

7416514 #Whamponys

[JazzyWaffles]

“That is a nice name. Now… like the pony before me, I impart to you this wisdom. If you pass on the curse within seven days, to at least four other ponies, you will be cured of it.”

Oh my fuck, it's an email curse.