A foreign pegasus stallion arrives in Ponyville followed by his past which threatens to end harmony.
A pegasus stallion has travelled Equestria to escape his foreign homeland. He finds himself in the small town of Ponyville where he decides to stay and forget his past research. Of course, forgetting is never so straight forward, especially when things stir in the Everfree Forest and his research returns to him in full force. Meanwhile, the arrival of this new pony reveals cracks in the foundations of the bearers of the elements of harmony, and Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow and Fluttershy will have their friendships tested to find out what they are really worth. Big thanks to KitsuneRisu, Nonagon and MrMinimii for their amazing editing. The cover art is 'Ye Olde Canterlot' by Spiritto A/N: This is a zombie fic. This is not a gore fic. For the first few chapters I will be constructing new relationships and backgrounds between ponies, giving the first section a light hearted feel I hope to be typical of the MLP universe. However, after that, the light heartedness will cease and ponies will die. Not just nameless background ponies, but main characters. You have been warned.
The cool evening breeze welcomed the pegasus stallion to the outskirts of the small village sprawled before him. For weeks he had travelled through the Griffon Kingdoms to be here; before that, a large length of time traversing the seas home to fearsome hydras and mer-mares whose beauty was surpassed only by their treacherousness. Before reaching these vast oceans he had been forced to cross arid deserts of unrelenting sandstorms, baking sunshine, and creatures so perilous and rare that their very existence was in question to many.
These feats paled in comparison to his escape from his homeland; home to beings that nopony among the living could conquer, home to tribes of ponies once mortal and peaceful, home to his research.
Fleeing his birthplace and home, La Selva Demonia, had been incredibly difficult, but necessary. And now he found himself here, on the outskirts of a small village called Ponyville. This would be as good of a place as any to settle. With those thoughts, he shifted his small, tattered saddlebags higher on his strong, herculean back and slowly walked into the village.
Upon finding the centre of the village, it became apparent that the ponies here were quite different to himself. There were far more mares than stallions, and the stallions he could see were far smaller than he expected, so much so that he may have mistaken them for colts if they did not already have their marks. He looked down at his own, another source of difference between himself and the Ponyville inhabitants. While everypony in the village square had marks consisting of two, three, on an occasion even four brightly coloured shapes present on their pastel coloured flanks, his appeared dark and rather minimalist; a small, simple four-pointed star, white in colour, placed in the centre of his dark navy flank. His large wings rested idly along his body, almost covering the mark. They were the same deep, rich blue for the most part, save for the obsidian-like end feathers, similar in both colour and durability, that were far sharper than any other wings he’d encountered so far in this village. His mane was a rich burgundy with a stripe of pure white running from the start of his fringe to the tip of his tail, chased all the way by a smaller, lilac stripe. A few of the ponies stared at this dark mountain of a stallion before looking away, afraid of the embarrassment accompanying being caught looking for too long at something, or somepony.
After travelling for so long, foraging for provisions, and dining on whatever could be found underneath desert sands, within a forest, or deep in the seas, his next sight beckoned to him with a stronger siren call than the queen of the mer-mares, and it was a call he was unable to ignore. He saw a great sign covered with bright balloons, long streamers, and flashing neon lights illuminating bright pink painted writing advertising a small get together.
‘Sugarcube Corner’s 946th daily evening eat-a-thon! First serving free!’
Just around the corner was the establishment in question. Tables with umbrellas had been set outside the bright pink bakery; each one of them occupied except for one table in the corner. Spying his opportunity, he briskly trotted over to the vacant area. Once there he leaned up against his table, giving him an opportunity to view the other ponies of the village. On the opposite side of the bakery, approximately twenty tables away, a pony with a radiant, light pink coat and a mane resembling candyfloss jumped up high, gasping loudly and remaining in the air just a little while longer than what should have been possible for an earth pony. He had seen many strange things while travelling here, but he could already tell that this pony had the potential to make it to the top of that list. He chose to ignore the excitable mare and looked elsewhere in the bustling crowd.
Just then, a white unicorn mare with an electric blue mane and a mark of two black quavers galloped past, holding a pink bow tie in a light blue magical aura, chuckling gleefully followed by a slim, ash grey earth pony with sleek, perfectly-kempt black mane and tail and a lilac treble clef mark sped through, brandishing a cello bow as if it were a katana, screaming for the first mare, apparently named ‘Vinyl’, to “please return her property to her!”... or words to that effect.
At the centre of Sugarcube Corner’s forecourt he caught sight once more of the pink pony bouncing through the crowds; he just had time to see a mark of three balloons on her flank before she vanished once more behind a table occupied by two ponies. One of these two, a mint green unicorn with a golden lyre for a mark, appeared slightly different from all other mares and colts here. While everypony else either leant on the table, sat on the floor, or simply stood, this unicorn was oddly perched atop a chair, hind legs dangling free over its edge, with her back slouched against the rear of the chair. A cream coloured earth pony stood by the table with the unicorn, her mane consisted of dark blue and pink curls while her mark was not visible from his angle; her body language seemed to convey she was overly conscious of being seen with this strangely seated mare. However her nervous smile suggested she was happy to be there.
He sighted the same pink pony, now only two or three tables away from him, with her head poking out of the top of that table’s umbrella. Her neck appeared longer than normal, stretched tall and slender. Deep blue eyes, excited, sparkling and huge in diameter had been staring directly at him before the head receded into the umbrella, a space he would have sworn would have been impossible to hide a fully grown pony. With the disappearance of the pink head from his view, he could see the late evening sky growing darker. Not only that, but he could see a rainbow, odd as it had not rained in days. His eyes traced the bold hues in the sky and realised that they were, in fact, not a rainbow, but the trail of a pegasus high in the sky, travelling at a blistering speed in patterns causing him to feel slightly queasy from only looking upon them in awe.
Once the pegasus had flown out of sight he brought his gaze back to ground level...
…directly into those bright blue eyes he had seen moments before, only now inches from his face.
“HI!”
He recoiled at the shock and unfurled his right wing, thrusting it through the air. The pink pony reacted with almost impossible speed and withdrew from its range as the black razor tips sliced cleanly through the pole holding up the umbrella for his table, which silently leaned left and fell to the floor. Luckily nopony from any other table saw this and the pink pony could only stare at his black wing tips that had almost cut her a permanent smile, not that she didn’t have one to begin with anyway.
“Oooh, shiny!” she whistled.
“Ay lo siento, señorita! Pues, no… I mean…” Forgetting due to shock his current location in Equestria, he quickly corrected himself to the local language. “I am so sorry! It was a surprise to me!”
“And you don’t like surprises?” Her head cocked to one side and a wide grin spread upon her face as she awaited an answer from the huge pegasus.
He sighed; the simple question caused him to think back to his home and the constant state of alertness he had to maintain against any surprises that would undoubtedly result in him joining the herd of the re-animated. He struggled to regain his composure and replied to the pink mare’s innocent query.
“From where I have come, you pass every day praying that there will be no surprises awaiting you, because there are no good surprises. A surprise in La Selva can only serve to end your days as a living pony.”
“Oooh, sounds super scary and mean! Well all of señorita Pinkie Pie’s surprises can only serve to end your days of being a pony who doesn’t like surprises! Because I love surprises so much that sometimes it surprises me just how much I love surprises! Oh I almost forgot! Now you know I’m Pinkie Pie, what can I call you, señoorrrrrrr...?” She leaned in close and rolled the final ‘r’ extensively, sounding somewhat like a pneumatic drill, only a few octaves higher.
With some degree of unease and confusion, he replied.
“You may call me Crepúsculo Sombrío”
“Well it’s so great to meet you Mr. Sombrero! How long have you been here in Ponyville? It couldn’t have been that long because I’m sure I would have noticed a new pony, especially one as super-duper huge as you! That’s the reason I came over here so quickly: to say hi to a new pony because, like I always say…”
Her speech started to grow faster and faster, her words tumbling from her mouth at an incomprehensible rate. Crepúsculo could not help but look on slack-jawed at the mare, missing most of what she had to say.
“… but then I figured why follow physics and their silly laws if they aren’t fun at all? Right?”
It took a moment for Crepúsculo to recognise Pinkie’s silence. He found himself unable to respond verbally, and instead his stomach opted to do the work, grumbling loudly.
"Oh, but you must be super hungry! Well your new auntie Pinkie Pie is here to help that; or maybe you should be my uncle Sombrero, you look a year or two older than me. Anyway, down to business." She zipped to a neighbouring table, whose inhabitants were setting off into the evening after their last mouthfuls, and clasped the menu they had left behind between her teeth before speeding back. She set the menu down and began to read Crepúsculo his options. "As you may have noticed, your first serving is complimentary. However your first serving may only consist of one of the following: daisy and watercress salad, hay fries, petunia and lilac sandwich with rose petal sauce, noodles with fried seaweed, or a selection of the finest apples Sweet Apple Acres has to offer. Upon completion of your first serving, further helpings will be two bits, equestrian."
"Ay, plumas de pony," he cursed under his breath; equestrian bits were not included in his short inventory. "Señorita Pie, I have only the money of La Selva... Perhaps these will do?" He gingerly pulled a few coins from his saddlebags. They were unlike anything Pinkie had ever seen before. At a size slightly larger than an equestrian bit, they glowed a stunning silver, as radiant and captivating as Luna's stars. Their faces displayed curious markings which, upon closer inspection, were revealed to be the head of a pony on one side, and an indentation of such a head, bared of skin and sinew, adorning the reverse of the coin.
Pinkie gasped at the pony skull and dropped the coin to the table. She quickly recovered with an almost nervous smile and slipped the coin into her mane. "Well I'm sure we can work something out; you are my uncle after all! I'll be right back."
In her absence Crepúsculo brought a small, well-worn journal from his saddlebags, caressing its cover slowly with a hoof, revealing its title: 'Viva la Muerte'. His life's work, contained in its entirety among those stained pages. The very thing he ran from, still at his side. He opened its cover and re-read the first page he had written, many moons past.
I am Crepúsculo Sombrío and I begin my research today. These monsters have plagued our village for centuries, yet the elders do nothing, and the others simply follow the elders. Somepony has to do something, at the very least find out more about them. That is what I intend to accomplish. With knowledge comes understanding, and with understanding, fear of them will fade, and only the fear of doing nothing will remain.
It was at that moment Pinkie rushed back to his table carrying plates piled high with all manner of treats which were subsequently devoured gratefully and greedily by Crepúsculo. Pinkie looked on with yet another smile as he enjoyed the food she had provided. When he had finished, Pinkie proudly announced that there was a choice of two desserts, a chimmi-cherry-chonga or her extra special rainbow cupcakes, leaning in close to him with a grin almost too big for her face.
"What is it that makes them so special?"
"They have real liquid rainbow at the centre, really adds a kick!"
"That sounds great! One of those please."
"Comin' right up!"
Crepúsculo's mind returned to his first writings in his journal. 'With knowledge comes understanding, and with understanding, fear of them will fade, and only the fear of doing nothing will remain.' That was what he had written all that time ago, before he knew better. He knew now that the fear of them was not replaced by the fear of doing nothing, but merely added to.
Pinkie brought to the table a cupcake striped with six distinctive hues; it was a small thing, easily consumed in one bite. Unfortunately for him, his manners were overcome by hunger and in one swift motion, the entirety of the treat was in his mouth. His eyes shot open as the fiery red touched his tongue, followed closely by a slightly less - yet still intense - orange and yellow. Green, blue and purple hit his taste buds one after another, the ice cold purple forcibly dilating his sinuses as his eyes watered.
Pinkie laughed and produced a glass of warm milk to act as a chaser for the killer cupcake, which he gratefully guzzled down, coughing and spluttering.
"What'cha been reading there?" Pinkie gestured to his journal. "A book? Oh! A book!" she gasped. "You should go see my friend, Twilight! You two bookish types would get along great! She lives in the library, in a tree! Can you believe that? Just head that way, you can't miss it!" she motioned off to the left.
The dark stallion rubbed the back of his neck uneasily, causing a solitary lock of burgundy to fall over his right shoulder. "Perhaps you could direct me towards a place I may rest for tonight?"
"Oh, uh..." Pinkie's eyes shifted, "Well, actually the library is also, uh... a hotel! Yeah! A B&B&B!"
"A what?"
"You know, a bed and breakfast and books!" she stated as if it were the most common of all knowledge.
