Trying to escape his past , Charcoal Ash stumbles upon Ponyville where he is greeted better than mos
Trying to escape his past , Foggy Bay stumbles upon Ponyville where he is greeted better than most places within Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom. Estranged by the kindness he receives, he decides to stay. To everyone's confusion he spends his nights in the Ever Free Forest even after the Mane Six Offer him their home. Suspicion begins to grow within the town because of his odd behavior and the fact that he lives his life behind a black steel mask. What does he hide?
Pinkie Pie hummed to herself under the starry sky. It has been a few hours since her Pinkie Sense kicked in. A Doozie that she followed to the outskirts of Ponyville. It was very near from where Fluttershy lived. She tried to wake Twilight up, but the lavender unicorn was far too tired to deal with any silliness Pinkie was up to. Pinkie tried Rarity next but ended up having ponyquins thrown at her for disturbing the seamstress’s sleep. Pinkie then searched for Rainbow Dash. Usually she had good luck finding her multicolored friend, but tonight was an exception. No matter how hard she looked for Rainbow Dash, she simply could not find her. She later thought of going for Applejack but Sweet Apple Acres was too far, and she had a feeling that the Doozie, what ever it was, was going to happen very soon. Therefore, she decided to wait for it by her self and if she needed help, she could always go get Fluttershy since she lived so close by from where the Doozie was going to happen.
Not that Fluttershy was going to be any help if it was something scary but the more the merrier. Pinkie hopped and hummed in place while she waited making her dark pink cotton candy-like mane bounce with every movement. Even as late as it was, her energy did not seem to decay.
“I hope the Doozie isn’t a monster. That would be a bit scary. Unless it was a chocolate fudge monster than that would be super dooper looper, cause I like chocolate. Mmm chocolate.”
She said while she kept hopping in place. The pink pony could not keep her excitement down and began to sing aloud.
“Choco loco lattety do. Yummy, yummy chocolaty coco.” not her best song, still her grin began to widen at the possibility of becoming friends with a chocolate-made monster and of all the chocolate she would get to eat. Her hopping stopped when she heard the rustling of a bush at the edge of the Forever Free Forest. Pinkie smiled excitedly for her new chocolate fudge covered friend. Instead, a grizzly bear appear from within the tall bush.
“Oh, hi mister bears! You wouldn’t happen to see a chocolate fudge covered monster around here would you?” she asked the grizzly as friendly as she could, which was very friendly indeed. The bear glared at her and growled fiercely. Its eyes glowed like two pieces of ember that were about to start a wild fire. Pinkie giggled to herself while the bear made his way slowly towards her.
”Oh, I’m such a silly filly. I forgot I’m not Fluttershy. You couldn’t answer me even if you wanted to.” she smiled at the now very near grizzly, who was still growling and heavily drooling. The grizzly bear began to rise to a stand on his hind legs and slightly spread his arms.
“Awww, Mister Bear wants a hug,” said the pink mare as she too rose on her hind legs and spread her forelegs widely.
Suddenly her Pinkie Sense screamed at her to jump to the side. As she did what Fluttershy asked her to do, she felt a strong gust of wind pass her head. Once she landed on her four hooves, she realized what happened.
“Hey! You tried to rip my head off, I need my head. You’re a big Meany McMeanypants. Wait, do bears even wear pants?” she asked her self while she tapped her chin with her right hoof. Pinkie’s train of thought was interrupted by a very mean bear‘s roar. Mister bear was now viciously irritated that his first attempt at murder failed, and so another strike came at Pinkie. Like the first time she dodged perfectly, thanks to her Pinkie Sense. “Stop that! You mean mister bear. I’m going to tell on you with Fluttershy!”, and so Pinkie Pie began to gallop towards Fluttershy’s cottage, not before turning her head to the mean mister bear and gave him a well deserved raspberry. Mean mister bear charged at her, still growling and still salivating heavily. Pinkie turned her head in mid gallop to see that she had put some distance between her pink self and the mean mister bear.
“Your in big trouble now mister. Fluttershy is going to beat you silly”, she said before giving him another big fat raspberry. She turned her attention back to where she was galloping. Fluttershy’s cottage was now in a visible distance from her, just on top of a small hill.
“Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Oh Fluttershy!” Pinkie yelled to her timid friend from a distance.
