Chapter 1
There weren’t many ponies who could find the swishing sound of a hefty book shifting back into its allotted place on the shelf so satisfying. But the Librarian of Canterlot, or at least its unofficial librarian, had just completed another biographical dictionary, not easy work but it had to be done.
Everypony in history made history, as he was fond of saying, and it was his job to chart down each part of it.
Purple Patch closed the cover on his completed tome. A Biographical Dictionary of The Blood-Moon Crisis. A fitting choice to finish on such a night as Nightmare Night. Most young stallions would be out for Nightmare Night but he had books to finish and his books were something he took very seriously.
He thought he’d never finish the part on Vorpal Blade.
Patch shook his head.
Vorpal’s life had not been an easy one.
Before he headed home, he looked over what would be next. His cover had been finished by the illustrator’s guild which he’d previously belonged to.
A mural of the two sisters of sun and moon set against each other. The prelude and cause of the Rise and Fall of Nightmare Moon.
And Purple Patch would have the honour of being the first pony ever to be granted permission to put the knowledge to parchment. Now that Luna had been welcomed back into society, the information detailing how exactly her banishment came about and how others reacted to were free for the public eye, as long as one knew where to look.
He wasn’t expecting ponies positively flocking to the library but there were many scholars and such in the city who had long exercised such interests.
He gave the mural a closer inspection. As a rumble of thunder erupted outside, he nearly dropped it.
With his back to it, his eyes darted to an odd shadow cast upon the wall. Looking round, his heart did a cartwheel.
Standing outside the window, seemingly standing on thin air, was a batpony, dark-grey of coat with a shock of silver mane and colourless white eyes, boring through the glass and staring right into Purple Patch’s soul.
The creature’s face was a look of utter fury.
Purple Patch blinked, adjusted his glasses and paced carefully towards the window, his face a picture of perplexion and unease. One shaky hoof reaching for the curtain, he kept his eyes set on the furious batpony.
“Sorry,” he mumbled “We’re closed on Sunday.”
The curtains gave a sharp hiss as they closed.
Purple Patch gave a few deep breaths, uncertain as to whether that had, in fact, been a real batpony outside the library windows.
There was a smacking sound as a paper was pushed through the mailbox onto the welcome mat.
Patch, not quite sure if he wanted to open the curtains just yet, edged over to the door to check the lock.
He glanced at the paper.
Princess Luna’s joyous face at Ponyville’s Nightmare Night celebration greeted him below the headlines.
Purple Patch felt his blood run cold. He felt a gust of wind from nowhere in particular and the candles blew out as one.
Patch pressed himself against the door in terror.
This was bad. Significantly bad.
Gingerly, each step feeling like an hour, Patch peeked through the curtain.
The batpony was gone, a tiny silhouette just visible in the light of the full moon, obscured by gathering storm-cloud.
‘The poor, tender-hearted fools!’ Patch screamed in his head ‘Don’t they realise what they’ve brought upon themselves?!’
He checked the fireplace. The logs were still glowing. There was still enough to use.
Rushing over to the fireplace, he grabbed a small leaf-green bag atop it and ducked down into the fireplace. Glancing up, he saw his main method of fast transport, the most effective for earth ponies.
Hearthstones. Tiny etchings of various places around Equestria. Carefully, Patch dipped his hoof in the bag and threw some white borax powder against a hearthstone with an etching of Ponyville Town Hall upon it.
Patch watched as the etching started to glow a bright green. Around his hooves, green flames and lime embers started to snake out of the burning logs. They didn’t burn him though. Teleportation via such methods was harmless with the right equipment.
Closing his eyes, hoping he wouldn’t be too late, Purple Patch journeyed to Ponyville in a matter of moments.
*
“See, I told ya Zecora’d have somethin’ nice.”
Bags full of Nightmare Night goodies, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Dinky Doo concluded their night’s endeavours a success. Applebloom knew the way to and from Zecora’s hut on the edges of the Everfree and they’d made good time to get there and leave before it grew too dangerous to walk at night. As long as they stayed on the path and went at a brisk pace, they’d get home just before anypony started worrying.