Somewhat confused, Crepúsculo took this as his cue to leave. "In which case, gracias, señorita Pie. It was a pleasure to become acquainted with you."
"Likewise! See you later, new sombrero friend!"
The happy pink pony bounced back to the kitchen, beaming mischievously. You can thank your number one wingmare in the morning, Twilight!
***
It was getting late, Twilight had decided. Already Luna's moon was starting to cast gentle shadows throughout her library. If Spike were here, he would already be filling the arboreal residence with his far from melodic snores, but he wouldn't be back from Canterlot for a few more days. Being chosen by Princess Celestia to help oversee the hatching of more dragon's eggs for the entrance exams for Canterlot's magic school wasn't an everyday opportunity, and Twilight had sent him off under strict instructions to have a few days to himself in their old home town after he had completed all the necessary work. After all, he had been working extra hard lately to help Twilight with her medical anatomy studies.
She only wished she had a way to contact him while he was there.
Twilight let out a short yawn as she levitated a few medical textbooks back to their shelf: 'A Surgeon's Studies', 'The Practical Application of Pegasus Appendages', and 'The Internal Workings of the Unicorn Horn' all floated to their alphabetised locations.
She wandered lazily back to her desk and inspected a sketch of her own. A pegasus mare, wings outstretched, with almost illegible writing around her detailing each significant bone, organ and other details. Once again Twilight observed that if a pegasus' wingspan was just a few inches longer, fewer wing strokes would be needed to travel the same distance, providing less strain on a pony's cardiac system.
This, however, was only her theory. The only ponies she knew with such a wingspan were royalty, making them very difficult to study. Perhaps tomorrow I'll ask Rainbow if she knows anypony with huge wings that I could closely study. Wait... perhaps I'll word it differently.
Twilight giggled at herself and sighed. If only such a pony were to come to me instead of me seeking them out. But I guess things never really work like that...
A light knock at the library's door brought the lilac mare's train of thought steaming back to Equestria. Kind of late to be looking for a book, she idly thought.
She pulled the door inwards with closed eyes, "I'm very sorry, but library hours are-" she opened her eyes, staring where she had assumed a pony's eyes would be but instead found herself looking at dark, wide shoulders mere inches from her face. "... huge."
"They are what?"
Twilight's pupils shrunk to pinpricks as a deep, apple-red colour seeped into her cheeks.
"Oh! No, I mean, uh..." the crimson cheeked pony slowly brought her focus up Crepúsculo's neck until her bright lilac eyes lost themselves in his pale yellow irises, like halos shining in the dark night. "... How can I help you?" she breathed, a little more vacant than she would have liked.
"A friend of yours, a señorita Pinkie Pie, informed me I would be able to stay the night here?"
Twilight's eyes dulled. Pinkie huh? Well I guess that's as good of an explanation as I'm going to get regarding this coincidence. Wait... stay here?! "As in stay here, here?!"
"Pues, sí... this is a B&B&B is it not? A bed and breakfast and books?"
I will have to have a word or two with Pinkie tomorrow. Hold on... "You like... books?" Twilight barely suppressed a school filly squeal.
"Yes of course, I read some but my main focus is... no... was on writing. I was conducting research on a topic best left in my past"
Stars that would rival Luna's manifested within Twilight's eyes. "You conduct original research?!" A huge, toothy grin spread wide across her face, causing the strong pegasus to retreat slightly farther back than the library's doorstep. "Oh, no, what I meant to say was, do come in." Her giant grin receding to a bashful smile.
Perhaps against his better judgment, Crepúsculo gingerly entered this crazy mare's abode.
"Gracias, Pinkie has told me of your name, Twilight. I am Crepúsculo Sombrío, and I am in need of a place to stay the night. However, I cannot pay with equestrian bits, for I have only these..." Once more he brought those silver coins from his ruined saddlebags. "...money of La Selva"
Twilight didn't even look at the strange silver coins and closed the door behind this mountain of a stallion. Time to find out if his brain matches those muscles of his. "La Selva hmm? I think I have a few books around here on that particular area; most likely nothing compared to your original research. Do you have it with you? What is it about? Can I read it?" She cornered the pegasus, looking up at him with bright, excited eyes.
"In truth, yes. I have it with me, but I am sorry, it is for my eyes only. If only until it is completed." With any luck, it would never need to be completed.
"Oh... no, I understand." Twilight retreated, slightly downcast. She didn't really understand why he was keeping her from some research, original research at that, but she knew that if she pushed it any farther things would only become more awkward. After all, there was this whole B&B&B fiasco to resolve yet. "So you said you were looking for a place to stay then? Follow me, if you will."
Crepúsculo followed the eccentric mare's path up a flight of stairs to an open plan room containing one bed. "Well, this is where I sleep." she stated.
"What a lovely room, señorita."
"Yeah..."
One awkward silence later, he cleared his throat and asked, "And where might I sleep?"
"Oh, of course! It should only take a short while for me to piece together the spare bed I use sometimes. That is, if I can find the pieces."
"Well perhaps that room up the stairs may be easier for me to take?" he queried, motioning up another flight of stairs.
"Oh, my observatory? Well I did just put in a comfy area for late night stargazing, but there's no roof there..."
"I am sure I have had worse nights, and I always find peace in the stars."
Twilight looked as though she were about to object, but decided against it. "Well I guess I can get you a thick blanket and a pillow or two." she said, slowly levitating the items onto his mighty back. "Have a good night," she smiled nervously.
"Gracias, señorita Sparkle. Buenas noches."
Twilight found herself staring as he ascended the few steps to her stargazing platform. Well, this is most certainly out of the ordinary, I will have to find out more concerning this dark, mysterious pegasus in the morning. Why is his research so secret? Where is this 'La Selva'? What is his wingspan?
The puzzled pony sank into her sheets and sighed into her pillow. It was now long past the hour she would have gone to sleep on a regular day, had they existed in Ponyville. Already she could tell she would be groggy in the morning, especially with waking up early to greet her brother for the start of his vacation from the royal guard. Twilight buried those thoughts at the back of her mind, however, to be unearthed once more after her slumber, under the clarity of Celestia's sun.
The beautiful fields stretched all around the purple unicorn. Breathtaking hills rolled peacefully through the area, covered in lush grass swaying ever so slightly in the cool breeze. Somewhere nearby a lute's melody soared over a harp's continuo, drifting through the air towards the lone lilac mare.
Twilight stepped forward, over the ridge of a dainty hillock, to be greeted with a sea of stunning flowers beckoning to her with colours dark navy blue and burgundy. Two strips of flowers ran parallel through the scene, one white, one a matching purple to her own coat.
Slowly she descended the hill into the floral paradise, the scents of them caressing her muzzle and relaxing her body. At the centre of the dark swathe of navy blue she happened upon two particular chrysanthemums, almost touching, sporting a fantastic yellow motif around the edge of their petals. Two bright yellow halos staring at her from a sea of dark navy blue; she was sure she had seen them somewhere before.
The sun bared its light over another sculpted hill, its rays accenting the flowers perfectly. Twilight looked to the powerful celestial body, only to find a powerful worldly body in her line of sight.
It was him.
"Crepúsculo." she whispered.
The powerful stallion stood on the hill's ridge in front of the sun, wings outstretched fully. Wings that must be at least one point eight, maybe even one point nine metres in their span. Just think of the economic potential of energy conservation during flight!
The hulking pegasus glided gracefully down from his perch towards the mysterious mare in the field of flowers at no slow pace. Twilight found herself moving forward to greet him. Walking at first, then a trot which in turn gave way to a brisk canter, finally replaced by a full out gallop. This is it, me, Twilight Sparkle, having this perfect moment I've only ever read about before. Nothing can stop this from happening now.
Twenty metres shrank to ten, diminished to five, down to two metres. Here it comes.
Crepúsculo didn't stop.
The head on collision sent Twilight flying back no short distance, landing hard on the ground before bouncing back twice more just to make sure she was properly acquainted with the floor in an odd 'knock knock knock' fashion. She sat there, dazed, as the 'knock knock knock' resounded once more in her head, like a hoof on wood.
Twilight opened her eyes, greeted by the familiar sight of her own ceiling.
"So close..." she sighed.
***
Shining Armour had expected to be greeted at the library's door the instant he had finished his third knock. After all, his little Twily had always been a creature of habit. Yet he found himself waiting longer than he had ever had to before; he knew this was uncharacteristic of his little sister and he suspected something.
He was mere seconds away from charging into the tree home to save Twilight from whatever clearly nefarious creature was keeping her from normalcy, if it could be referred to as such in his eccentric sister's case, when the sound of the door's deadbolt sliding across wood brought his mind back to preparing for what was behind the door.
The heavy wood slowly creaked open, revealing a creature that could have been Twilight in a previous incarnation. A ragged purple mane jutted from its scalp, covering its face entirely save for one eye, half shut, with cracks of red forking from the iris. The flesh under the eye was dark and sagging and the creature's jaw hung slack, drooling slightly. Shining could not have expected this, and stood dumbfounded on the tree's porch.
"T-T-Twily? What's going on? What happened to you?" the captain stammered, eyes wide in shock.
The lilac creature slowly took a few broken paces towards the panicked unicorn, stumbling as it raised its left front leg, followed jerkily by its right as it fell forward, wrapping both legs around his neck. Gripping uncomfortably on his mane, it widened its terrible mandibles more than Shining would have thought possible and thrust its muzzle into his exposed neck. "You're early." Twilight yawned, nuzzling her beloved BBBFF.
Shining let out an audible sigh of relief as his heart gradually slowed its pace back to a steady throb.
"A captain of the royal guard is never early, Twilight Sparkle. Nor is he late. He arrives precisely when he means to."
"Well you should have meant to arrive a bit later, then. What time is it?"
"It's actually just a bit later than when I said I'd be here." The armoured stallion confessed sheepishly.
"WHAT?" Twilight's pupils shrank to pinpricks. "You're telling me we're not on schedule?" the now suddenly wide awake mare asked hysterically.
"Twily it's no big deal, calm down. What's got you so, well... like this? Did you stay up all night studying again?"
Twilight jumped at the excuse, perhaps a little too fast. Darting back within the tree home and shutting the door, she levitated last night's books, charts, journals and more out to her desk to create the illusion of tireless toiling through the night before once more opening her door and dragging her brother into the library - which now resembled the aftermath of a studious tornado.
"Yes! That's it! So much studying!" Twilight gave a nervous grin to rival Applejack's worst poker face.
Her big brother knew her well, and he knew she was hiding something. Deciding to survey the scene, Shining strode to the centre of the literary maelstrom.
"Sis, I've never seen your place in such a state. Where's Spike?" he asked coolly.
"Canterlot, on royal business," the mare replied with a smug smile. "Now, did you come to question me or are we going out to get breakfast as promised? We are already behind schedule..." she trailed off.
"Soon enough," was his reply. Reaching out with telekinesis, he plucked a random book from the mountain on the desk. "The Practical Application of Pegasus Appendages. Is this what you were studying?" he queried, flicking the book to a random page.
"Yes, actually. A most interesting topic that I had several thoughts upon last night. Why do you ask?"
"Ew, too much information, Twilight." he grimaced, flinging the open book towards the lilac unicorn.
What? It is fascinating! And there's no such thing as too much informa... hold on, I don't remember that page.
'Wing stimulation and the sensitive pressure points related to arousal are positioned at the base of the wing, as shown in figure 3.2. In figure 3.3 the effects of stimulation of the wing bases can be seen clearly having effects elsewhere on a stallion.'
Oh. Oh dear Celestia no. Of the hundreds and hundreds of pages, he opens to this one?
"What is this?" Shining asked accusingly as he floated a strange silver disc to Twilight as she pulled her head from the offending book with a fierce blush.
Twilight stared at the disc inquisitively as it rotated before her, a pony's head on one side, a skull on the other, La Selva Demonia etched on its side. Slowly last night's memories came seeping back to her through her sleepy haze... she realised he was still upstairs. This was not good.
"NOPONY! Uh, I mean... nothing." she firmly stated.
Shining sighed and slowly walked towards his little sister until her eyes were mere inches from his own.
"Twilight. What are you hiding from me?"
Crepúsculo descended the final few steps to the library's reception area with a loud yawn. Eyes half closed, he sleepily enquired as to the whereabouts of the toilets. Twilight slowly turned to face him and extended a hoof to an adjoining room, to which the exhausted pegasus drearily stumbled, followed by Shining Armour's glaring eyes.
