Shattered Past

by thunderclap

A Mad Dash

Twilight paced back and forth in the foyer of the library. She was finally ready to tell everypony about her discovery of humans. All of her friends were in the room with her and waiting to hear what she had called them over for. Except Rarity who was nowhere to be seen.

“What’d ya call us over for, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“Like I said it was something important.” Twilight replied, trying not to give anything away. “I’ll tell you everything once Rarity gets here.”

“Well, what’s taking her so long?” Rainbow Dash complained.

In the distance a sound echoed out that grabbed the attention of everypony in the room. “Somepony, anypony, help!”

“That sounded like Rarity!”

“Come on girls, we have to go help her.” Twilight barked, running out the door as fast as she could.

Rarity sobbed over Sweetie Belle, too shocked to think clearly about what to do next. The only thing she could focus on was the tattered figure that had left Sweetie Belle in such a horrible state. ‘How dare that beast do something like this to my dear sister? When I get my hooves on it it’ll wish it had never laid eyes on her!’ Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of approaching hooves.

“Rarity, what’s wrong, we heard you yelling from the library?!” Rarity moved to show her friends Sweetie Belle. They all gasped. Twilight was the first to recover.

“What happened to her?”

“Some strange creature attacked her. I took her from it and now…”

“Listen Rarity, we have to get her to a hospital before it’s too late.”

“What about that ghastly creature? We can’t just let it get away with this.”

“Alright, you and I will go to the hospital while the others go and look for the creature.”

“Very well, it went off into the Everfree Forest. It had: a black mane, green eyes, white fur, and was covered in blood.”

“We’ll get that thing, no problem!” Rainbow Dash boasted, flying off toward the forest with: Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy close behind. Then Twilight got close to Rarity and Sweetie Belle and teleported them to the hospital.

Jake stopped running when he entered the clearing with the manticore corpse. He gripped the scarf that Sweetie Belle had given him and started sobbing. ‘Why did this happen?’ Jake looked over to the corpse and felt a wave of guilt wash over him. ‘It’s my fault, isn’t it? If I had never gone into the forest then none of this would’ve happened. What have I done so far that’s been any help to anyone? All I’ve done is run and kill. I’d be better off gone. Jake grabbed at his knife from his shoulder and stared at it.

‘I could do it. I could just stick this in my neck and none of it would matter anymore, all this pain, confusion, all of it. What does it matter, no one would even care. The Crusaders might miss me at first, but all I’ve done is cause them trouble. Alright, it’s time to do it.’ Jake took a deep and brought the knife back. All of a sudden his concentration was broken by the sound of a gasp.

Rainbow Dash and the others ran into the forest not knowing to expect, each trying to find a way to broach the subject. In the end the silence was broken by Applejack. “What do y’all think this thing is like? Rarity didn’t exactly describe it that well.”

“I bet it’s a big mean monster seeing as it hurt Sweetie Belle like that, with big sharp claws and rows and rows of teeth.”

“You don’t know that.” Fluttershy interjected. “The poor thing might’ve just been scared and confused.”

“Fluttershy, it attacked Sweetie Belle.” Rainbow Dash said with steel in her voice. “That is beyond bad. I don’t care how confused it was, we have to stop it.”

“I’m just saying there might be more to this than… *gasp*” Fluttershy stopped dead in her tracks as they came into the clearing she had seen in her supposed dream. And in the middle of it was a figure that she remembered all too well. “…Valentine?” He looked up; his eyes widened, and ran off further into the forest.

“Hey, stop right there!” Rainbow Dash cried following after him.

“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Fluttershy yelled, but she was already out of earshot.

“What’s the matter, Sugarcube?”

“I know who that thing is.”

“Don’t keep us in suspense what is it?”

“I don’t know what it is. I just know that his name is Valentine.”

“How do ya know it’s a he?”

“He talked to me.” Fluttershy replied nervously.

“That thing can talk? What did he say?”

“He told me that he killed that manticore over there.”

“He did that! Then he is dangerous!”

“No I don’t think he did it because he wanted to. When he told me he sounded so, remorseful. It was like he regretted doing it.”

“If he didn’t want to do it, then why did he?” Applejack asked.

“I’m not sure, the next thing I remember is asking to see him, and then I guess I fainted. Then, I woke up in my house and thought it was all a dream.”

“Are you saying he carried you home?” Pinkie Pie asked. “How’d he know where you live?”

“I don’t know… wait he was able to talk to me with his thoughts! Maybe that has something to do with it.”

“Sugarcube, are you ok?”

“I’m fine. The important thing is that Valentine didn’t hurt me even though he had the perfect opportunity. He also helped me when I needed it. I don’t think he would attack Sweetie Belle like that. There has to be some other explanation. There just has to be.”

“If you think that, then Ah’ll believe ya too.”

“Yeah, and that means I can throw this Valentine a welcome party!”

“First thing’s first. We gotta make sure Rainbow Dash doesn’t tear into ‘im, and we’ll hafta explain this ta Rarity, and I’m not sure which one’ll be easier.”

Rarity and Twilight stood outside the operating room waiting for whatever news the doctor might bring. Twilight looked at the disheveled figure that Rarity had become and wondered what she could do to help her friend. “Don’t worry, Sweetie Belle will be fine.”

“I hope you’re right. I don’t know what would happen if I lost her.”

“We’ve done all we can do. Now it’s up to the doctors to do their part.” At that moment a light brown pony with an x-ray for a cutie mark stepped out of the OR with a warm smile on his face. This lifted the spirits of both friends.