The Bearers of Harmony had been called to stay a while longer in Ponyville to help the recovering Princess Luna. Though they’d at first been firmly against the four fillies venturing by the Everfree tonight of all nights, they’d understood Zecora wouldn’t be far away and if there was any mare who knew her way around the Everfree, it was her. Nonetheless, they’d imposed a strict time limit which they’d had their little sisters and wards swear solemnly upon.
Dinky had been apprehensive at first of the prospect of making her mother worry, her protectiveness rivalled perhaps only by Sweetie’s sister, Rarity, but Sparkler had managed to convince Derpy she’d be fine with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and, having grown up in a household with Doctor Whooves, she’d become very good at making time.
Soon, they’d reach Ponyville, meet up with their friends and family and all would be well this Nightmare Night.
Scootaloo beheld the incredible concoctions Zecora had gifted them with. Strange jelly-like baubles of glowing green and orange jam, bright-blue crispy snaps that resembled butterfly wings, sticky red bulbs and round green sherbet buds with sour purple spikes. They may have once been plants...plants that ate more than Celestia’s sunshine.
“I’ve never seen stuff like this before.” the little pegasus hooted “Honestly, I kinda’ wanna’ keep it in a glass or something, it looks too cool to just eat.”
“Well, I’m always saving sweets and stuff.” Dinky said with a smile “It really is better if you have a little for lots of days instead of a lot for one day. It helps you appreciate it more.”
“Yeah, once I saved half a bag of fairy marshmallows from Winter Wrap-Up and Rarity loves those so I got her to play with me and do my chores for a few days as long as I gave her some.” Sweetie chuckled “I think she caught on next year ‘cause she saved all her peanut cups so we just traded.”
“Eurgh, you like peanut cups?” Scootaloo asked, pulling a face “I hate those things, all that weird sweet-and-salty gunk sticking to the top of your mouth.”
“Oh yeah? They’re better than those icky aniseed balls you like.” Sweetie retorted.
“Come on now, stop yer’ bickering you two.” Applebloom sighed as they continued on the path.
“Yeah, everyone has their preferences.” Dinky gave a shrug “I mean, I’ve always liked raisins in muffins and you three thought that was really weird.”
“Yeah but...raisins!” Sweetie exclaimed “That...that’s just not right! They don’t belong in dessert. You eat those after dessert! And only then if you really have to!”
“Like when Rarity tells you to.” Scootaloo chuckled.
“Well, when ya join Dash in becomin’ a Wonderbolt, ah don’t wanna’ think about what kinda diet she’s gonna’ put you on.” Applebloom gave the pegasus a smug look.
Her ear twitched as a drop of water landed just short of it. The clouds gathered overhead, nearly blotting out the full moon.
“Aw shucks!” she cursed lightly “We’d better hurry, girls, or we’ll catch somethin’ nasty out here.”
“Girls, problem.” Scootaloo piped up “Our bags are paper. If we can’t cover them with anything, we’ll ruin our candy.”
Sweetie pursed her lips.
“Dinky, how’s your magic?”
“Um...it’s okay, I guess.”
“You’ve been to the clubhouse, right?”
“Yeah, back when I asked you what to get for Pipsqueak’s birthday.”
“Right, so we should be able to teleport our goodies to the clubhouse so they’re waiting nice and dry for us when we get back.”
Placing the four bags on a small patch of moss on the path, Sweetie and Dinky craned their heads forward and fought hard to focus, their horns beginning to glow, lavender and bronze respectively.
Fortunately, teleportation of this type would be fairly simple. Sweetie had spent so long in the Clubhouse, it was easy to envision the materialisation process. While she couldn’t teleport herself or any other living thing, small objects weren’t too difficult, at least not with help.
With a flash, the four bags vanished.
“Wow!” Sweetie said with a slight gasp "I was kind of expecting them to catch fire...At least, that's what happened last time..."
“Nicely done, you two.” Applebloom gave a smile “Now let’s hurry back.” She paused at Dinky Doo who stood curiously still upon the path.