"Maybe you could fill me in on this stallion in your life, whom I've never met before? Seems a bit out of the blue to me."
Funny, my friends said something similar about you, thought Twilight. "He just stayed the night." She blurted out.
"Look, Twily, what you do in your time isn't up to me. Do Mum and Dad know studying is second place to stallions now?"
"Of course they don't! I mean, no it doesn't!" the mare turned as crimson as Sweet Apple Acres' finest apples.
"Relax, sis. As long as he treats you with respect, there's no reason for me to get involved."
Crepúsculo appeared from the washroom, seemingly unaware of the commotion he had caused. "I simply cannot thank you enough for last night, señorita. Many moons have passed since I had a night under such beauty. Perhaps tonight I may take advantage of your hospitality once more?"
Shining Armour wordlessly strode towards him, stopping only once he was close enough to make the wretched pegasus tense up, panicked by the invasion of personal space. Looking up, directly into those dirty yellow eyes, he hissed through gritted teeth.
"What was that?"
Crepúsculo started to stammer, retreating, shrinking under the authority of this white stallion's stare, despite his obvious size advantage. Sweat formed on his brow as the unicorn kept gaining ground.
Shining cut the fearful pegasus' stuttering short. "Do you have any idea who I am?" Before Crepúsculo could even have time to think, he butted back in. "Well I'll tell you. You address me as Shining Armour, captain of the royal guard and brother of the beauty you want to take advantage of, so what have you got to say to that? And say it quickly, but be aware that I see no answer that ends well for you."
Twilight had seen enough of Crepúsculo's emasculation and stepped between the gawping, wordless pegasus and her brother.
"Shining Armour! This pony needed a place to stay the night, he slept outside, on the observatory, under the beauty of the stars. How can you jump to these reckless accusations so quickly?" she scolded.
The captain of the royal guard was taken aback slightly, stepping away to allow the pegasus room to breathe. "Seemed to work for you at my wedding," he muttered under his breath.
"That didn't sound like an apology to me, brother."
Shining sighed before extending a hoof to the cowering stallion, "Look, I'm sorry for all that stuff, mister..."
"... S-Sombrío" he replied, regaining some composure, "Crepúsculo Sombrío. Señor Armour, I am so sorry for any way I offended you."
His white hoof scratched his deep blue mane nervously, "No, no it's ok. My fault really. So you must be new ‘round here huh?"
"Sí, only yesterday I came to this place."
"Maybe he could use some friendly connections around here," Twilight interjected, "Shiny, didn't you say you were going out with Big Mac tonight?"
"Well sure, we're just heading over to Berry Punch's, why?"
"Room for one more?" Twilight queried playfully, jerking her head towards Crepúsculo.
"Oh, yeah no problem," Shining said slowly. "You up for that, then?" He looked to the stallion.
"I would not want to impose myself, but I suppose a drink would be good," the pegasus said hopefully.
"Great, we're meeting there once Mac finishes on the farm for the day, about six I think." Shining then shifted his attention to his sister, "Now, I believe we have a breakfast to attend?"
"We sure do! Crepúsculo, you can take whatever you want from my fridge for your breakfast. While I'm out maybe you could..." She looked around thoughtfully. Well I can't rightly make him clear up this mess I've made... aha! "... you could go and see my friend, Rarity, about your saddlebags over there! They look in need of a patch or two." She smiled.
Shining Armour walked outside to wait for Twilight as she gave out directions to the Carousel Boutique. Why do I keep treating Twily like this? She's a full grown mare now! And as much as she said otherwise, I would have to have been blind not to notice something between those two. It seems I've got a few things to set straight with him tonight.
He was shaken from his thoughts by Twilight's approach. "Ready?" she asked cheerfully.
"Definitely. Let's get moving, LSBFF"
"Shiny, please. I've told you that's never going to catch on," the purple mare giggled as the two siblings trotted off to share the day's first meal together.
***
Crepúsculo helped himself to a hearty breakfast of four eggs, two large hash browns, and two pieces of toast. It was a welcome change to scavenging scraps of wild animals from other, larger wild animals. He was not unaccustomed to the necessity of making use of other sentient beings for food, provisions and so on. After all, it is a dog eat pony world out there. If only it were just that, he thought sorrowfully.
He enjoyed his breakfast slowly, savouring every last morsel as though it might have been his last. Just before midday he climbed into the large shower, spending an age amongst the steaming water, letting it cascade freely down him, soaking every muscle to pure relaxation. Still within the confines of the comfortable tree domain, Crepúsculo scoured the library's selection. One caught his eye, but as he pulled the book out he realized how late it was. Twilight's Friend's boutique would close soon, and he'd miss out if he didn't hurry.
Throwing his ragged saddlebags upon his back, he trotted briskly along to the carousel Twilight had given him directions to.
The journey was short and uneventful; he did not pass many other ponies, and those that he did pass seemed happy to keep to themselves. Finding himself just outside the fashionista's abode, he knocked lightly on the ornate door.
"Come right on in, dear, it's open!" a voice sang from inside.
A light push sent the door swinging open, chiming a small bell perched above the doorframe and revealing a brilliant white unicorn holding several fabrics, needles, pincushions and scissors in her telekinesis while squinting through red working spectacles at a lavish, hand-drawn design.
"One moment, please," said the mare, clearly concentrating hard on this project.
Crepúsculo stood by as scissors and pins flew around her, trimming and shaping a shining blue dress to her exact measurements before being placed gently upon one of the many mannequins scattered throughout the boutique. Once the designer's tools were laid safely down, she whirled round to inspect her visitor, flicking her mane over one shoulder as she did so.
"Well, how rare for a stallion such as yourself to enter my humble store. How may I be of assistance?" Rarity smiled at the pegasus behind half-lidded eyes.
"Hola. Señorita Twilight Sparkle has sent me here with the assurance you may be able to repair these." He reached behind him and clasped the old saddlebags in his teeth, presenting them to the white mare. Rarity levitated the bags onto a side table and examined them closely.
"Well a friend of Twilight's is most certainly a friend of mine. What is this material? I can't say that I've seen it before, though something about it is familiar..." she trailed off.
"In my tongue, the material is cuero, but I know not what you would call it."
Rarity decided not to enquire about the material any further and changed the subject. "'Your tongue', hmm? You must be from far away then; I could sense a little 'je ne sais quoi' surrounding you. So where have you travelled from, to arrive at our quaint little village?"
"I came to here from La Selva, a faraway land. It has not been a short journey."
"How positively fascinating, darling! Do tell me a little about the locale while I just touch these bags of yours up."
Crepúsculo shifted on his hooves nervously. "It is... not the type of conversation to be having in polite company, señorita."
"My my, a gentlecolt as well, but I'm sure it can't be so bad. I've seen my fair share of adventures, I assure you, so don't be shy, give me the full story, unabridged!" Rarity chirped over her shoulder while attempting to force a needle and thread through the tough leather with some effort from her magic.
"I see, pues... dense forest covered most of the land, a deep green in all directions under the baking sun. We made our homes on the outskirts of the great forest, but I spent most of my days and even more of my nights in a small clearing within... the..." he noticed Rarity had started to grunt and the magical aura surrounding her horn had intensified. "... señorita? Is everything alright?"
"Oh yes! Perfect!" she gasped, "Just having a little trouble removing this damaged patch, I could have sworn I sharpened these scissors but an hour or two ago." She blushed as the scissors slipped and squeaked under the strain of cutting through the hardened leather.
"Por favor, allow me to assist you," the pegasus interjected, unfurling his right wing to its full length, extending its outermost obsidian feather tip over the unicorn's shoulder and made quick work of the offending patch with relative ease while also slicing out a good portion of undamaged material, effectively ruining the aesthetics of the front of the left pouch. Design was clearly not his strong point.
Rarity jumped slightly, startled at his speed and precision. She turned quickly to face him, brushing her side against his wing and letting out a surprised yelp before backing away.
"Señorita Rarity, are you okay?" he inquired, concerned about the mare.
Rarity touched her side and slowly brought her hoof away with a minute trail of wet red upon it. The shocked mare stood, mouth agape, glancing from her hoof to Crepúsculo's razor-like feathers.
The stallion instantly realised his mistake and set about apologising profusely. All of his words, however, simply washed over the stunned Rarity, who was captivated by the gleam at each feather tip as the setting sunlight shone through the window behind him. The extremities of his plumage glistened, shining bright. It was breathtaking.
Rarity managed to regain her composure long enough to realise she needed to respond. "'Tis but a scratch!" she chuckled nervously.
Crepúsculo guiltily looked around the room, avoiding the mare's gaze as she levitated a small plaster over the red blemish in her perfect white coat. His eyes found an ornate clock adorning the boutique's wall reading at five minutes to six o'clock. He had been here a lot longer than he had thought.
"Señorita, might you give me directions to a certain 'Berry Punch' at this hour? I am afraid I have an appointment to keep."
"Oh, a night out in the village, what a splendid time! It is rather close, just turn right out of here and follow the lights and merry ponies. I shall have your saddlebags ready for you by tomorrow afternoon if you would like to come by and pick them up then, free of charge for a friend of Twilight's, of course."
"Muchas gracias, señorita. I thank you for your generosity and, once again, my apologies for the accident."
"Don't worry in the slightest about it," smiled Rarity, "Just make sure you have an enjoyable night!"
"I am sure I shall, señorita."
And with that, Crepúsculo gently swung the door open and headed right out of The Carousel Boutique. Rarity clicked the door shut once more and rotated a sign within the window to display the 'closed' side before returning her attention to the stallion's saddlebags. She had too much on her mind at the moment so she levitated them to a shelf to be completed in the morning. She was about to retire to her bathroom for a well deserved soak after a long day to calm her nerves after being so recklessly and hideously sliced open. I feel like I’m playing the lead in one of those macabre films Rainbow Dash so enjoys, she quivered. On her way to her beloved bathtub she happened upon a small journal that must have fallen from the bags. Ominous letters on its cover spelled out 'Viva la Muerte'. The temptation to read it was just too great.
Really, Rarity, you should have learnt from the whole Gabby Gums incident not to read things from another pony's saddlebags, she chastised herself before flipping over a few pages with a giggle. But just think of the possibilities of what's inside!
Her face fell as she realised she could not understand the written language, only grasp the odd word or phrase from sentence to sentence.
"Day Seven, something about the sun being good, moon bad... lots of them at night... this makes no sense!" Rarity placed the journal back within the saddlebags and retired to her bathroom to unwind for the night. In future I shall stick to my romance novels and glossed magazines.
***
Crepúsculo rounded a corner to be greeted with the sight of Berry Punch's tavern, a homely, thatched-roof establishment with two ponies standing outside the door. As Crepúsculo approached, he recognised Shining Armour to be one of them. The other stallion, an earth pony, offered his hoof to the pegasus and introduced himself as Big Mac. Standing an inch or two above even the giant pegasus, the 'Big' in his name seemed slightly redundant.
"Just 'Mac' is dandy though. Beggin' yer pardon if I don't say this right but you must be Crepúsculo. Shinin' mentioned about you taggin' along fer tonight."
"Sí sí, I would enjoy a nice, relaxing night to unwind."
Big Mac glanced at Shining Armour uneasily, "He knows where we're headin' tonight, right?"
The unicorn laughed, "We'll talk it over inside. Come on, I'm parched. First round's on me!"
Crepúsculo was pleasantly surprised by this. Such generous ponies! First señorita Rarity charges nothing for the repair of my bags, now this stallion offers to buy drinks for us, there must be something in the water round here.
With that thought, the pegasus followed Shining and Mac into Berry Punch's tavern, with no idea of, or preparation for, the night he was about to experience.
Berry Punch smirked at the three stallions entering her tavern. Shining Armour, practically Canterlot royalty now, some stallion she'd never seen before, quite a big colt indeed, but of course nothing compared to her prize, the hulking red stallion of the trio, Big Mac.
"Well well, Big Mac in my little tavern once more. It's been, what, one week or two? How come you took so long coming back? Didn't scare you off now, did I?" she cooed from behind the bar, fluttering her eyelids seductively.
Mac glanced to the floor nervously, letting out a slow "Nnnope."
Shining seized his opportunity for a laugh at Mac's expense. "What're you looking at, Maccie? Found a bit on the floor?"
The blood red stallion rose his head up high, nearly striking the low ceiling. "Nnnope."
Shining merely chuckled, "Relax, big guy. You two go take a seat, I'll get some drinks in."
