The Hunter and the Hunted
Richard sprinted through the forest, rifle firmly clenched in his right hand. Rage festered inside of him as he replayed his actions back in his mind. How could he have been so foolish to engage the pony to such a high extent? Sure, he had defended himself. But he let himself get carried away in the moment and nearly killed him, as usual. He was frustrated with himself, but also with the guard pony. Richard had finally made contact with the pony race that didn't end with it blowing up in his face. Things were starting to look up. But this soldier just had to come along and ruin it for him.
"Stupid guard. Making things difficult for me," he muttered to himself.
But, he would worry about the issue some other time. He had to get back to the castle before that commander came a-running after him, reinforcements likely in tow behind him. He vaulted over a fallen tree and continued onward towards the castle.
Wait a sec, Richard stopped himself, waited for a moment, looked back towards the tree, and retraced his step back towards it.
Turning himself back, he tilted his head, frowning at what he saw. Nestled into the trunk of the tree was a burned out, blackened hole, like something had eaten its way into it. Blackened goo oozed out from it and trickled down the tree, leaving a charcoaled residue behind it as they collected in the grass. It looked of molasses and was as viscous as it, but it was slowly bubbling, as if it was slightly boiling. It was unlike anything Rich had ever seen before.
"What is this stuff?" Richard quietly said to himself.
He pondered the thought of touching it, but quickly threw it out of the picture. Who knows what kind of things could happen to him, especially in this wacky and crazy world he was stuck in? Instead, he plucked a piece of grass out from the ground and flicked a portion of it into the middle of the blade. A slow and docile bubbling began as he observed the strange liquid. After a couple of seconds, the end of the blade fell off and landed on the ground, cut from the original blade. The liquid began to eat away at the end that Richard was holding, so he let it fall to the ground.
"An acid," he said to himself, "And a very strong one at that." He watched the blade of grass he had become completely burned away.
Richard began to pace around the clearing, chin resting between his thumb and finger. What or who created this? What does it do to other things? Why is it here of all places?"
As he was pondering this, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small trail of the liquid that led further into the foliage of the forest. At first, he was hesitant to follow the charcoaled trail of puddles. He was both curious of what the cause of all this was, but also, terrified at what he might find. He had learned from living in this forest, that if you find something you don't know about, you respectfully book it in the other direction and never come back. But his curiosity won out in the end, and he decided to follow it, although still hesitant.
The trail led him on a chase through the woods, twisting and turning, and occasionally stopped in a clearing of trees or around some bushes.
Each pause in a clearing became more and more disturbing each time he found one. Normally, he found a puddle of the blacked substance, bubbling and slowly going down as it ate away at the ground. Blood splatters would be strewn across different sections of the area, sometimes on trees, sometimes on the ground, or around the puddles of ooze.
Blood splatters. What are they doing here? This doesn't make any sense. Richard thought to himself as he studied the now dried liquids. His indecisive attitude from before came flooding back into him. Whatever had made this stuff had not been all too welcoming to those around it, evident by the blood. But, eventually, he pressed on once more. He was in too deep now, like it or not, he had to figure this out.
He continued on his trek through the forest, Eventually, the trail came to an end inside of a narrow rocky ravine. Richard bent down and studied the end of the trail, thinking of what all this was.
It was truly something bizarre, but frankly, he was getting quite used to bizarre things by now. But this, this was getting to the levels of both creepy and weird. He started to break into a sweat. Here was a liquid that destroyed almost everything that it touched, aside from rocks. Blood splatters normally were always present around the substance as well, which really didn't add up. Was it some sort of messed up ritual or sacrifice to the devil? He didn't really expect it, but who knows? Anything seemed possible in this land.
A loud crack of a dead branch and rustling in the bushes disrupted his train of thought. Richard quickly unholstered his rifle and jumped inside of a patch of bushes, concealing himself and providing a clear view of the ravine, but also a good sight into the forest as well. His heart pounded away, with his hands becoming clammy. He expected the worst, some kind of massive animal or such, a giant bird or lizard monster or something of the sort, as life in the forest had conditioned him. He had spotted them while he had wandered through the forest and figured it was only a matter of time before he ran into them.
Out of the forest line sprinted a doe, running as if the devil was chasing after her. Richard sighed in relief. It was just some frightened doe. Nothing to be afraid of.