Her face looked troubled. The black part of her eyes seemed to be growing or shrinking as she looked deep down the path where a wind was picking up, blowing the rain into their faces. Still, Dinky didn’t react.
“Dinky, are you coming?” Scootaloo asked.
Dinky spoke at last.
“I...think we should get off the road.” she murmured.
“What?” Sweetie blinked.
Before Dinky could answer, another noise overtook any other sound around.
“AAAAAAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOO!!!”
It was unmistakeably the howl of a wolf.
And yet somehow, it sounded like it had come from a pony.
The four foals stood terrified on the path, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
Dinky was the first to find her voice.
“Get off the road!” she screamed “Quick!”
“What?” Sweetie made to protest but was interrupted by Dinky Doo grabbing her by the shoulder as the four leapt off the path, brushing through the bushes and ferns and following Dinky to hide under a small grassy outcrop.
Crouching tensely beneath the soil, they sat as still and silent as possible as motion rushed down the path.
A wild rush of wind blew a torrent of leaves across where they’d stood, perhaps fast enough to knock them down.
The storm had picked up seemingly without warning. Thunder and lightning raked the sky ferociously above them.
“AAAAAAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOO!!!”
The noise came again. It sent a tremor through Dinky’s chest, running right down her.
It sounded so terribly angry.
The trees nearly tore themselves off their roots as the heart of the roiling wind flew down the path and skidded across the ground on four hooves, churning up mud and moss until it came to a stop.
The four foals shook with terror. Whatever had made the noises and perhaps brought the storm was right upon them.
Dinky noticed there were hard roots rising and falling above the outcrop, just leaving a concealed looking-hole where she was able to look through the corner of her eye at just what had appeared.
It was a pegasus. In the scant light and the pouring rain, it was hard to make out much but it was definitely a mare. Most of her was covered by a jet-black cape that was slashed in two for aviation down the middle as most pegasus cloaks were. There was a gleam of indigo beneath the cape, indicating the possibility of some form of armour. Strange medallions and bands hung round her neck. On one of her hooves was a strap and a sheathe for a knife.
Her sleek coat was a deep navy, sharply contrasting with her full head of long ice-white mane. There were several beads and bracelets in her mane and around her neck that rattled against each other with each step. Her wings were rising and falling with her shoulders as she breathed long and slowly, her primary feathers as white as her mane.
It was the way she moved that seemed the strangest, the most frightening.
She didn’t canter or trot. She sort of slunk.
Like a dog...or a wolf.
The kind that knew prey was near.
There was a glint close to her mouth and Dinky noticed, to her horror, the mare was carrying a knife between her teeth.
She felt Applebloom pull her away as the four fillies crouched as low as they could, hoping as much as possible that nothing would give them away.
They’d never seen this pony before but they knew full well that nopony they knew carried around knives.
There was a shifting sound and Dinky realised the mare was sniffing loudly, again like a wolf.
The mare’s hoof appeared, curling round the roots upon the outcrop. It was hairy, unshorn before the sole.
Craning her neck over the outcrop, she scanned the forest floor, breathing heavily, water vapour billowing in and out of her nostrils.
Dinky risked a glance.
Her age was difficult to determine. She was definitely older by the CMC’s elder sisters by quite a bit but she didn’t look exactly old, in the conventional sense anyway.
The mare’s face was pitted with small scars and scratches. Her ears were low and twitching in anticipation beside a braid of white mane at the side of her face and a couple of grey feathers tucked behind it. Her eyes were a darker blue than her coat. Most oddly, her canine teeth were pointed, almost resembling fangs that better held her knife in her mouth.
As she continued looking out, Dinky caught a glimpse of her eyes. They were fixed out at whatever she thought was hiding in the woods before her, hungry, restless.
Dinky wasn’t sure she’d ever seen a mare looking quite so angry.
The rain fell down harder, making the mare’s mane hang low below her, almost touching Dinky’s muzzle.
The fillies huddled, trying not to shiver for fear if would give them away.
It dawned on them that the mare had their scent. The rain masked it considerably and silenced their movements.
But if she noticed, there would be no escape.
Dinky shuddered suddenly, her eyes going wide.