As Crepúsculo and Macintosh walked over to an empty booth Shining took a few paces towards the bar and its barmare. Berry Punch was certainly an attractive mare, nothing compared to his Cadence of course, but Mac was lucky to have her attention. Then again, Mac has pretty much every straight mare's attention, he thought, smiling inwardly.
"Hey Berry, three pints of Mac's cider please, and what's that bottle up there? Can't recall seeing that before."
"Oh that's new in, Applejack Daniels single barrel. Somethin' about it matures longer, a few more subtle hints of vanilla and some other stuff, Mac'd be able to tell you a bit more. Personally I prefer the original, a lot less fancy but more of an earthy taste." The barmare stretched up to retrieve the two bottles, setting them before Shining Armour for his inspection as she began to pour the pints.
Shining glanced over the labels, levitating them closer before setting them back on the bar. "Looks good to me, Berry."
"Which one, dahlin'?" She placed the first pint on the bar.
"Both." Shining smiled wryly.
The plum mare cocked an eyebrow. "Big night planned?"
"Of course, it's been far too long since I've done this."
"Well, just watch your new friend there. You know how easy pegasi go over the edge. He might be big, but he doesn't look like he could hold his own against my Mac." Berry smiled dreamily at the earth stallion, setting down the second pint of apple cider.
"Okay settle down, Punch. You know how he gets." He chuckled. "Now what's all this come to?"
"Don't you worry yourself, ain't nothing but some fun." She sighed. "Well, that fancy single barrel bottle is sixty bits, thirty-five for the standard bottle, four bits a pint. Tell you what, the way I see it, since all these are from Mac's family the cider's on the house. Ninety-five bits." She placed the final pint on the bar along with three tumblers for the whiskey.
Shining Armour dug into a pouch on his foreleg with his magic, floating out a heavy coin purse. "Here's a hundred, and I'll take a couple of those packets of nuts, extra salty of course."
"You got it, Shinin'."
Two packs of nuts were set upon the bar. Shining levitated the purchases over to the booth that Crepúsculo and Mac had settled into.
Mac whistled at the inordinate amount of alcohol before the trio. "One of those nights, huh?" He smiled, taking a large swig of crisp cider, sighing contentedly upon finishing his first mouthful.
"Oh you bet," came the clearly excited unicorn's response. "I haven't had a chance to cut loose since I tied the knot. Well, not in this way," he added with a sly wink.
"Is that so?" Mac chuckled, "Honeymoon went well, ah take it?"
"Like you wouldn't believe." Shining leant back and looked to the distance as he swallowed the fizzing amber from his glass. "Let's just say she taught me a few spells not even Twily knows."
Mac and Shining shared a laugh together at that before wetting their muzzles once more with sweet apple cider. Shining Armour suddenly noticed the group's third member had been quiet for some time. Glancing at Crepúsculo, Shining saw the dark pegasus suspiciously eyeing his beverage before taking a cautious sip and grimacing.
"Hey, er, Crepúsculo? You okay?" the white stallion asked, half out of concern, half to break the awkward silence.
"Oh, sí sí, only... what is this drink?"
Mac's eyes widened. "Ya mean y’all don't have cider in your parts?"
"Where I am from, we have only water." Crepúsculo found himself under the shocked eyes of both stallions. "Oh, but of course we can choose between fresh or salted," he offered in hope the stallions' stares would recede and their open mouths to shut. They didn't.
Mac was the first to recover, finishing the last few mouthfuls of his cider, "Well, y’all might prefer this here bottle." He unscrewed the cap of the Applejack Daniels single barrel and poured the deep orange liquid into Crepúsculo's tumbler. "One of mah sister's creations." He pushed the tumbler toward the pegasus and poured one for himself which he subsequently knocked back in one swift motion.
Crepúsculo made an attempt to mimic the giant red stallion's drinking prowess, draining the entirety of the tumbler's contents in a fraction of a second. The taste was not an unpleasant one, and he let the liquid linger on his tongue before swallowing all in one great gulp.
His throat was set ablaze. Hacking and sputtering, the frantic pegasus motioned for help, clutching his tattered throat as the demon liquid rushed down to his stomach.
"Quick! Drink this!" Shining hurriedly pushed his tumbler towards the flailing stallion which was quickly grasped and swallowed with fervour.
The burning was sated for but a second or two before returning with a vengeance.
Mac looked back to the now hysterical Shining Armour as he waved about the opened bottle of original Applejack Daniels in laughing fits.
"Now, Shinin', that weren't helpful. Don't you remember your first night drinkin' the hard stuff?"
"Pfft, no..."
"Exactly. But ya remember the mornin' after, right?"
"... Yes." The white stallion looked down slightly.
"Now y’all know ah like a good drink every now an' then, but let's go easy on the fella fer tonight, hmm?"
Shining smiled slightly, "Always were the voice of reason, Mac."
"Eeyup."
The two were interrupted by the slamming of glass on wood, which happened to come from Crepúsculo's empty pint glass striking the table as he gasped for air.
"I’s... not so bad after all. I think, quizás, one more..."
Mac opened his mouth to advise otherwise when the tipsy pegasus threw his arms up childishly to get the attention of the barmare who promptly paced over, hips swaying and eyes on Big Mac, who subsequently shut his mouth and seemed to find great entertainment in the floor.
"What can I do for ya, honey?"
"One more of this bebida, por favor." The slightly tipsy stallion waved his glass wildly.
"Better make it just a half," Shining whispered to Berry discreetly.
"Will do, anything I can do for anypony else here?" she sighed, aggressively invading Mac's personal space and biting her lower lip.
"Nnnope."
"Can't blame a filly for tryin'. Half a cider, comin' up." She sauntered back to her bar to get the order.
Mac let out a sigh of relief, filling his tumbler near to the brim with his family's whiskey before promptly emptying and refilling it. Setting the bottle back upon the bar, the harassed earth stallion looked to his left, straight into the squinting eyes of Crepúsculo.
"This ‘Berry’ mare clearly desires your stallionhood. Why do you do nothing?"
Mac was clearly surprised at the spontaneity and lack of subtlety in the question, simply sitting wide-eyed and babbling excuses while Shining Armour proceeded to laugh his tail off. After a few attempts, the jittery red stallion managed to string a coherent sentence together.
"It ain't that she ain't a good lookin' mare, it's just that ah... well, ah'm kinda set on somepony else is all."
"It's that Fluttershy mare isn't it? It totally is!" the white stallion struck the table with his hoof, using his magic to help himself to another tumbler full of Sweet Apple Acres' finest.
"Eeennnooyup." Mac grimaced as his cheeks flushed, thankfully unnoticed against his blood red coat.
"Being a bad liar runs in your family, Mac," Shining chuckled.
"We Apples prefer callin' it honesty." Mac stated. "Besides, ain't no use denyin' it."
"Look, Mac. She's nice and all, but she's so quiet. Plus, with you not exactly being mister talkative, especially around mares, how could you two ever even talk?"
Mac shifted uneasily in his seat, "Truth is, ah know ah ain't spent a lotta time with her, sometimes she'll be at the farm with AJ, or ah need to get some feed from her cottage fer the farm animals, but every time ah see her smilin' face, every time ah look in them eyes, everytime ah see her glide to the farm with all that grace of hers, ah know ah could spend an eternity in that silence. Ah'm just a simple workin' pony, but ah'd like to think ah might have a chance with a mare like her." Mac sat back, drinking deep from his glass.
"Wow, I had no idea, Mac. If you want I can always have a word with Cadence, give you two a bit of a head start?"
"Nnnope. If ah'm gonna try, ah'll do it the earth pony way, just like ah have all mah life. Thank y'kindly fer the offer, though."
Berry trotted back to the trio carrying Crepúsculo's half pint of cider on a tray, this time leaving her beloved stallion with just a gentle wink. The pegasus stallion took a big gulp from his glass, noisily swallowing the liquid. Shining Armour saw his chance to uncover the information he desired from the semi-inebriated pony.
"Well, that's Mac's love life. You may have established by now I'm recently married, but what about you? I'm sure the mares are always at your hooves, right?"
"Ay no, señor. For a long time I was in solitude in my homeland, it is only in this village that I have happened upon a mare or two that takes my fancy."
Mare or two, hmm? "And who are they, then?" Shining probed.
"Oh, the señoritas Twilight and Rarity have both caught my attention." He swigged from his glass.
Just as I thought, only worse. "Look, I don't mean to get in your business, but if Twily's involved it has to be one or the other, just remember that. Like I said, I don't want to be too protective but at the same time, I'm always going to be looking out for my little sister. Okay? Now finish that up." He motioned towards the cider "We're on the move in a minute."
"We're returning home? Already?" Crepúsculo asked, draining the final gulp from his glass.
"Nnnope," Mac replied, swigging the last few mouthfuls of Applejack Daniels Single Barrel from the bottle before setting it back on the table, completely emptied.
"Just stick with us, we're off towards the village edge," Shining said, as if that would clear everything up. He levitated a couple of extra bits Berry's way for the extra half of cider, carrying the remnants of the original Applejack Daniels out of the door and waving a goodbye to the plum barmare.
"Don't be too long in comin' back, you're always welcome under this roof." She smiled at her customers as they left her tavern. Especially you, my handsome gentlecolt, Macintosh.
***
The trio trotted briskly across the village. Throughout the journey Crepúsculo noticed more and more ponies, some wearing brightly coloured bracelets, a group of giggling mares here and there, a stallion or two at the side of the road, leaning on a wall until Equestria stopped spinning so violently.
He gradually became aware of a dull thumping coming from over a hill, accompanied by lines of light flashing through the night sky, vanishing as soon as they had appeared. The three stallions came to the crest of the hill, stopping next to a group of red delicious trees and looking down at their destination.
A huge red barn stood proudly in a vast, empty field. Its windows were visibly shaking, a deep bass rumbling through each pane threatening to shatter the glass outwards from the barn to accompany the vibrant lasers carving through the night sky. There was a long line of ponies outside the barn doors kept in order by two others. Crepúsculo could just recognise one of them to be a mare he had seen at Sugarcube Corner, the grey one chasing another mare with a cello bow. The second of the pair was not as familiar to him, an orange mare wearing a tan hat accompanied the cellist in stemming the flow of entrants into the barn under a large banner pinned above the big red doors.
'Club Appl3. First Friday of every month with DJ Pon-3'
"Club... appl-tres? I do not understand," Crepúsculo slurred.
"A local mare was lookin' fer someplace to play her music an’ we had a spare barn. Cut a pretty nice business deal, too, if ya ask me," Mac explained, setting off down the hill.
The orange mare had just let in a group of three mares and two stallions when she spotted her brother descending towards her. Once he was close enough she called out to him, waving a hoof through the air.
"Hey, Mac! What time d'ya call this?" The farm-mare asked with a smile, "Y'all were meant ta take over half an hour ago!"
"Ah know, sis, ah'm sorry. Just got a bit caught up is all. Y'all head on in now, I got the rest of this,” he said to his sibling before turning to Shining Armour and Crepúsculo, "Ah'll be inside in about a half hour ah reckon. You two go on ahead with AJ."
“AJ...” Crepúsculo thought out loud. “What a strange name,” he chuckled.
“Well Ah guess ya’ll can call me Applejack if ya prefer,” she smiled back. “An’ what might Ah call you, then?”
“Crepúsculo Sombrío,” he stated with a wave of his hoof.
And ah’m the one with the strange name... the earth pony thought, raising an eyebrow.
"We’ll see you in a bit, Mac," Shining called out, heading inside with Crepúsculo and Applejack way ahead of their place in the queue. Having connections with the Apples came in handy quite a lot around Ponyville.
Mac turned back to the line of ponies outside of the barn. It wasn't a huge line, but then again this was only the second time Club Appl3 was being held. More would come as it became more established. He let another small group inside as the other mare that was policing the line walked gracefully toward him.
"Good evening, Macintosh. I take it you have had an enjoyable time thus far?" Octavia politely struck up conversation.
"Eeeyup."
Octavia attempted to politely strike up conversation. "Well, Vinyl certainly seems to be entertaining the masses tonight. There are a fair few more ponies than last month, it would seem."
"Eeeyup."
The grey mare let out a sigh. "Well, I should probably let you get back to your duties, then. Goodnight, Macintosh, it's been... nice talking with you," she concluded uneasily.
Mac simply gave a nod and a smile to the refined mare as she walked slowly back down the line of entrants. He gave a quick sigh of his own, letting another slightly larger group into the establishment.