The dark interior of the cottage lit up at one of the windows, more specifically, the middle window of the second floor. Pinkie saw how the candlelight began to move from the top floor to the bottom. Once Pinkie arrived at front door, she began to pound on it rapidly.
“FluttershyFluttershyFluttershy…” she said with every knock of her right hoof. She heard the lock at the door turn and stopped her rapid assault to the door. The door opened to reveal a very tired looking Fluttershy. She held a candle in her left hoof; a sleeping hat covered her head and dangled to the right. Her eyes were puffy and half close from recent sleep. Fluttershy’s light pink mane was a little messy as well her butter colored coat. Not two seconds passed when Pinkie Pie began to assault the tired Pegasus with explanations.
“Fluttershy! Oh my gosh I’m so glad to see you. I was at home sleeping when my Pinkie Sense told me that there was a Doozie coming on so I went to Twilight’s, but she told me to leave. So I went to Rarity’s and she started throwing ponyquins at me and I started looking for Rainbow but I couldn’t finder her”, she paused to breath in a big gulp of air before starting again.
“And Applejack was too far away, so I decided to look for the Doozie by myself. I was humming and hopping thinking about what the Doozie was and I was like ‘I hope the Doozie isn’t a monster that would be a bit scary unless it was a chocolate fudge monster than that would be super dooper looper, cause I like chocolate mmm chocolate’. Then I started singing about chocolate and big mean mister bear appeared and…” by now, Fluttershy was a bit more awake. She wanted to go to bed but she was too kind to stop Pinkie’s rant.
“So he was like ‘RAWR’ and I was like ‘BLEGH’ and I started to gallop to your house and…” Fluttershy’s eyes popped awake when she saw a massive shadow come up from behind Pinkie. The shadow lifted it right arm in a threatening way. Right before the arm came down to slash at Pinkie’s hide Fluttershy grabbed her still talking friend and pulled her into her cottage. While doing so she saw the massive black arm turned into a blur that missed Pinkie just barely. A hot pink curl of hair slowly made its way to the floor.
Fluttershy slammed the door shut, locked it, and barracked the door with her sofa. “Pinkie Pie! What is that thing outside?”
“Didn’t you hear what I was saying? That’s mean mister bear.” Fluttershy started to relax. She gave herself a smile, thinking how silly she was. She headed to the window next to the front door.
“Oh that must be Mr. Cuddles. He must have been hungry or…”, once she reached the window, her ability of speech disappeared and her smile faded into a jaw drop in shock. “That’s Mr. Cuddles, but something is definitely wrong”, Fluttershy thought. His eyes were bloodshot. His mouth was salivating, no it was foaming! As soon as Mr. Cuddles saw Fluttershy, he lunged at her. She jumped back in horror and screamed, regaining her voice.
Mr. Cuddle’s claw crashed through the window but because of his massive body, he couldn’t go further. Confused Pinkie asked
“What’s wrong Fluttershy can’t you just calm him down?” Fluttershy looked at her pink friend with eyes full with terror.
“I can’t. Mr. Cuddles is rabid.” Pinkie tilted her head sideways in confusion. She then shook her head in disapproval.
“Fluttershy, Fluttershy, you silly filly. Mr. Cuddles is a bear not a rabbit. I thought you knew that silly?” the butter colored mare started to breath faster and shook her own head. “No Pinkie not ‘rabbit’, ‘rabid’ he’s been infected with rabies.”, again Pinkie tilted her head in confusion.
“What are rabies?” she asked as she saw her frantic friend grabbing furniture to add to her barricade.
“Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals that is most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal.” Fluttershy began to explain while she kept adding to her barricade and slightly flinching at the pounding and slashing Mr. Cuddles was doing at the door.
“The virus infects the central nervous system causing the victim to be delusional and at times extremely aggressive.” by now, Fluttershy was gasping for air. After listening Fluttershy’s explanation Pinkie fell to the ground in a giggly fit.
“Fluttershy you sounded like Twilight just now, hehe.” the Fluttershy simply stared at the giggling earth pony, who occasionally snorted. Angel Bunny, Fluttershy’s pet bunny, came down from the second floor, grumpy from being awakened by all the noise from down stairs.
He saw Fluttershy and hopped closer to her and began to thump the ground with his white furred back legs. Fluttershy finally noticed Angel.