Richard, however, had spoken to soon, as out of the forest came sprinting after the doe just as fast was, frankly, something that he had never seen ever in his life before. It was all black with most of its body covered in blackened skin, save for some patches of hair around its neck and on its stomach. Rows upon rows of sharp teeth lined its mouth that smiled menacingly as it ran after the doe. It ran on all fours, much similar to a dog or wolf, with its feet bearing 3 over-sized talons on each. The creature was surprisingly quick, which confused Richard, as he figured its oversized talons would slow it immensely.
The creature eventually caught up with the doe, finding it trying to scale up the steep cliff that separated another section of the forest and the ravine. It quickly sprang upon the doe, quickly ending the animal's scream with a gaping bite at the neck, ripping out the weak doe's jugular. It soon began its feast, digging into the animal like a dog chewing a bone. The sight disgusted Rich, and he soon turned to leave as not be heard or seen by the creature. However, as in most of these dire situations, a stick on the ground decided that it wanted to get friendly with the bottom of his boot, and snapped under his weight. To Richard, it sounded like the boom of artillery, and he immediately tensed himself, awaiting the monster to spring upon him. Sure enough, he saw the monster turn and begin to growl. It stepped into the foliage and Rich noticed another oddity, particularly with its eyes. They were completely black, charcoaled, soulless. He felt he were staring into the very fabric of unexistence itself. It was particularly unnerving to him.
A blackish ooze began to secrete out of the monster's mouth as it slowly inched its way forward, confirming to Rich as to what had caused the strange substance. He began to back away and slowly began to shoulder his rifle in case the monster tried to spring. The monster, seeing that the challenger was starting to back away, sprang at Richard, going for his neck. Rich swiped his rifle butt across the creature and knocked it away from him. The creature, landing by a tree, quickly sprang back to its paws, and spit some of the black liquid at Richard, hitting him in the middle of his right arm.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Burning, searing pain shot through Richard as he felt the substance hit him. He dropped his rifle and clutched his arm, trying to wipe off the liquid with some of his shirt. He heard the creature screech at him and saw it beginning to launch itself at him again. He swallowed his pain, clumsily picked up his rifle, and fired. The bullet directly hit the creature's skull, spraying bone and guts every which way in the ravine, killing it instantly, and it fell to the ground, the strange liquid oozing out of its mouth. With the creature dead, Richard began to examine his injured arm. What had been flesh and skin on his arm was now replaced with grayish-black spots all over his arm. The pain had begun to subside strangely, and a bit too fast. He moved his arm and checked if any of its functions were damaged. Sure enough, nothing blocked or hindered its movements. He took one last look over at his new battle scars and ran his finger over them. He felt nothing. He ran his finger over them again. He, once again, felt nothing. He rubbed his hand vigorously over the darkened spots, but still felt nothing anymore on his arm.
The sudden realization of his loss of feeling in some of his arm hit him hard. Would it be permanent? What would happen to him? His eyes began to dart around in fear as he pondered these thoughts. However, with a quick shake of his head, he pulled himself back together and steeled himself once more. These thoughts could wait. He had been away from the castle for a very long while and Coal was probably worried about him by now. He could talk these things over with Twilight, if she even came back. But for now, he had a mission, which was to get back to Coal.
He picked up his rifle, loaded another round into it, pulled the hammer back to safety catch, and resumed his sprint back to the castle.
"What the hay were you doing with that thing, Twi?"
"I WAS GETTING ANSWERS, SHINING!" Twilight angrily shouted back.
"You could've been hurt! You could've been killed! You are a smart kid, Twilight! Why would you go and do something so flippantly and utterly foolish?" Shining said.
"There was no other way I could! You have the place locked down and knowing you, you would have never let me even step close to the place! I did what I had to do for the sake of science. And besides that, the creature is a he! And he is a very nice po- errr... man!"
"So you thought that the best course of action was to go against both Celestia's orders, my orders, and basic common sense to indulge in your curiosities about this... man?"
Twilight began to speak again, but paused before she said something and reflected on what had happened. What she had done was quite foolish.
Shining stared out into the forest, half-expecting the creature to spring out and attack him again. "Twilight, you know the only reason I do these things is because I care about you and want to protect you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you. And Cadence, sweet Celestia, she would have freaked out if anything happened to you."