She heard noises. Noises that seemed to come from inside her own head.
A slow bell booming, one chime after the other.
A filly’s laughter.
Raised voices, steadily growing more and more heated.
A scream of rage.
Clashes of battle.
And a voice, an almost familiar voice, crying out in unbridled fear and despair.
‘No! Please! Don’t do this! Don’t send me away! Don’t leave me alone! Please! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please!’
The noise ended at the next thunderclap as Sweetie Belle clasped Dinky’s foreleg tentatively.
Trying her luck, Applebloom picked up a good-sized conker by her side and tossed it to her right, back by the road where it rustled the foliage.
The wild-looking mare’s head snapped round with a snarl as she took to the wing, pouncing over the outcrop.
It was there that the fillies realised the mare had a long white tail not best-suited for swift flying. Yet it seemed it wasn’t her specialty as she did something few pegasi they knew could do safely; fly through forest. Curling and arching between the trees, making her path in one swift dive, she disappeared from sight.
Not wanting to waste a moment, the four fillies rushed through the forest, hoping to find the road to Ponyville lower down the pathway.
They couldn’t tell how long they’d run and how fast their hooves had carried them before they fell down gasping for breath as they found themselves back on the pathway.
“Wha...What...What was that?” Sweetie panted.
“I have no idea.” Scootaloo coughed, her throat dry “I...I’ve never seen a pony like that before.
“Did anypony get the feelin’ it was actin’ like a...” Applebloom thought of the appropriate word.
“Like a what?”
“Well...Like an animal?!” the little farm-pony answered “Ah mean like wild, feral even. Ah don’t even think it could speak!”
“I don’t know what it was but I think she should get home right away.” Dinky said, shaking her head.
“You don’t have to tell us twice!” Scootaloo exclaimed as they made their way down the path.
It was already getting dark as night.
“Girls...” Dinky gasped, stumbling in the muddy road “Something’s wrong with that mare!”
“I noticed!” Scootaloo was close to screaming.
“No, I mean...”
“Shhh!” Sweetie Belle hushed them as they ducked down into another ditch “Nopony move! She’s there, right there!”
Sure enough, there was the figure of a pony, swathed in a sheer black cloak.
The unshorn fetlocks and long, flowing mane were similar.
But it didn’t take Dinky long...
“That’s not her.” she whispered “That...That’s a stallion...A unicorn stallion.”
The CMC realised just as quickly when his hooded head turned slightly, revealing a horn.
His coat was a leafy-green, at least around the horn and neck but as it lit up a bright apple-green, Dinky covered her mouth to avoid gasping.
His eyes were positively glowing blue which better showed off how much his face contrasted. There was something about his otherwise clean, trim face that looked old. As Dinky looked closer, she saw his face showed off a bizarre set of scarring, running like a cryptic pattern from the sides of his eyes to the edges of his neck. In the moonlight, these scars and his wide, staring blue eyes lit up like cobalt.
Despite how calm everything else about him seemed, Dinky saw more than terror or impatience in them.
She could tell this pony had seen something awful, very long ago.
The winds picked up over the trees, the hiss of their rustling leaves becoming deafening.
A dark shape swooped over them, the pegasus from before letting loose her howl again.
“AAAAAAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOO!!!”
The unicorn tilted his head to the sky and nodded.
It seemed evident these two were working together. To do what, Dinky didn’t know but she didn’t fancy finding out.
The unicorn moved very differently to the pegasus and not just in the way flight was concerned. While the pegasus had slunk along, wolf-like, raking the ground as if her hooves were claws, the unicorn simply stepped slowly and evenly nearly completely silent. His long cloak covered almost all his body. With his dead-eyed stare at nothing, he slowly paced away down the path.
The foals could hear faint mutterings in a language they weren’t familiar with.
“Ah...Mondelin...Die Astralstadt...Horst du irhe Schreie? Kalte Erde bedeckt kalte Knochen...” His voice sounded solemn, distant, almost as if he didn’t know he was even saying them.
Ducking down into the ditch, hoping as much as possible that the undergrowth would hide them, the four fillies lay motionless as the unicorn trudged away, still muttering.