“Angel! Thank goodness, you’re awake. Mr. Cuddle is rabid!” Angel stared at his master and frowned. He began to thump the floor irritated.
“Yes Angel I am aware the Mr. Cuddles is a bear. I meant the he’s rabid, he’s been infected with rabies.” at this Angel’s eyes widened and his ears fell to the back of his head in fear.
“Angel I need you to stay here and have a look out in the front door while I go get water. Um that is if you don’t mind.” the white bunny’s face grimaced and he made a salute to her butter colored master. Fluttershy turn her attention back to Pinkie who was still giggling. Fluttershy trotted towards her and said
“Pinkie I need you to help me fill buckets with water. Of course if you don’t mind.” Angel rolled his eyes at that last remark. Pinkie Pie stopped her fit, turned to the timid pony, and stared at her as if she were crazy.
“Buckets full of water? What for? You feel like taking a bath?”
“Um, no, you see rabid victims become hydrophobic which means their extremely afraid of water.” Pinkie stared at Fluttershy blankly still absorbing the new given knowledge. “Oh ok.” Pinkie said right before standing to her hooves.
Fluttershy nodded with worry on her face. She quickly made her way to the kitchen, followed by Pinkie. Fluttershy stopped in front of a door that opened to a closet. She pulled out four wooden buckets, which she then handed two to the grinning mare. Pinkie took the buckets with a smile and followed the panicky mare into the kitchen. They were too busy to notice that the heavy thumping at the door stopped. Fluttershy carried both buckets in her mouth, biting at the handles. Once in the kitchen she left one of the buckets on the floor and brought the other up to the sink. She quickly turned the handle to let the water flow into the bucket. Nothing. Not a single drop fell. Fluttershy looked back at Pinkie, who was humming a happy song, and said,
“There’s no water. I forgot that the plumbing in my cottage isn’t working.” she said while fear and panic began consuming her.
Fluttershy started to hyperventilate and kept repeating the same two words repeatedly “oh no”. Pinkie looked at her friend this time with concern. She moved her head down to let down the buckets that hang from her mouth. The buckets landed with a small clack on the floor. Pinkie came closer to Fluttershy and hugged her, trying to calm her down she said,
“Come on Fluttershy. It’s ok. Everything is fine.”
“No, no, it’s not. We’re too far from town. No one will hear us scream for help and with no water; we can’t scare Mr. Cuddles away. I can’t talk to him he’s gone insane with rabies.” Fluttershy said between heaves. Pinkie let go of her and stepped back still near the butter color coated mare, still with concern in her eyes. Streams of tears fell from Fluttershy’s sky blue eyes, wetting her coat, and fell to the ground with unheard impacts. Pinkie looked behind her crying friend. She saw a door to the far end of the kitchen and realization hit her.
“Fluttershy? Doesn’t your cottage have a back door?” she said still staring at the door. “Yes. Why?” said Fluttershy still heaving. She opened her eyes and saw Pinkie raise her left hoof and point behind the crying mare’s head. Fluttershy, still crying, traced the pink limb. She turned her head to where she was shown. In fact, that door could let them to the backyard where they could runaway and find help. The tears died and began to dry while her expression turned from despair to a shining glee. Fluttershy turned her head back to Pinkie and they both smiled, agreeing to the new plan that formed silently. The now happy ponies quickly made their way to the door, still unaware of the calmness outside the front door. Their happy bouncy steps stopped a few feet from the door after hearing a bone shuddering crack that came from the door in front of them. They both stared, waiting for what would happen next. The door exploded in a storm of splinters, causing the mares to flinch and back away a few steps. From where the door was, they saw a dark figure that covered the entire door’s frame. The figure stared at them with eyes that could strike fear in the bravest of hearts. Pinkie and Fluttershy looked at the figure in awe and terror.
“Mister chocolate-fudge monster?” were the only words that were heard before Fluttershy grabbed Pinkie in a tight hug. Fluttershy screamed in terror as Mr. Cuddles roared into the night sky.