***
"Whadd'ya mean y'all never even had a dance?" Applejack shouted incredulously over the bass. "Plenty ponies here ta show ya the ropes, now git on in there, pardner!" She shoved Crepúsculo into the crowd of ponies where he, being in a drunken state, began to convulse vaguely in time with the beat.
Applejack's wide smile gradually began to fade as she uneasily averted her gaze from the monstrosity unfolding before her, turning her attention to Shining Armour.
"So where did y'all say ya found this one?" she asked, scratching the back of her neck just underneath her trademark Stetson.
"Nowhere near here, clearly." The stallion chuckled, "At least he's not hurting anypony, I guess."
Crepúsculo suddenly stumbled back out of the throng towards Applejack and Shining Armour, extending his left wing in a fruitless attempt to gain balance. Quick as ever, the farm pony extended a hoof to try and stop the stumbling pegasus before he hurt himself, but her hoof managed to wrap around his extended wingtip before an intense pain forced her to release the wing and let the drunken oaf collapse face first, eyes rolling back into his skull.
"OW! What in tarnation?" Applejack brought her hoof up to her eye level, shocked at the deep gouges cutting into the flesh as rivulets of crimson stained her orange coat. "What in the hay was that?!" she demanded angrily of Crepúsculo, whom had just regained consciousness and was lazily supporting himself on his forelegs.
"Ay, pienso que... lo siento... I think I tripped."
"Not that! Yer wings! What... forget it." Applejack grunted, limping away to find a bandage or three.
Crepúsculo simply stood there, puzzled at the mare's outburst. "What is the problem with her?" he queried Shining.
"The problem with her? She doesn't have a problem, except you just sliced her hoof to pieces!" Shining retorted, not so much in anger as in shock, "How did you even do that?"
"Oh... ay, plumas de pony, it must have been my feathers again," he confessed, sitting guiltily on his haunches.
"Wait, what's the deal with your feathers? And what do you mean ‘again’?" Shining looked closely at his wings. "There's blood on both of your wings! What have you done?" The captain of the royal guard narrowed his eyes, ducking into a lower stance.
"No no! It was only an accident! I want to hurt nopony, I have seen enough hurt; I have seen enough pain." The giant pegasus seemed to shrink, eyes wide and quivering; many nearby ponies started to stare at him. "I have seen too much of everything!" The pegasus made a beeline for the door, wings tight against his torso to avoid any further trouble.
Shining stood rooted to the floor, shocked at the drunken outburst as wave after wave of heavy sound washed over him.
"Aww yeah! Is everypony ready for my new track?! Fresh beats baby!" The voice of the energetic DJ Pon-3 shocked Shining back into sense. He considered going after Crepúsculo, but then thought he might need some time alone. I mean, I wouldn't even know which way he went, plus Ponyville isn't exactly a hard place to find your way around. I'm sure he'll end up back at Twily's... In her spare bed... I'll just drop by in the morning to make sure everything went as expected. Even as the words entered his mind, they shook his drunken nerves. The thought of the dangerous stranger sleeping near his sister put him on edge. But Twilight was a capable mare, she could defend herself.
Mac disturbed his train of thought as he strode into the barn, stopping in front of Shining. "Hey, Shinin', I just saw the new guy headin' out already. Anythin' wrong? Where's AJ?"
"Oh, er, she must have gone to the bar, I guess," the white stallion lied, "Now come on, it's time to cut loose."
The two stallions headed to the centre of the pack of party ponies, enjoying the DJ's thick bass to its full extent.
***
Thoughts clouded Crepúsculo's mind, making him claustrophobic and panicked. He unfurled his razor wings, breathing heavily as he darted into the sky in a jagged line, desperate for the wide open skies. Most of them cannot reach me up here. He had learned long ago that while the skies weren't completely safe, they were at least a little less dangerous than the ground those things walked on. At least the fliers are fewer in number.
He flew straight through a large cloud, emerging the other side dripping wet and slightly more sober. Allowing himself time to catch his breath, he surveyed the village below him. Dark and silent, nopony was to be seen from the thatched roof cottages to the brick houses; not a single hoofstep on the dirt roads nor the cobbled streets. In the centre stood a tall, domed structure surrounded by scaffolding, a gaping hole present on the top of the building. Pivoting around, his eyes met the sight of Twilight's library. Surely he would be safer there.
He shot off towards the great tree, slowing down before landing with a tentative thud that made some of Rainbow Dash's crash landings look almost graceful. Narrowing his eyes, he concentrated hard on the door to the library, swinging a hoof at the wood as he stumbled forward. The door flew open, unlocked, and Crepúsculo crashed once more to the floor in a messy heap.
Twilight looked up, startled at the sudden intrusion, dropping an old copy of 'The Studies of Foreign Tongues Volume III: La Selva Demonica' and hurriedly tucking it beneath the cushion she had been lying on. The concerned mare rushed to the stallion occupying her floor.
"What happened? Are you alright?"
Gradually he brought himself to his hooves and gave a relieved smile. "Sí, but I think perhaps, there is something in the water in these parts."
"You've been drinking Big Mac's cider, haven't you?" Twilight deadpanned.
Crepúsculo looked shocked. "How did you know?" he asked, mouth agape.
"Call it a hunch." Twilight giggled slightly, "Maybe it's for the best that you're sleeping outside the library tonight. Come on, I've set the bed out, I'll just get you a bucket, hold on."
"Gracias, but what is the bucket for?"
"When the time comes, you'll know," Twilight chuckled.
Confused, he set about the arduous task of ascending the stairs one by one to the outdoor observatory where his bed was waiting for him. Once he had finally conquered the first flight of nefarious steps he looked up the second with grim determination and a slight queasiness. Meanwhile, Twilight stood a few steps below him holding a large red bucket in her magical aura waiting patiently for the stallion to tackle round two of his ascension to bed.
After a few more painfully slow minutes had passed the pair finally reached the observatory. Crepúsculo flung the door open dramatically, nearly separating it from its hinges, while Twilight set his bucket down next to his pillow.
"Okay, well, you have a good night's sleep now!"
She started to turn back towards her own bed when Crepúsculo turned around and flung his arms over the mare in a crushing embrace. "Gracias, señorita Twilight Sparkle. You are so very kind." He squeezed his mighty forelegs around the lilac mare, slowly turning her a deeper shade of purple.
"It's... Ah! No problem... can't breathe..." she struggled.
Crepúsculo released his grip with a bashful grin, climbing into his bed. "Buenas noches, señorita." He yawned quietly, falling asleep almost immediately.
Twilight was left to descend back to her own bed for the night, clutching her ribs and wearing a large smile which she wasn't quite sure why she had.
Blinding light bored into Crepúsculo's skull through his eyelids. Shutting them tight didn't help; the fiery conflagration blazed just as bright as he lay under the infernal burning ball, throat dry and head near exploding. Desperate to ease his pain, he attempted to bring a hoof over his eyes to block the light from burning his retinas. Lifting his foreleg took considerably more effort than he remembered, and at the top of its arc he found himself losing control over its descent as it plummeted towards him, striking him roughly on his muzzle. He released a little whimper from the back of his arid throat as he attempted to roll onto his side. However, he succeeded only in falling from his resting place, arriving all too quickly at the ground next to his bed on the observatory with the sun warming his back.
With considerable effort he hauled himself to his feet, his head screaming at him due to the sudden change in altitude. He gingerly took a few steps in no particular direction, swaying side to side. Stopping to regain what little balance he had before, he inhaled a deep breath of fresh, morning air through his nose.
The stench was so foul he gagged, covering his mouth with the back of his hoof. The powerful scent was familiar, not a smell he smelled a lot, but one he recognised. Unfortunately for him, before he could put his hoof on what it was, he put his hoof in it.
His foreleg made a quiet squelching noise as it plunged into a bright red bucket lying next to his bed. Crepúsculo clenched his heavy eyelids shut, hoping against hope he hadn't just done what he thought he had. Tentatively opening an eye he looked down to his now wet hoof. His fears were confirmed; somepony had been sick and now he had just put his hoof in it.
Withdrawing his hoof from the offending bucket, he decided to try and get to the door leading down into the library to find the bathroom again. Hobbling on his three hooves not covered with bodily fluids, he made heavy work of arriving at the door, yet another obstacle in his morning from hell. Still having enough dignity not to smear somepony else's vomit on somepony else's door, he needed to find a way of opening it using his available appendages. Balance had already proved to be against him this morning.
***
Twilight was disturbed from her alchemy by a loud crash coming from above her. Racing from her assorted potions and lotions, she galloped towards the sound to find an extremely rough-looking pegasus descending the stairs from her broken door using a clumsy amalgamation of three hooves and a wing or two where necessary.
"Señorita," the dishevelled stallion mumbled, "somepony has vomited outside, I do not know of who, but..." He stopped short as his mouth seemed to fill. With panic in his eyes he set off to the bathroom as fast as a hung-over, three-legged pony could move, which in this case was fast enough to send Twilight's mane flying backwards as he raced past her, locking the bathroom door.
The surprised mare turned to face the bathroom door with a lone eyebrow raised. Wow, I guess Shiny wasn't kidding about his state last night. Twilight had been drunk a few times before, to study the social implications and opportunities related with alcohol, of course. But never before had she had the experience it sounded like Crepúsculo was having from the groans, running water and multiple toilet flushes coming from the other side of the locked door. A good few minutes passed before the decrepit stallion stumbled back out of the washroom. Twilight took a single look at his dishevelled mane and tail, the bags under his eyes, infirm posture and wincing expressions and put on a face she usually reserved for when Spike was feeling ill from eating too much ice cream, concerned yet a little disappointed.
"Are you okay?"
He flinched noticeably, "Ay por favor, not so loud." He grumbled, clutching his pounding head.
Twilight deadpanned, "Come on, now I'm not doing anything anymore," she whispered, glancing back at her alchemy table and her experiment that had evaporated while her back had been turned, "maybe we could head over to Sugarcube Corner, get you something for lunch to perk you up a little."
"Lunch? What happened to breakfast?"
"We're well past breakfast." The despairing mare facehoofed. "Just trust me, you'll feel better. Now let's go."
The two ponies departed from the library at a decidedly slower pace Twilight was used to. Idiot, she thought, yet with a smile on her face.
***
A pink blur darted from corner to corner of the bakery, collecting ingredients, checking oven temperature, scribbling in a cookbook, cracking eggs and constantly chattering to whoever was around to listen. This left her talking to herself a lot until a pony hobbled through her doorway holding one hoof lamely in the air, carrying a large container on their back.
"Well hey there, AJ! Is that my apple order? Gonna need those for the big party tonight, you'll be there right? Oh of course you'll be there, the whole village will be! Hey what happened to your hoof?" Pinkie suddenly stopped racing from here to there, stopping in front of Applejack with a concerned expression.
Applejack set her bushel of produce on the floor and leaned against the doorframe, "T'ain't nothin', Pinkie," she stated, holding her bandaged hoof close to her chest while she regained her breath from limping all the way from the acres with a full order of red delicious apples.
"Well it sure looks like something." The party pony temporarily lost her smile as she leaned in close to Applejack. "Was it a farm accident?"
"Ah don't wanna talk about it, ah'm fine," the farmpony stated stubbornly. "Ah just gotta let Mac take care of the buckin' fer a day or two."
Pinkie's smile returned once more. "Well in that case, you've got time for a drink or a cupcake or something else delicious while you're here! It's the least I can do to thank you for the apples... on top of paying for them obviously."
"Sounds good. Ah'd take a fritter if ya got one?"
"An apple fritter?"
"Is there any other kind?" The orange mare chuckled, a smile slowly returning to her face, replacing her pained expression.
Pinkie giggled and snorted at her friend, happy she was being cheered up. "Comin' right up!"
While her apple treat was being prepared, AJ took a seat at one of Sugarcube Corner's tables and carefully unwound her bandaging. Underneath the clean white cloth were more layers of bandage, each one a deeper red than the last until the final layer was peeled back, giving out a sickeningly sticky sound and revealing the deep gouges from last night. Might be longer than a day or two that Mac'll have ta do the harvest alone, she thought morosely. Wrapping her hoof back up, she heard the chime of the bakery's door as a customer entered. AJ swivelled in her seat to see Twilight and somepony behind her.
"Howdy, Twi," she offered, still lacking most of her usual happiness of meeting a friend.