“Lange unausgesprochen...Lange ungesehen...Die Augen der neuen Welt...müssen sich noch öffnen...”
‘You knew...’
The voice rang in Dinky’s ears again.
This one, however, sounded angry, resentful, chilling the top of her mouth with its utter coldness.
‘You knew it wasn’t me...You said you told everypony you trusted...So why wasn’t I told? Why don’t you trust me? Why don’t you care about me?!’
“Okay...” The little earth pony whispered “Let’s get back on the path...We really need to get home. If there’s two of these ne’er-do-wells out tonight, ah think Twilight and the girls should know.”
“Right...”
*
“Urgh! This is the absolute last time I allow that feckless, inconsiderate sister of mine to go out on her own!” The silence around the library was broken by the shrill scream of the Bearer of Generosity, her last limit of patience reached “I don’t know where she gets it from! Ask anypony, I never practiced this sort of imprudence when I was her age, or any age! It’s unbelievable, it’s unacceptable, she’s doing it on purpose I tell you, it’s positively EVIL!”
“Whoa! Take a chill pill, Rares!” Pinkie Pie interrupted, one of the few times she was chosen to serve as the voice of reason “They can’t be too far away.”
“Well, tha’s what bothers me.” Applejack said, fuming “Bloom knows the way to and from Zecora’s like the sole o’ her hoof. If she ain’t home by now, it can’t be by accident. She’s in for a proper wallopin’ when ah get ahold o’ her!”
“Oh no, I...I don’t that’s right, AJ.” Fluttershy butted in pensively “I’m sure those fillies aren’t doing this on purpose. Maybe they’ve just gotten lost.” She glanced worriedly out the window “It...does look like the weather’s getting rather nasty. But I’m sure Dash will have found them by now.”
“Yeah, I can’t understand how it got this bad.” Twilight joined her by the window “The pegasus forecast said this night would be quiet and practically cloudless. This storm’s come out of nowhere.”
“I hope Dash will be okay...The foals also, I mean, but...” Fluttershy shook her head.
“It’s okay, Shy.” Pinkie rubbed her shoulder gently “If anypony’s up for flying in this weather, it’s her.” Nonchalantly, she hopped over to the irate-looking Rarity and Applejack and placed one forehoof on their heads and pressed down gently, making a noise as if one was letting the air out of a pair of balloons.
“Easy for you to say, Pinkie. You’re sister ain’t out on a dangerous night like this.” Applejack groaned “Ah should be out there.”
“Rainbow’s fastest.” Twilight said firmly “We’re sure to hear from her soon. She’s hardly out of her element.”
*
‘Celestia damn it! I am so out of my element!’
Rainbow Dash perched under a tree canopy, brushing her drenched technicolour mane out of her eyes. The rain was pouring down furiously. It was nearly impossible to see. This was nothing pegasi weren’t able to brave but this storm was a strange one. To tame a storm, pegasi would often fly into its very heart and fly out again, moving with the channel rather than against it. But Rainbow Dash was finding herself unable to find the heart of the storm. It seemed to be moving as fast as she was and in random directions.
As if it had a mind of its own.
Rainbow Dash rarely admitted such things but it scared her to go near it.
It scared her even more to know that a filly that was as close to her as family, along with the little sisters and daughter of three of her dearest friends, were caught out below it.
‘Okay, Dash, calm down. Calm down. They may be young but they’re not stupid. They’re bound to have found somewhere to hide out from the storm or find a secret safe spot or-”
“AAAAAAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOO!!!”
“Hey! Shut up! I’m trying to think! Can you just...wait...” Rainbow Dash yelled over the storm and inexplicable wolf howl. She paused, looked into the sky and gazed out. The darkest, angriest part of the storm was rolling along the sky at an amazing speed. Not her speed of course, she thought in her head, that would be impossible, but faster than any natural storm she’d ever seen.
Which gave her reason to believe this wasn’t a natural storm.
Taking to the wing again, she focussed on flying on the storm’s channel and cast her eye through the rainfall.
In the heart of the storm could be seen the faint outline of what looked eerily like another pegasus.