“Is Sweetie Belle okay?!” Rarity asked.

“Yes, she should make a full recovery.”

“Oh, thank you so much, Doctor!”

“We’re lucky you got her here when you did, a little bit longer and we would’ve lost her. You also made a good call with that piece of cloth you used to dress the wound. Timber wolf attacks are always horrible”

“But Doctor, I never put anything on her. And are you sure that it was a timber wolf that did this?”

“Yes I’m absolutely certain, we pulled a piece of tooth out and the size of the wound matches.”

“Thank you Doctor, can you please send us a message when Sweetie Belle recovers?” Twilight said.

“Of course, she should wake up in a few hours but will have to stay in the hospital for a few days."

“We’ll make sure we come back and visit her.” Twilight said leading Rarity out of the hospital to talk in private. “Rarity, can you describe the thing you saw again?”

“All I remember was the black mane, green eyes, white fur, and blood. I’m sorry Twilight but everything else happened so fast.”

“Did it stand up on two legs?”

“I don’t… Wait, yes it did run off on two legs! But it wasn’t a Diamond Dog. That much I know.”

“Rarity, I think what you thought was fur was actually its clothes. It obviously wasn’t trying to hurt your sister! It helped her!”

“You’re right… I think it said help. I should’ve known it wasn’t some monster, but when I saw Sweetie Belle like that… I just reacted.”

“It’s fine Rarity. I think I know what saved Sweetie Belle. Let’s just get to the others before they accidentally hurt it. Actually Fluttershy should help prevent that.”

“How would Fluttershy do that?”

“Because if this thing is what I think it is then Fluttershy’s already met it.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“Come on, let’s find the others and I’ll fill you in on the way.”

Jake looked over his shoulder and saw that the rainbow maned Pegasus was still chasing after him. Every time he would try to outmaneuver her she would just follow and to make it all worse she was gaining on him. Jake managed to put his knife away so he wouldn’t drop it. After a while Jake couldn’t take anymore and called out, “Will you just leave me alone!?”

“That isn’t gonna happen!” Jake groaned and decided to stop dead in his tracks and run toward the Pegasus that was chasing him. As they faced one another Jake could see the look of determination and anger on her face. He could tell that the same look was on his face. The Pegasus dove at Jake but he was able to jump over her, but just barely.

Jake quickly picked himself up and continued to run. He didn’t even bother to look behind him. He knew that the Pegasus was right behind him. “GET BACK HERE!” Jake turned his head slightly to get a look at how close the Pegasus was. As he did he tripped over a root and fell flat on his face. He only got to his knees when the Pegasus came down and tackled him. She wasted no time and pinned down his arms and legs. Jake didn’t bother to fight. He was past the point of caring.

“I finally caught you.” The Pegasus boomed. “Why did you hurt, Sweetie Belle?” Jake didn’t answer which annoyed the Pegasus. “Say something! I know you can talk... you know what I don’t care why you did it. You’re a real monster, you know that? What did Sweetie Belle ever do to you? She’s just a little foal and you attacked her! Her sister’s a wreck right now! But I guess you don’t care about that because you’re a heartless, evil…”

Jake could feel each word strike his very core. He felt like his insides were starting to liquefy almost as if he had been injected with manticore venom. He balled his fists and eventually he couldn’t take anymore. “Shut up!” Jake cried as he head-butted the Pegasus. The Pegasus reeled from the impact giving Jake just enough leeway to throw her off.

Jake could feel his head pounding but ignored it and started to run in a random direction. ‘Damn that pony! I know what happened to Sweetie Belle was my fault. I didn’t need her to tell me. If this pony catches me then she’ll probably take me to Sweetie Belle’s sister. I can’t let that happen. I wouldn’t be able to face her. Not after what I’ve done to her. The best thing to do is to just…’

*CRACK*

Jake’s train of thought was interrupted by the sound of wood snapping and muffled groans behind him. Against his better judgment he turned to see what it was. When he did he saw the Pegasus had crashed and was tangled up in some vines. Jake looked over his shoulder and thought about finally escaping from his persistent pursuer. One look to the sky above and any chance of entertaining the idea died. It was almost nightfall and an easy meal like the Pegasus wouldn’t be ignored for long.

Jake sighed, pulled out his knife and approached the tangled Pegasus. She started to squirm at the sight of the blade. “Relax, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Like I’m gonna believe you! Help, somepony help!” The Pegasus continued to flail around and call for help. Jake did his best to try and ignore her as he cut the vines, but one of the Pegasus’ hooves managed to land a solid hit on his temple, knocking him unconscious. A few minutes later Twilight and the others appeared, having heard Rainbow Dash’s cries for help.

“Rainbow Dash, what happened here?” Twilight asked, trying to catch her breath.

“Oh thank Celestia you girls are here! I was chasing the thing that attacked Sweetie Belle and pinned it to the ground, but it hit me in the head and ran off. When I tried to chase after it I was off balance and got tangled up like this. Then, it tried to attack me but I knocked it out.”

“Oh no, did you hurt him?”

“Fluttershy, this thing attacked Sweetie Belle. Who cares if I hurt it? It deserves to be punished.”

“Actually Rainbow Dash, he doesn’t.” Rarity said firmly. “He did not attack Sweetie Belle, a timber wolf did. He saved her life.”

“Wha? Then… why did he run?”

“He was probably scared.” Twilight guessed. “Come on, let’s get you down and take him back to the library, it’s almost night and I don’t want to be in this forest any longer than I have to be.”

Comments

[pvtspoon]

MOAR!

[-Brutus]

1158374 Yes, this.