"I know, Shining. I knew the risks and the consequences of what might happen. I'm not the little filly you knew anymore. I can make my own choices," Twilight nuzzled her brother at this.
"Fine, I'm glad you're safe. But from what I've seen, this creature is dangerous and can't be trusted. I'll have to write up a report and inform Celestia of what has happened by tomorrow."
"What? But don't you want to know what I've learned about it?" Twilight burst out.
"Yes, I would like to learn about any weaknesses in this creature. From what I've seen, it... he... is a formidable fighter and a tough opponent," Shining solemnly answered as he looked back to the town, a protective glare firmly stuck on his face.
"He is not just some violent animal that kills on sight, Shining. You charged him as soon as you saw him. How did you expect him to react?" Twilight spat back to her brother.
Shining was slightly fazed by his sister's sudden change in tone, but stayed stoic nonetheless. "Still, we have seen what he has done to the diamond dogs who raided the town. While it was helpful of him to take them out, he is violent and is incredibly powerful. Who knows what he can do to us? He is unaffected by magic as you have found out. His weapon outclasses ours in every way. He is enormous and quite strong from what I've observed in our scuffle. He is a threat to the ponies of Ponyville, maybe even Equestria, Twilight, and the Princess must be informed of this."
"But do you know his character? I've talked with him, Shining, TALKED! Although he was a bit mean at times, he apologized, and was kind to me. He was walking me out of the forest so I would be safe, for Celestia's sake! He's a man who's far away from his home and is likely scared, lost, and afraid. Please at least give him the benefit of the doubt," Twilight pleaded with her brother.
Shining looked around and began to pace a bit, pondering the request set before him. After a couple seconds of thinking, he came with his answer.
"Twilight, I have to write the report down. But, why don't you write your own letter to Celestia explaining what you've seen? I'm sure she'll understand your stance."
Twilight paused for a second, deciding if she wanted to press the issue with her brother further.
"Fine, I will," she said, looking down in disappointment. "Just go do what you have to do, Shining."
Shining retrieved his helmet and started back towards the town. "Twilight," he turned back, "Do you mind if I use Spike to send the message? It'll be quicker than flying it back by pegasus or by train."
"Sure," Twilight said, turning herself towards the forest, "I'll be back in a couple minutes."
Twilight pondered all of what she had seen those past couple hours. No doubt, the report that Shining would send would almost certainly sway Celestia into action against Richard. And frankly, who would've blamed her? Assault and attempted murder of a guard and the murder of a platoon of Diamond Dogs, rather brutally too. Even worse was the fact that Richard wasn't a citizen of Equestria, so who knows what Celestia would be allowed to do?
But Twilight knew the other side of the story. She felt deep down that his heart was good and that he tried to act in good intentions, at least most of the time. If she could just articulate these points to Celestia just right, she could maybe outweigh the wrongs that Richard committed.
And so, Twilight turned her gaze away from the forest and started back towards the town, ready to write the most important letter of her life.
The next day
Richard walked among the misty, dewy fronds of the willow trees. The delightful, lengthy, and nightmare-free sleep of the night had refreshed his mind and body, giving him somewhat of a therapeutic euphoria as he walked through the hanging vines of the willows. He came to a stop under one such willow and lay his back against the wet, wooden trunk of the tree and began to think.
He thought of nothing in particular, which was good for him in his eyes. It was wonderful for once to have nothing in his mind, with no worries prodding at his mind and soul. It was just good to sit down, relax, and enjoy the scenery of the wonderful place he and Coal had decided to call home.
Eventually, the creature he engaged the day crept its way into his thoughts. What was its purpose? What created that abomination? Did the ponies know about it? And better yet, what was that substance it spat and how could he reverse its effects on his arm? All these unanswered questions troubled him. He hated not knowing things. He was always informed on anything he came in contact with, specially in the military.
But then, an epiphany struck him. He had the body. It was probably still there, back where he had left it after he'd killed it. He and Coal could ride on over there, find the body, study it, and maybe bring it back to the Castle to analyze it further. His mind made up, he quickly got to his feet and walked over to a still sleeping Coal.
"Hey," Rich said quietly, "Wake up, Coal."
Coal began to stir, but groaned when he saw Rich. "What? Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?"
"Yes, but we need to go somewhere. Do you feel well enough now that you can get back to your regular duties?"