Rainbow Dash’s chest felt tight against her thumping heart. Flying close to the forests, he flew hard and fast towards the path back to the Everfree.
The rain beat harder and harder against her as she felt the channel turning, dragging her away from her destination.
As hellish revelation hit her like a thunderbolt, Rainbow Dash’s wings locked straight in fear as the heart of the storm surged towards her.
And bursting through the thick miasma of jet-black clouds came a midnight-blue pegasus in a flowing black cape with a face of pure, unadulterated rage, howling like a mad beast, a glint in her open maw where a pair of wickedly sharp teeth lunged forward like a nightmare creature.
With a crash, the stranger hit Rainbow Dash with full force, the two diving, locked in combat.
Her vision blurry, Rainbow Dash found herself screaming as she felt a pair of jaws clamp down on one of her wings, pulling left and right in a frenzy. Instinctively, Rainbow elbowed the biting creature with her right foreleg once, twice and thrice until it let go with a snarl, another bite lashing out and just missing her neck.
Struggling madly, Rainbow Dash gasped with relief as she found her wings again, her right wing smarting furiously as the membrane bled.
She had to think fast.
Fortunately, ‘fast’ was something she was very good at being.
Fighting hard to keep a safe distance from her attacker, she found the tallest, widest and hardiest tree she could find and made one ditch effort to save her life and hopefully find the four missing foals still lost in the forest on tonight of all nights.
Pausing, she leaned back against the tree, bent her forelegs and stretched her wings fully. Her magenta eyes gleamed with anticipation as her energy revitalised and the old pegasus sky magic coursed through her body.
The sharp-toothed pegasus closed in, reaching into her swirling cape for something nefarious.
Bending the treetop back, multichromatic streams of magic spiralling around her, Rainbow Dash let loose right as her hunter threw a brace of daggers that whistled as they honed in.
The whole forest shook, swarms of leaves tearing through the air, as the Bearer of Loyalty shot forth like a bullet toward Ponyville. The daggers were caught up in the storm and flew away, barely missing their own wielder who wrapped her wings around her front for defence as she was tossed high into the sky.
As the wind subsided and she felt her altitude slow and drop, she unfurled her wings again, hovered in mid-air and scanned the horizon.
The rainbow-maned mare was gone.
For a moment, the hunter was quiet.
Then she cracked a sardonic grin of anticipation.
This one thought she was clever.
Adorable.
*
“Well, Derpy, I’d say your muffins went down very nicely.”
The quirky brown stallion known as Doctor Whooves gazed at the bare muffin basket, picked clean of Nightmare Night goodies. As everypony in Ponyville knew, nopony made muffins quite as well as Derpy Doo.
Derpy, the young muddle-headed mailmare the Doctor had fallen in love with all those years ago, was pacing by a window tentatively, her wall-eyes restless with worry.
The Doctor sighed, placing a shoulder over his partner.
“Derpy...”
“Look at that storm, Doctor...” Derpy murmured with fright “Dinky’s still out there. How am I supposed to be calm when my little muffins out in enough wind and rain to knock down trees?!”
“Hey, hey...Listen, Twilight told me that Rainbow Dash is being sent after them to get them home safely. You know Dash would never let them down.”
“I...I guess...” Derpy gave a sniff “But, I mean, what if it’s too much for her? I know she’s a great flier, better than I could ever be but...”
“Derpy, calm down. Look, if it gets any worse, I’ll go out and see if they’re alright. They know the way back from Zecora’s and...”
There was a squeak and a clunk as something came through the letterbox.
There was a pause as it did so.
As a rule, a mailmare rarely got mail delivered to her.
The Doctor moved from his partner’s shoulder to the doorway and picked up a small scrap of paper.
His twin hearts felt gripped by a pair of icy hands as he read two bold, harsh words in black ink.
They Know
There was a small blot of purple ink in the bottom-right-hoof corner.
Doctor Whooves took a deep breath, hid the scrap of paper in a pocket in his coat, put the coat along with his very old, very precious patchwork scarf, and opened the door.
“Derpy...” he called out “I think I’ll check on Dinky.”