"Good morning, Applejack." Twilight smiled. "This is Crepúsculo, he's new to Ponyville as of yesterday." She gestured behind her at the vacant looking stallion.
Applejack narrowed her eyes at the careless pegasus. "We've met," she icily stated.
"Oh, well uh... okay then! Is Pinkie about?" The unicorn grinned nervously.
"Over here, Twilight!" Pinkie shouted from halfway into the oven, retrieving a fresh fritter.
Twilight trotted over to the pink pony with a smile, just in time to avoid a multicoloured streak as it burst through the entrance in a stunning flip before crashing straight into a certain hung-over pegasus who was hurled across the room by the force of Ponyville’s fastest flier’s landing. Not even noticing the small nick in her leg caused from her collision with the razor wings of the now floor-bound and dazed stallion, she burst straight into her excited questioning.
"Hey, Pinks, I hear there's a surprise party at Twilight's tonight, who's it for?"
She was met with shocked eyes from Twilight and Pinkie and a sly chuckle from Applejack. "That'd be the fella down there." The orange mare pointed at the heap of dark blue pegasus with her injured hoof.
"Woah, AJ, what's with the hospital bandage-y stuff?" Dash so eloquently enquired.
"Nothin' at all." Applejack said a little too loudly, eyes darting from here to there. "Now if'n y'all will excuse me, ah got a few things to do back on the farm." She limped quickly from the bakery, returning momentarily only to take her fritter from Pinkie in silence.
"Right..." Dash paused, a little confused, "So who's the new guy?"
"Oh, that's señor Sombrero!" Pinkie began, "He got here the day before yesterday, but that night I was busy, then last night was Club Appl3, but tonight is his surprise party!"
"That reminds me," Twilight interjected, "Were either of you at Club Appl3 last night? My brother stopped by this morning saying something about what went on there was better not brought up, and this one can't remember a thing." She motioned at Crepúsculo, who was starting to stir back to life, the ringing in his ears becoming ever more distant.
"Well of course I was there! But I was helping Vinyl behind the scenes, you know, keeping stock of supplies, ensuring the decorations were always tip top, going over the books, counting the bits from the night, the usual." Pinkie smiled nonchalantly, met with surprised looks from Dash and Twilight. "What? Being a party pony isn't all parties you know. Now if you'll excuse me, there's a party tonight that needs planning."
"Wait, Pinkie!" Twilight called. "Can we get two lunches please?"
"Oh sure! Here, there are a couple of sandwiches and drinks in here, along with two slices of experimental cake." The pink mare motioned toward a decent sized lunchbox behind Sugarcube Corner's counter.
"Experimental?" Twilight looked dubious.
"Party to plan gotta go bye!" Pinkie spoke, seemingly all in one word, before zipping back into the kitchen.
Twilight exchanged a puzzled glance with Dash before tentatively picking up the lunchbox in her telekinetic aura and trotting over to Crepúsculo, prodding him with a hoof to his ribs as he made vague signs of being among the living.
"Well, fun as this looks, I've got a cloud or two to push. I'll see you at the library tonight, Twilight." Rainbow flew out of an opened window, leaving behind a solitary speck of blood from her cut as she took off.
Crepúsculo took a shaky stance on his hooves once more. "Which way went that manticore?" he managed to drawl from behind unfocused eyes.
"Let's just get you sat down outside okay?" Twilight said, getting a little worried for her new friend.
Just as the last of the last of the lunch crowd were leaving, the pair took a table outside the bakery and opened bright blue lunchbox. Twilight took out the drinks and sandwiches, placing one of each before the slumped stallion. Crepúsculo's stomach gave a loud growl at the sight before he tore into the sandwich's packaging, devouring the contents in seconds, displaying more energy in that short time than the entirety of the rest of the morning.
"Hungry?" Twilight asked, taking a solitary bite of her own sandwich.
The greedy pegasus nodded slowly, returning back to his previous, sedentary state. Twilight finished her mouthful and giggled slightly, turning the box towards him which now contained only Pinkie's 'experimental' cake. As in science, it would be best to see the effects of whatever is in it on a test subject before I sample it myself, she reasoned.
Crepúsculo brought the slice of cake out of the box and placed it in front of him. For the moment it was within Twilight's vision before it was gobbled up while she could have sworn she saw a faint glow around the slice's edge, and maybe it was just her imagination but, is it fizzing?
But before she could clarify her observations it was gone in a single bite, leaving behind only a few crumbs and a huge smile on the face of its devourer. A smile quickly replaced by a wide open mouth and panicked eyes as super concentrated popping candy bounced about his tongue, the gooey filling adhered to the roof of his mouth and the icing seemed to find a path straight to his skull, sucker punching his brain. Leaping up, the pegasus began running on the spot, darting his head frantically from side to side before looking down at the drink before him, wrenching the lid off the bottle and guzzling the entire thing. Thankfully there was no alcohol involved this time around.
Once he was sure he had survived the ordeal, the dark stallion took a seat once more, eyes wide open, mouth salivating and not a trace of the debilitating headache from only moments ago. Pinkie had watched the whole thing from a window on the top floor of Sugarcube Corner, very satisfied with her handiwork. I knew that was what he needed! Maybe next time I'll try it with bubblegum! Or marzipan! Or just twice the sugar!
Twilight sat calmly, considered her observations on the test subject, and came to the logical conclusion that she would not eat Pinkie's cake.
"Well, now it would seem you're a little more awake, anyway," she began. "I think you left something with Rarity yesterday? Why don't we go and sort that out shall we?" She smiled.
Crepúsculo let out a pant or two. "Sí... saddlebags... vamos." He rose from his seat, sure he hadn't blinked since finishing the drink. Why does everything I eat or drink try to kill me in this village?
***
Rarity had scarcely been home for five minutes after her weekly shop when her door chimed open, accompanied by a cheerful call of her name. She would recognise Twilight's voice anywhere. After putting the last of her grocery purchases on their respective shelves, she trotted through to the main reception of her boutique.
"Oh good afternoon, Twilight, and señor Crepúsculo, was it?" she queried in an upbeat manner, knowing full well that was his name.
"Sí, señorita," he smiled back, enjoying his full return to sobriety. "We come to enquire about my saddlebags, if it is not too much trouble?"
"Oh but of course, darling! Let me just fetch them."
The pure white mare strode to the corner of the boutique where her shelves were situated, levitating the repaired bags from the bottom shelf. As Rarity turned back towards the pair of ponies in her reception area, Twilight couldn't help but notice a small blemish on the fashionista's coat, just a single, slightly darker line. Well that's unlike Rarity, she mused.
"I used the toughest fabric I could lay my hooves on, remade the clasps to resemble your cutie mark and added a smooth but durable lining within the bags. So what do you think?" She laid the saddlebags on the pegasus' lower back, fine tuning their position by hoof, lingering around his flank slightly longer than a regular acquaintance might. "Magnifique, non?"
Crepúsculo took a moment to admire the mare's work in a conveniently placed floor to ceiling mirror. The bags practically shone under the lights of the boutique. He deftly reached a hoof to the bags, overly conscious his wings may ruin the fashionista's hard work. Opening the left bag he felt the smooth lining within, but something was amiss. His diary! Panicking, he hurriedly turned to the other pouch, delving desperately within it in search of the book. Yes, there it was. Letting out a sigh of relief he turned nervously to the confused white unicorn before him.
"Señorita," His voice was cold, and deadly serious. "Have you looked in my journal?"
"Moi? Oh no no no no! I would never!" Rarity chuckled nervously, "I couldn't understand most of it anyway." She stated, before realising her slip up and cramming a hoof in her mouth.
The stallion clutched the journal to his chest, shooting a worried glare at the unicorn currently eating her hoof. "What do you mean by this?" he demanded, wide-eyed.
Twilight quickly interjected a stammering Rarity, "I'm sure she was just referring to the title, it's kind of hard to miss." she offered with a nervous ear to ear grin.
"Of course!" Rarity jumped at the opportunity, "Such bold calligraphy! How could I miss it?"
The jumpy pegasus seemed to relax a little at this, slipping the journal back into its holding place, safe from prying eyes.
"Bueno, if you say so..." He trailed off.
Twilight was the first to break the uncomfortable silence. "Well I'm glad that's cleared up! We should probably get back to the library, a few experiments to conclude, hypotheses to test, you know how it is..." she smiled to Rarity, "and a bit of a mess to clear up." She glanced at Crepúsculo.
"Oh don't let me keep you two," Rarity began. "Besides, I'll be seeing you later." She smiled delicately at the stallion as he exited her boutique, winking as he disappeared.
"Rarity! It's supposed to be a surprise!" Twilight whispered out of Crepúsculo's earshot.
"Oh calm yourself, Twilight. There's nothing quite like hinting at something you know which somepony else does not." She replied in a joking manner.
"Okay but, next time don't make it too obvious," the purple mare fretted. "I'll see you later."
***
Crepúsculo was busy on the library's observatory scrubbing away his shame that had landed outside of his bucket throughout the night when he began to notice the throng of ponies assembling in the streets below him. From his vantage point he could see the crowd drifting slowly to the library. Every now and then, one of the crowd would look up and meet his gaze before looking away, sometimes nudging somepony else and quickening their pace towards the library entrance, out of his line of sight.
Growing a little suspicious, he wiped up the last of his vomit and paced towards the door to the tree's top floor, only to find there was no light shining through from within. In fact the interior of the arboreal dwelling was pitch black. His wings started to slightly unfurl on impulse before he tucked them tight to his sides once more, painfully aware of the trouble they had gotten him into recently.
"Señorita Twilight?" he tentatively spoke to the dark abyss.
All of a sudden, the door to the observatory slammed behind him, blinding lights assaulted his eyes, and many small, papery objects thrust themselves into his face with a bang.
"Surprise!" Pinkie practically screamed, dropping the party popper from her mouth and putting on her famous ear to ear grin. "I remember you said you don't really like surprises but I'm so sorry, I just couldn't resist! Actually I'm not that sorry, I regret nothing! Welcome to your welcome party!"
Crepúsculo slowly descended from his tight clutch on the library's rafters down to the ground floor, landing with a clop from his hooves that was lost in the bustle of the ponies around him, all of them smiling amiably and having a good time. Dumbfounded, the large stallion cast his eye across the room to see a few familiar faces and many more new ones.
So many friendly smiles were aimed in his direction, never before had he been met with such a happy wave of multicoloured peers. Looking at the eyes which were looking back at him, he noticed a white pony with her eyes behind reflective purple lenses. Something about the unicorn mare seemed familiar, and it was only when a grey earth pony stepped forward beside her wearing a pink bow tie that he remembered the two from his first visit to Sugarcube Corner; at least the two seemed to be getting along now as opposed to chasing and threatening each other. Glancing further around, another pair of eyes met his own, or rather one eye did from under a blonde mane accompanied by a bubbly, infectious smile he couldn't help but share.
With a happy grin on his face, he walked slowly to a table in the corner piled high with sugary confections. Recognising Pinkie's extra special rainbow cupcakes, he moved to the exact opposite end of the table; he didn't want anything that had even been near those things. Extending his foreleg out to grab a far tamer-looking cinnamon roll, he bumped a dark pink hoof heading for the very same treat.
"Oh! Excuse me, after you!" The stranger chirped. "You must be Crepúsculo then? It's so nice to have you here! My name is Cheerilee, I teach at the local school. I've heard you speak a different language to everypony else here. Perhaps you could come down and give the little ones a lesson or two on how to speak the basics? I just think it would be a fun exercise!" The teacher smiled.
"Pues, quizás... I have never really dealt with foals before." The pegasus took a bite of his cinnamon roll.
"Well yes, a few in particular can cause a little trouble, asking awkward questions, using too much paint in art classes, unleashing gods of chaos on field trips and so on," she giggled. "But don't worry, I'd be there to help you out!"
"I shall give the idea some thought, señorita." The stallion smiled, finishing off his pastry.
"Great! Well, I look forward to hearing from you again!" Cheerilee waved as she returned to the crowd in the centre of the room.
Crepúsculo smiled to himself and turned around to find Twilight and all of her friends surrounding her. Pinkie had a foreleg over the lilac unicorn while Rarity stood with one hoof on her flowing mane, and a multi-hued pegasus hovered just above the group. Applejack stood with them, only without the same good natured smile, instead a mistrusting glare at the stallion that had cut her hoof open as she stood with one foreleg just off the floor. Behind them all he was distracted by a butter yellow hoof waving in the air coupled with a quiet squeaking barely audible among the crowd.