"Uhhhhh..." Coal groaned, "Just five more minutes, Rich."
"You know, you have the weirdest sleep schedule for a horse. Shouldn't you be awake by now?" an exasperated Rich said.
"Who says I am a normal horse?"
Richard grumbled under his breath, but quickly regained his composure. "This is not a debatable matter. Get up. We've got stuff to do today."
Coal begrudgingly obeyed, slowly getting up and standing on his wobbly legs. He shot Rich an annoyed look before going to graze. Rich, upon seeing his success, went and began to gather his things, preparing himself for the ride ahead.
Twenty minutes later, after a nice breakfast, the two were on the move again, heading towards the body's location. Silence occupied most of their time as they walked through the forest. Bits of sunlight shone through the tiny cracks in the forest canopy, temporarily providing a sense of warmth to Rich as he went through them. This morning seemed somewhat pleasant to him. A fresh but quick rain had fallen during their travels, creating a humid air around him.
Coal, still somewhat annoyed at his wakeup call, decided to break the silence.
"So," he groaned, "Is there any reason as to why you woke me up for... whatever we're doing?"
"We're finding a body, and we're gonna study it a bit," Rich replied.
"What's so special about this specific uh... body?"
"It's... different, if I were to put it plainly. It has something to do with what happened to my arm."
"Ohh... right. That "Mystery Ooze" you were telling me about," Coal replied.
"Yes. Anyway, I killed the creature who made it, and I want to know more about it," Richard said.
Silence once again enveloped the two as they continued through the dense forest trees and bushes. Realizing their position, Rich soon began to look out for the ravine, furling his brow in concentration. He soon spotted the ravine a couple yards ahead, and told Coal to stop.
"Alright, we're here. The body should come up ahead. Sorry if it smells, by the way. Not sure if the rain accelerated its deterioration," Rich said as he ducked under a tree.
"Well, I don't smell anything too out of the ordinary, so I'm sure we're good," Coal remarked.
This puzzled Rich a little. Surely, a smell should have accumulated from the rotting flesh. "Strange. Guess things rot differently here."
Rich decided to chalk it up to this world's unusual behavior or his minimal knowledge of decomposition.
"Alright," Rich said as he parted two bushes, "Here it..."
He never finished the sentence because of what he saw, or lack of, in the little clearing. In other words, he saw nothing.
The body was gone.
Confusion set into his mind almost immediately.
Am I in the right spot? It's gotta be around here somewhere, he thought to himself as he started pacing in the clearing.
"Uhhh... Rich, you okay? Why are you pacing around? And where's this thing we're supposed to look at?" Coal asked.
"What? Oh, it's just, the body should be here. I don't understand where it could've went. Because," he paused, "I know we're in the right spot. There's a blood spatter from when it ate a deer." Coal winced at the mention of the death of the deer. "So, the final question is, Coal, where is the body?"
Coal tipped his head down, thinking. "Why don't we run along the ravine? Maybe you did miss it, and we are just in the wrong spot."
"Alright, let's take a look," Rich agreed as he mounted up again.
The two set off down the ravine, looking every which way for the body. But still, they found nothing. Rich retraced his steps through the forest, trying to visualize all the places he had been. Still, their efforts were in vain.
One question remained in Richard's mind as he looked.
Where is this thing?
Deep within the forest, if one listened to the sounds in the air, they would hear a crunching and grinding echoing through the air. Because in this nook of the forest, Mareth was feasting once more. Feasting on a doe again, but deeply unsatisfied as he ate. For when he had awoken once more, his eyes were only set one target from then on. That two-legged creature.
No one had bested him for centuries upon centuries. No one, pony, griffin, manticore, hydra, NOT ANYONE, kills him and gets to go free.
So as he finished his meal and salivated his compound onto the corpse, Mareth's mission became apparent.
Find that creature, and strip it clean of its flesh.
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Interesting, looking forward to more content soon
Update?
I suppose this was inevitable, whenever a story comes along that I enjoy, it always dies off.
8493463
Nah dude. I'm stilll writing for this. Just work and school getting in the way.
8494858
Well that's good to hear, I hope the best for you, and your story.
I want more please make more chapters!!
I'm hereby declaring this story deceased. My condolences for your loss.
9184942
You've left it a while like. Fair enough a few months or so, but after a year most stories can be declared dead