“Uh...Okay, Doctor.” the grey pegasus replied timidly “Will you be alright?”
“Yeah...” he reluctantly lied “Of course.”
*
Closing and locking the door of the town hall behind him, Purple Patch feared to light any of the lamps.
Clutching at his research bag and pulling up his collar, cold sweat beading at his brow, he searched the bookshelves for anything related to the information he sought.
There had to be something.
One thing he was sure of was that it couldn’t be in Golden Oaks Library but nor could it have been destroyed.
And nor could it have been in Celestia’s palace.
And it wouldn’t be in any city founded after the...
“A bit dark in here, isn’t it.”
A quiet, dour voice sounded above him.
Purple Patch spun round, pressing his back against the bookshelf, shaking like a leaf as he looked up.
The batpony stood over him, standing perfectly upside-down atop the ceiling, looking down at him with his colourless eyes, sighing sardonically.
“All alone are you? What a mess you’ve been caught up in...”
He gave a hiss of anticipation that emitted from his throat like an eerie gust of wind, blowing around every piece of paper in the hall.
“And tonight of all nights.”
*
“Girls, I...I need to stop. Please, just for a sec.”
Breathless, Sweetie Belle collapsed against a tree, gasping for air.
The others, though put out by her show of fatigue, understood her plight to some extent.
They’d been running for what seemed like hours, flinching at every noise and shape in the growing darkness.
The four of them came to a stop.
Applebloom wiped a hoof against her face to wipe away the sweat and rainwater, coughing twice, her throat feeling like cracking bark.
The only thing keeping her on her hooves was the sight of Ponyville just clear in the distance.
Scootaloo shook the water out of her wings.
“Who the heck are these ponies?” she was close to screaming “Why are so...creepy?”
“Ah dunno’. Ah think the best thing to do is tell AJ an’ Twilight. If anypony around here’ll know what to do about this, it’s them.”
“Girls, I’m sorry but I need to talk.” Dinky butted it, her periwinkle face pale with worry “There’s something really wrong about them.”
“Yeah, we noticed!” The three fillies barked impatiently.
“No, no, that’s not what I mean.” The little unicorn shook her head “When the pegasus got close, I...I heard voices. It was like they were coming from her. They sounded frightened, really frightened. ”
Scootaloo and Applebloom glanced at each other then back to Dinky.
“Maybe yah ate too much candy.”
“No, I’m serious, girls, I promise! And with the unicorn, they sounded angry. They said somepony didn’t trust them.”
“Dinky, even if this didn’t sound weird, this isn’t the time!” Scootaloo brushed her wet purple mane out of her face and turned to the other unicorn propped up against the tree.
“Sweetie, come on.”
There was no reply. Sweetie Belle remained propped up against the tree.
“S-Sweetie?” Scootaloo stammered, trotting over to check on her friend “You’re not hurt, are you?”
The little pegasus paused, her wings drooping in dread.
Sweetie Belle’s face was a picture of utter horror. Her little forehoof was rising shakily, pointing at a cliffside.
Her wide lime-green eyes were shrunken to pin-points in fear as she spoke with chattering teeth.
“It’s him...”
Atop the cliffside, silhouetted by the silver haze of consistent lightning across the sky, the green unicorn stood, his cobalt eyes boring into them.
Scootaloo stepped back, now wearing the same face of horror as Sweetie Belle, followed by Applebloom and Dinky as all four fillies noticed the hunter on the cliffside.
The unicorn’s horn began to glow with a jade green miasma as he drew something from behind his cloak.
A silver bow, rising high above his head, arching over as it pointed skyward.
From under his cape, five arrows spun round him and arranged themselves along the bow. The four fillies found their legs and found cover, ducking behind the tree and shrub Sweetie was resting against.
The bowstring pulled back, clutched by a ring of blazing turquoise. The arrowheads glowed silver, shimmering like hundreds of stars as they began to hiss hellishly, a metallic scream joining with the thunder as the unicorn yelled in his harsh, foreign tongue.
“Aus dem Nachthimmel kommt dein Käfig!”