"Girls? Oh dear, girls? I have a problem, a big one. Girls?" the mare whimpered behind the group, starting to raise herself upward with her wings. The airborne cyan pegasus was the first to notice the timid mare among the crowd that had now returned to enjoying each other's company and chatting jovially.
"Oh, hey Fluttershy!" She began before turning and noticing tears streaming from the yellow mare's bright blue eyes. "Woah, what's up? Are you okay? Did Angel hit you again?"
"No! Well, not today, but this is just terrible! I've just never seen anything so... so..."
"Fluttershy!" Twilight called out, pulling her distraught friend closer to the party's guest of honour to make friendly introductions. "It would appear that you two haven't met! Fluttershy, this is Crepúsculo, from a far-away land, and Crepúsculo, this is Fluttershy, distraught and crying." Twilight's eyes widened. "Goodness! Fluttershy, what's wrong? Has Angel been causing you trouble again?"
"No, Twilight! This is just awful! I need you to use your magic to protect my cottage!"
"Protect it? But what from? Fluttershy, what's happened?"
"K-k-k-kidnap!" She managed to blurt out between her sobs, "I woke up this morning and the goat I was taking care of, Charon, he was gone! Taken!"
"You're sure? He might just have gone for a walk?"
"No! See, th-that's what I thought, but there were more than one pair of tracks leading from his shelter! I started to follow them, but they went so deep into the Everfree Forest and I just thought, if it isn't too much trouble, m-maybe you could come with me? I know you'd probably like to stay here but, well, I could r-really use a friend, especially one with some powerful magic." Fluttershy looked up at Twilight, eyes pleading for help. Not even Iron Will would be able to resist those eyes.
"Oh, Fluttershy, of course I'll help you," Twilight smiled before turning to face her other friends. "Girls, I just have to go and sort something out with Fluttershy real quick, and Crepúsculo, you'll be fine for just a while here right?"
The pegasus stallion had been close enough to hear the entire ordeal between the two mares and didn't like it one bit. But all these ponies here, for me! For the first time, companionship! I thought this was behind me, the stallion debated with himself. But this goat, Charon, what if he is being led to... No! I must find out. "Actually, señorita, I could perhaps use some fresh air. Might I accompany you?"
"Oh, sure!" Twilight blushed a little. "Lead the way, Fluttershy."
"Hey!" Pinkie shouted after them, "just be back in time for the cake! Oh who am I kidding? There's always time for cake!" Smiling contentedly she bounced back to the party she had prepared.
Surely it cannot be, I mean what could the likelihood be that this village has its own little path to the gates themselves? Crepúsculo thought. But I need to know for sure.
A blog post recapping some of the key points from chapters 1 to 4
Night’s veil of darkness shrouded Ponyville. Fluttershy’s cottage bathed in the pure light Luna had seen fit to provide from her full, unrestricted moon. The journey from the library had been quick and silent, each member of the trio had focused their mind on one specific thing. Fluttershy focused on Charon, a kidnapping from right under her nose was simply unheard of in their small village. Twilight wondered to herself about the reasoning behind Crepúsculo’s desire to accompany the two mares on their midnight journey. He must have a reason, but what?
At the forefront of Crepúsculo’s mind were the gates. It had not been too long since the last disturbance, when its very guardian was released, free to travel pathway to pathway. The guardian had been shortly and inexplicably returned to the gates shortly after, but Crepúsculo had never found out how. He still remembered the beast, released from his bonds, three sadistic grins on three great, jet-black heads before he was gone, away from the pathway of La Selva back through Tartarus to elsewhere in Equestria.
“Charon was staying here.” Fluttershy waved a hoof at a small, wooden shack lined with straw. “But just look at the tracks here.”
Twilight leaned in close to the dirt outside the shack. Sure enough, there were the small tracks of a goat, adjacent to a set of hoofprints veering from left to right, uneven and erratic.
“Well that is a little strange,” Twilight mused, turning to Fluttershy to ask a question. “You said you’d followed the tracks for a while?” she asked Fluttershy.
“Oh, yes, this way.” The pegasus mare began to head towards the Everfree. “They head straight into a part of the forest I’ve never been before.”
Crepúsculo and Twilight followed Fluttershy through the trees as she glided gently over the undergrowth. Ten minutes passed at this pace with nought but silence to be heard - there was no sound from the wildlife, no clopping of hooves against the soft ground, and not even a whisper from the wind. Nopony and no beast seemed willing to break this pure silence.
Fluttershy finally landed next to a stone column, its bottom half coated in moss and the grooves of its intricate carvings higher up filled with dirt.
“This is as far as I got,” Fluttershy confessed. “I’ve never been past these stones; there are a few of them in this area but they just seem so ominous, so I just stay safely away.”
Twilight stepped closer to the upright face of the hard grey rock, reaching out with her hoof to brush the filth from the carvings. Earth and moss fell from the cracks to reveal crude letters and markings. Crepúsculo peered over the unicorn’s shoulder, unable to see what exactly the small monolith heralded, but fearing the worst.
“What does it say?” he asked, his voice faltering a little.
“It’s some form of hieroglyphics, I can’t read it,” Twilight admitted.
Crepúsculo moved to the other side of the stone, wiping a section clean with his own hoof. His face fell as he released a dejected sigh and shut his eyes.
“There are few that can. It is a language dead to our world, and the dead have kept it.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight pressed. “You can’t you read it at all?”
“I do not know the words they tell, but the fact that they are here at all is proof enough. Now we must move quickly.” he turned and resumed following the tracks at a much quicker pace.
Twilight shared a confused glance with Fluttershy before following the dark stallion further into the unknown in an effort to catch up with him. It couldn’t kill him to be a little more specific, surely? the unicorn mused, frustrated.
Silence reigned once more, this time interrupted by the rustling of leaves and branches as the forest seemed to close in around the speeding group. Fluttershy was forced from the air to the ground in order to avoid the multitude of branches reaching out to swat her from the sky. Crepúsculo sliced through the occasional particularly low-hanging branch or leafy patch obscuring the tracks, aided by the artificial light from Twilight’s horn as the trio galloped deeper into the Everfree forest.
Crepúsculo was afraid. The etching in the stone had been enough for him to be sure - This was surely the same goat he had feared it might be. Tales had been told to him of Charon, none of them with a positive ending. He tried to tell himself Charon could just be a popular name for goats, that he was overreacting, but he knew better than most how mysterious the goat race was. Of course, much had been lost in history, but it was said that the goats were, a long time ago, closely related to the zebra, and even though they were not fully sentient they held as much power as ponykind, just not necessarily within the realms of Equestria.
The trio of ponies burst into a clearing devoid of trees. The large space was entirely carpeted with bright red flowers, and on the opposite side of the clearing stood a cliff face. Crepúsculo skidded to a halt just before trampling the crimson foliage. He was staring at the sheer rock wall. It was perhaps a hundred metres from him, with a large cave leading deep inside. It seemed that somepony had been in that cave recently. Even from this distance the flaming torches, that were held up by what must have been wall sconces, flickered and danced from within the dark interior of the cave. Clearly this would be where he would find Charon and stop whoever had taken him, perhaps before it had even begun. Without a second thought he set off to the opening.
"Oh! Be careful of those flowers!" Fluttershy gasped.
"Señorita, I think they are the least of our present worries," The fretting stallion arrogantly stated, ignoring her warning and trotting through the clearing, his large, heavy hooves trampling the ruby red bulbs, sending spores upward towards his muzzle.
“Oh goodness, no, please...” Fluttershy trailed off.
"Fluttershy," Twilight asked, "what's wrong?"
"It's just... after our incident with the poison joke, I started to visit Zecora to try and learn more about the plants in the forest in case it would help in the future. Twilight, I-I'm sure I know this flower, and I think she said it was a type of deliriant." Fluttershy squeaked.
"You mean a hallucinogen?" Twilight gasped, eyes wide.
"Um, y-yes, I think."
"Crepúsculo! Stop!" Twilight called out to the stallion, who had visibly started to slow in the wake of pollen.
"Twilight! Careful!" Fluttershy put a leg out to stop Twilight, who was nervously edging closer to the plants.
Twilight stopped, sweat starting to form on her brow. She looked up from the flowers to Crepúsculo. He was no longer travelling in a straight line. Staggering from side to side, his hooves faltered under him, kicking up large dust clouds. Fluttershy took flight, rising a few metres from the ground for a better look.
As the dust around the stallion settled, she could see cracks start to form in the ground, dirt gently beginning to cascade into them.
"Twilight! The ground is coming loose!" she cried to the fretting unicorn.
But if the ground is becoming loose, I can just get these flowers out of my way! Of course! Twilight's head shot up as her horn began to glow. Crepúsculo had finally given in and was slumped heavily on the dry earth. Twilight bowed her head as the red flowers closest to her began to stand straight up, their crimson bulbs seemingly longing for the sky. One by one, the red plants were plucked, roots and all, from the dry earth and flung aside. The vermilion wave flowed outwards from Twilight as she strained her magic, focussing on each individual set of roots, some bringing chunks of dirt away with them.
"Twilight, stop!" Fluttershy had realised too late what Twilight was doing as the purple mare ran onto the dirt to retrieve the dazed stallion. As soon as Twilight had taken a few steps, the ground beneath her began to give way, no longer held together by the complex root systems. Cracks surged outwards as the earth crumbled beneath the mare, collapsing downwards and bringing with it rocks, the hallucinogenic flowers, and Crepúsculo himself. Fluttershy was forced to wait until the dust had settled to survey the situation, but when she could see what was below her she was met with a deep, gaping hole bordered with rough dirt edges where rocks and soil kept trickling downward. There were more than just two ponies in the ruin.
The pit entrance was now a few metres wide, but the space it led to expanded further underneath the ground, its roof held up by crude and rotting wooden support beams. Within this expanse of space lay a large stone arch, perhaps twenty metres high, covered in runes seemingly identical to those found on the upright stone pillars they had encountered earlier. Rusted iron bars entwined the stone, binding it in place behind a rotten wooden altar, covered with books, candles and some form of pipe, still smoking. At the far end of the pit a cloaked figure stood unmoving before the altar, its head bowed and breathing deep from the fumes of the pipe.
Under where the ground had given way, Twilight could be seen pulling herself from the dirt, clearly wincing at her movement, while Crepúsculo seemed to be scratching his front hooves at the ground in an attempt to stand. Fluttershy descended to her friends, keeping a wary eye on the unknown figure.
Pollen still encrusted the stallion's nostrils as he raised his head. Eyes tightly shut, he breathed deeply, trying to slow his heartbeat. All noise around him sounded metallic, echoing through his skull tenfold before fading into nothing. The ground under him felt a mile away, though it still brushed his chest as he scraped at it, trying to bring it closer. He stopped as he felt something on his back, two quick sensations pulsing through his flesh, gone as soon as they had come. His eyes shot open and every muscle he had tensed violently. The blacks and whites of the world swarmed to greet him. He saw only what was in front of him, and yet, he could see so much more beyond his sight as the shapes danced into his mind. There it was again, that feeling on his back. Slowly he turned to face behind him, gradually releasing his clenched jaw. The next thing he knew he was gaping open-mouthed at Twilight, lost in all of her that he could see.
Twilight looked down from inspecting the cloaked figure and stared into the stallion's wide, glazed eyes as they transfixed on something that must have been far behind her.
"Fluttershy, the pollen's gotten to him. I don't know what he's going through right now but it doesn't look pretty."
“Excuse me? Can you help us?” Twilight looked up from the stallion to the mystery being and took a step forward. The entity paid her no heed and kept chanting in its low voice.
Crepúsculo saw Twilight's black and white lips pulse with a metallic ring as the greys of her eyes swam away from her skull. Crepúsculo blinked furiously, briefly seeing red from the corners of his eyes. He snapped his neck round to try and glimpse the crimson hue, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. Replaced in his tunnel vision was the hooded figure at the altar, the strange words he heard clear as day. What he heard was enough for him to stand bolt upright. Red seeped from the cracks in his vision, filling his eyes, constantly moving. Through the vermilion haze, he could just make out the mare turning to face them all before he collapsed once again, the red draining from his view. Yes, it was a mare, he was sure of it.
Twilight knelt beside the stallion as his tears flowed to the dirt, but her attention was torn to elsewhere.