He let loose the arrows, flying high into the air, gathering and twirling as they rose, joining into a great ball of light that hovered straight above their heads, throbbing and fluctuating as if it were ready to explode.
“Run!” Applebloom’s shriek cut through the pounding noise of storm and magic as the foals bolted, making for Ponyville, hoping speed would succeed were stealth had failed.
The ball of light gave a screech as it opened like a flower of many petals and a thousand arrows flew like a swarm of fireflies and darted for the ground.
Her hooves skidding to a halt, Dinky grabbed Applebloom and Scootaloo by the tails and held Sweetie’s with a small spell as the arrows landed right in front of them.
It was astonishing, almost wondrous to behold.
The arrows had arranged themselves in a perfect ring around them. As the last one found its place, the feathers bristled like luminescent plants and blazed teal, forming a magical barrier.
After momentary awe, fear quickly burrowed into their hearts and minds again as Dinky Doo, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo turned round to face the cliffside.
The unicorn atop it was gone.
With a viridian flash, he reappeared opposite them, his azure eyes fixed and wide.
“Du kannts nicht rennen...” he droned in his deathly tone “Alptraum findet uns alle am Ende.”
Then he drew closer, each step on the wet grass a death knell, no escape for his horrified quarry.
Sweetie Belle had begun crying, held tightly by Applebloom as Scootaloo fought to find a way out of the shield, the four backing up as far as they could.
The green unicorn trudged ever closer, his bow in his magical grasp, slowly seeming to ripple bizarrely.
He spoke again, his voice changing slightly.
Anger?
No, Dinky remembered the voice from before.
Resentment. Indignation.
Betrayal.
“Kannst du sie schreien hören? Die Wut? Der Verzweiflung? Der Herzschmerz?”
“What’s he even saying?” Sweetie whimpered.
“He’s...angry at something...” Dinky wasn’t sure what gave her the idea but she’d never felt more certain “Something he thinks we did.”
One of the unicorn’s eyes twitched. The bright blue scarring shone upon his face as his bow flattened and elongated, emitting an eerie metallic lilt as it morphed.
“Du ... Du hast das Getan...Du und all deine Art. Du lebst in einem falschen Licht.” His head tilted as his breathing got heavier “Doch in ihrer Dunkelheit ist Wahrheit.”
Though some unknown means that none of the four fillies could comprehend, the bow had morphed into a gleaming silver spear. One that was now turning and tilting in his grasp.
“Die maske ist abgerissen. Und der Verfall Deiner grozen Luge...Es ist fur alle da, um in unserem Mondlicht zu sehen.”
The spear stood still as it rested over the stallion’s shoulder, moving with him with each step, pointed squarely at the foals.
Sweetie Belle was shrieking now, falling into hysterics in Applebloom’s hold.
“Girls!” Scootaloo was screaming, pounding against the shield “We gotta’ get outta’ here!”
“Sweetie, please!” Applebloom clutched at her unicorn friend, shaking her desperately “Yah gotta’ use a spell. Anythin’!”
“I can’t! I can’t! I’m scared!” Sweetie wailed, lost in terror.
Tentatively, Dinky stood in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, struggling to understand just what was happening and why.
“Why...” she whispered “Why are you doing this?”
The unicorn did not answer. It seemed uncertain if he could even hear her.
“You...” the voice came again, “You said you’d protect me from them. You lied to me! You...betrayed me!”
As Dinky blinked, a somewhat familiar face flashed before her, jet-black and silver-eyes, mouth open wide in a scream of fury.
“Betrayer!”
The eyes shot forth like falling stars.
Blinding light was followed by darkness.
“Night comes for you, sister...And it will last forever!”
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Very nice! Abbout Fletcher's german, only menior mistakes, like nouns. In german, the first latter is always capitalized. irhe Ihre. offnen öffnen.
kannst, Albtraum. kafig Käfig. horen Hören
9252180
Ah, that makes sense.
It came out with capitalisations on Google Translate but I just assumed it was an error.
I'll have to go over that.
Thanks.
But do you get what he's saying. It's meant to be kind of poetic.
9252186
Of course, I understand it The words with Ä and Ö, vowel mutation