"T-T-" Fluttershy tried to stammer out.
"Twilight, Fluttershy, you are unexpected guests, as is your friend," the hooded mare stated in a deep tone.
"T-T-T-" Fluttershy took a step back.
Twilight stood up slowly, staring at disbelief at the pony before them, her blue coat visible through the black cloak's opening as she breathed deep from the pipe in her hoof.
"T-T-T-T-" Fluttershy's eyes were the widest Twilight had ever seen them, and that was including her stare.
"Trixie." Twilight finally finished Fluttershy's sentence, glaring at the robed unicorn. "What's going on here? What are you doing?"
"Questions, my dear Twilight. Questions you can't hope to live to see the answers to." Trixie's voice was deep, booming around the cavern and causing dust and dirt to fall from areas of the roof that were still intact. "We are part of something bigger than ourselves, bigger than you, bigger than the princesses with all their power. Ponykind pales in comparison to our dutiful burden."
She inhaled once more from the pipe before setting it down upon the altar next to a bundle of the red flowers found on the surface and a pestle and mortar. Her eyes darted around the cavern as she exhaled the smoke in a long, thick line.
"Ch-Charon..." Crepúsculo rose to his hooves. "Where is Charon?"
"The goat is gone," Trixie stated. "It was not his body we had need of, after all." She produced a small, red, roughly spherical object from her robe, dripping crimson streaks upon the cold grey floor. Fluttershy gasped in shock and Twilight choked back vomit with her hoof.
El corazón, the stallion realised.
"No!" he screamed, staggering forward towards Trixie, falling over his own hooves, wings flailing wildly as he crashed to the floor.
"You're pathetic. We were not expecting an interruption, much less one that posed no threat whatsoever to our goal," Trixie boomed as she walked to the centre of the arch, placing the heart in a small hollow on the stone floor. She drew a simple blade from her robe, lifted it high into the air as she knelt over the organ, and hesitated. The cloaked unicorn turned back to the trio of ponies she had been forced to share the area with. Tears misted her eyes but there was no turning back, not after what she'd seen, not after what she'd learnt.
"Trixie is sorry for what she must do," she whimpered, her voice no longer deep, no longer bold. She turned again and brought the knife down hard to meet the heart, and Charon's blood flowed freely below the arch.
A deep hum filled the cavern as Crepúsculo fell to the floor once more. Twilight and Fluttershy backed slowly away from the arch as it began to softly vibrate, the opening filling with a deep green colour. Support beams within the cavern began to bend and buckle. More chunks of earth fell from above, crashing hard to the stone floor.
"Beautiful," whispered Trixie as she stared up at the arch through teary, dilated eyes as the last space of the opening filled with the dirty green aura. The portal was open.
Crepúsculo raised his head just in time to see the first one step through, and with it all his fear came flooding back, paralysing him.
"Crepúsculo! What is that thing?" Twilight called out.
The figure of a pony slowly stumbled forth from the swirling emerald, heading straight for Trixie, the closest living flesh. It was an earth pony, or might have been once. Three legs held the pale body up, with the fourth dragging behind it, scraping the rough stone and leaving behind a small smear of blood. The creature's single ear twitched every few seconds, coupled with the swatting of the remains of its tail. A bedraggled, dirty blue mane covered one eye but left the other visible, a deep red pit of pure primeval instinct never breaking contact from the blue unicorn in its path.
"Come, ghoul, do what you must to this world." Trixie took a few clumsy steps to one side to let the creature pass. However, it only changed its path to follow the mare.
Trixie's swirling head began to clear as the realisation set in. It was coming for her.
"W-wait! We brought you here! W-We were to be spared!"
She backed away slowly under the hateful gaze of this monster, fear and adrenaline seizing her mind like a vice to counteract the effects of the crimson flower.
"H-h-help me!" Trixie managed to shout, faint sparks flying from her horn.
"Twilight!" Fluttershy yelped, "Help her!"
"No! Forget her!" Crepúsculo struggled to stand. "You must destroy the gate first!"
Twilight looked between her companions nervously. One or the other, she had to do something. Before her, the green portal swirled calmly with a low hum. Looking towards Trixie, she saw that the creature had backed her into a corner, mere steps away from being upon her. The choice seemed obvious.
Twilight galloped towards the mare in distress, doing her best to avoid yet more falling dirt from the remaining ceiling. Once she was close enough, a quick blast from her horn set up a small barrier between Trixie and her menacing attacker. Trixie cowered behind the weak shield as the creature repeatedly walked into it, seemingly oblivious to the obstacle between its teeth and its prey.
Crepúsculo growled in frustration at Twilight’s choice as he staggered forward to the portal. The hard stone steps proved a substantial obstacle to him in his state. He was also not helped by the loose dirt chunks falling to strike the back of his head and body. Finally arriving at one of the stone columns of the arch, he began to kick at the stone with all the strength he could manage, but the metal that bound it firmly in place would not permit it to move an inch.
"Ladies, please! You must help me!" He cried out, violently slashing his sharp wings at the metal and stone, causing sparks to fly from their tips.
Twilight turned to him, her attention momentarily pulled away from the pair of beings before her.
"With what?" she shouted, sounding more than a little panicked as a scream erupted from behind her.
She had just enough time to conjure up another weak shield between Trixie and the creature in place of the previous, now shattered one.
"Fluttershy, help him with whatever he needs!" Twilight ordered. "I'll take care of whatever this is."
"Keep your distance from it!" Crepúsculo warned Twilight, as Fluttershy glided over to him, putting her weight against the stone arch, accomplishing nothing.
"What? Why? I... Trixie! Move!" Twilight shouted back, fear turning to anger.
Trixie simply sat on her haunches, staring through the living incarnation of death before her the exact same way Crepúsculo had stared through Twilight when they had first fallen into this place. Her heavy breathing sounded loud from her slack jaw.
It was then the rumbling started, and it was then that Crepúsculo knew they were too late.
"Vamos. We are leaving. Now."
"Ok that's fine with me let's go," Fluttershy spoke in a single breath, already flying away from the arch as its green hue swirled darker and darker and the stone began to vibrate.
"Wait, leave? Now? What about her?" Twilight motioned toward Trixie, who was still motionless behind her quickly fading protection.
"Leave her. Her fate is her fault," Crepúsculo replied, never stopping his movement towards the cave exit, until a huge blast came from the portal, shaking the area and causing the ceiling to collapse all around them.
His exit was blocked by rocks and support beams, and more were falling. He instinctively spread his large wings and took to the sky, followed closely by Fluttershy with her eyes tight shut.
"Twilight, leave her. Get out now!" he ordered below him, anxiously.
Twilight focused on Trixie's motionless figure, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and charged her horn for teleportation.
Seconds later she appeared on the surface under the setting moon. The two pegasi flew down to ensure her wellbeing, but were met by panic and confusion.
"She's supposed to be here! Why isn't she here? What did I do wrong?" Twilight was frantically searching around her.
"Twilight, what is it?" Fluttershy asked.
"I tried to bring Trixie with me! I never get that spell wrong, I practice with Spike all the time!"
Fluttershy edged to the rim of the great pit and looked across the hole from which they had come. The entire ceiling had fallen in save for one section near the gate.
One corner where that creature had just broken through Twilight's last barrier to reach the still motionless blue unicorn.
With one final blast from the gate, the ceiling of that corner collapsed in, and neither Trixie nor her attacker could be seen any more.
"Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy brought her hooves to her mouth.
"We have to hide, now!" Crepúsculo circled round to the back of the crater, behind the gate.
"W-wait! What was...?" Twilight began. “She’s dead! Crushed! How did...?”
"Señorita, por favor, questions will be answered later but now we must be quick."
With that, the stallion began to run, gesturing for the two mares to follow him, who had little choice but to do so.
Behind them, more of the creatures flooded forth from the dark gate. Most walked, casting long shadows from the moon upon the fallen earth. Some flew high, at great speeds. Here and there, it would have been possible to see the occasional flash of magic within the carnal crowd as it headed forward, straight as the crow flies, to Ponyville.
This was lost, however, upon the group as they lay in a nearby ditch, hastily covered with leaves and branches.
Out of earshot of the portal, silence reigned over the trio once more. There they stayed for what felt like an eternity before Fluttershy's faint voice whispered amongst the dirt.
"What do we do now?" she whimpered.
Crepúsculo sighed and turned to the mares, heart heavy in his chest.
"We survive, but we must do so together. The longer we wait, the less danger we will be in, but the safer it will be to travel. We should at least wait the rest of the night here."
"In this ditch?" Twilight asked, incredulously.
"If needs be, sí, but I think I see a cave opening further up this hill which should do nicely. They could be upon us at any minute so we will have to move with haste, and without a sound."
He tentatively stuck his head above ground level before emerging completely from the temporary hiding spot, followed by Twilight and Fluttershy up the slight incline to the cave mouth in silence.
The dark, damp entrance to the lifeless cave was not an appealing sight, but the shelter was welcome. Once a few of the larger leaves to be used for bedding from the surrounding trees had been brought inside, it started to feel at least a little bit preferable to their former ditch.
Twilight casted a light spell, sacrificing intensity for duration. The faint orb cast flickering shadows upon the grey walls, illuminating the faces of her companions. Tears shone from Fluttershy's muzzle as she trembled fearfully. Crepúsculo had his eyes shut, head hanging to the floor.
"You said you'd have answers now." Twilight faced the stallion demanding explanation. "What was that thing? How do you know so much about it anyway? Where did it come from?"
"Answers, sí..." A heavy sigh escaped him for what seemed like the hundredth time today. "In La Selva, we know them as necrófagos, or sometimes just los muertos. It was my responsibility to study them."
"But... what are they?" Twilight pressed.
"Quite simply, they are the dead walking among the living, and they know nothing but the instinct to feed on meat."
"What?" Fluttershy's head shot up. "That's not possible! What instinct is that?"
"A base desire, one that has become dormant within our species as society has moved from an omnivorous diet to a mainly herbivorous one, some of the older history books in the library are a little graphic..." Twilight interjected, scrunching her nose up at the thought.
"Precisely. What is more, this... condition, for lack of a better word, is infectious. Those bitten or cut badly enough will fade to join their ranks. A scratch will do nothing, unless the skin is broken and contaminated by any fluid of los muertos."
"Any what?" Twilight inquired, shocked.
"Mostly saliva or blood. Disposing of them can be a messy task..." It was Crepúsculo's turn to trail off awkwardly.
"D-d-disposing?" Fluttershy tentatively queried.
"Sí, they must be disposed of by targeting the head. Some are weaker than others, generally following the patterns of our own species divisions. Those that were once earth ponies are tougher in the skull, whereas the lighter bones of the former pegasi are more vulnerable and the base of a former unicorn's horn weakens their skull also. However this is not to say the pegasi and unicorn variants are less dangerous. In fact, perhaps they are more so. Pegasi muertos may still be able to fly, making them quieter and faster, while the unicorns may still possess some magical potential: simple levitation or the means to search for prey the other two cannot find. In some cases they have been seen to teleport, also."
The stallion looked between the two mares as they gaped back at him through wide eyes.
"Pues, like I said, it was my responsibility to study the creatures." He frowned. "As for your final question, where they come from, there are gates such as the one we witnessed tonight scattered across this world, and once opened, they are connected directly to Tartarus."
"Wait, wait," Twilight started. "So we now have an army of the living dead from the depths of Tartarus itself wanting nothing but to feed on meat now?"
"That is an accurate summary, sí."
The two mares were speechless.
Fluttershy swayed a little before collapsing to her side, fainted.
“Well we can’t just stay here!” Twilight panicked. “What about our friends back in Ponyville? What about everypony else in Equestria?”
“And what about us?” Crepúsculo snapped harshly. “They are still out there, looking for their meals. If we stay here and lie low until they move on we have a chance to survive, but if we leave now we will be killed and we will become one of them.”
A pregnant pause was broken with yet another long sigh.
“Lo siento, Twilight, but we have to stay here for our own sake. Besides, your friend here is in no condition to be going anywhere.”
Fluttershy began to drool unceremoniously in her unconscious sleep.
"We must rest now. Tomorrow we will return to your village and do what we can to protect its citizens," Crepúsculo said solemnly, already lying down on his makeshift bed of leaves.
Not too long after, Celestia's sun began to rise, cracks of light shining through tree branches upon the backs of the living dead as they surged forward, bearing down on Ponyville and its unsuspecting, sleeping inhabitants.