Mr. Cuddles slowly made his way into Fluttershy’s cottage. His eyes shined with rage and his rancid breath filled the air. The two mares looked at him in paralyzed terror. Pinkie was the one to move first. “Fluttershy, go upstairs and fly out through one of the windows to get help I’ll distract Mr. Cuddles.” Pinkie whispered into her friend’s ear. “I can’t.” Fluttershy said with tears in her eyes. “My legs and wings won’t move,” she said still staring at the approaching grizzly. “I know use the Stare that always works!” said Pinkie said with optimism in her voice. “It doesn’t work with animal that have gone feral” “Oh.” Mr. Cuddles was now a few feet away. “That bear sure is taking his time getting here” Pinkie thought. “Focus Pinkie Pie, we gotta help Fluttershy.” Her thoughts were interrupted by a small white blur that climbed up to her flank and ran to her head. Angel used her snout as a spring to shoot out like a furry bullet and lash itself onto Mr. Cuddles’ face. Angel held on, blinding the bear who was thrashing about in confusion. “Angel?! What are you doing?” asked Fluttershy, voice full of concern. Angel held for dear life as he gave out a few squeals. “No Angel I won’t leave you here!” The white rabbit was about to tell her to leave again but was interrupted by Mr. Cuddles’ paw wrapping around his waist. Angel was lifted from the bears face and thrown to the ground. With a sickening crack, Angel’s unconscious body lay on the floor. The white rabbit gave out small forced gasps of air. Fluttershy stared dumbfounded at the fragile white figure. Mr. Cuddles saw that the white rabbit was still alive and proceeded to lift an arm to finish the job. A blood shrilling scream came from Fluttershy, causing Mr. Cuddles and Pinkie to cover their ears. The once terrified mare drew a scowl on her tear stricken face. Her wings flared up in an aggressive manner and said “How dare you hurt Angel you…you big dumb meanie!” She launched into the air and dashed at Mr. Cuddles, who was still stunned by Fluttershy’s screech. The yellow arrow that was Fluttershy bucked the rabid bear straight in the snout sending him stumbling back a few feet. Mr. Cuddles’ hind leg was caught on a decorative rug, tripping him onto the kitchen table. The wooden table broke under the bear’s weight and everything fell quiet, the only thing that could be heard was the heavy breathing of Fluttershy who was now standing over Angel’s unmoving body. Pinkie was staring wide-eyed, still not believing what just unfolded in front of her, the only thing she could say was “Woo! Yea, Fluttershy! You go girl!” Fluttershy’s anger started to fade and in its place sadness and worry stood. Fresh tears left her eyes as she looked down at the white rabbit. Angel was giving weak gasps of air showing that he was still alive. Mr. Cuddles rolled over from his back onto his belly and began to stand with a growl forming in his throat. The mares saw him stand and Fluttershy’s scowl formed on her face once again. She placed herself over Angel in an attempt to protect him. She lowered her head and flared her wings showing that she meant business. Pinkie took out her party cannon from nowhere and aimed it at Mr. Cuddles who was shaking in anger. Blood dripped from his nostrils and onto the floor. Outside the full-moon shined brightly but a massive dark cloud began to float over the moon sending the earth beneath into darkness. Fluttershy and Pinkie saw Mr. Cuddles fade to black leaving them in the dark. “Hey! Who turned off the moon?” asked Pinkie as she turned her head side to side trying to find Mr. Cuddles or Fluttershy. Thankfully she always kept a pair of night vision goggles in Fluttershy’s cottage in case of a blackout emergency. She pulled open a floor tile and pulled out a pair of goggles. Pinkie set them over her eyes and switched them on with a low electronic cry. Pinkie saw the room get flooded with green light that let her see everything in detail. Her gaze came upon Mr. Cuddles who was just above Fluttershy. Fluttershy was completely unaware of the danger she was in. Before Pinkie could warn her of anything Mr. Cuddles hit Fluttershy with his powerful right paw. The mare flew across the room only to be stopped by a wall. Her body fell limply to the floor with a loud thud. Pinkie looked at her friend’s unconscious body and her mane and tail straighten completely. Her usual smile became a frown and her eyes glared through the night vision goggles at the grizzly in hopes that he would instantaneously combust into a mass of flames and burning flesh. She saw Mr. Cuddles look around and sniffing the air trying to find Pinkie Pie in the pitch black that was the room. She was now standing on her hind legs, with her right hoof holding the trigger string, and her left hoof aimed the party cannon at Mr. Cuddles. Once everything was set up she stomped her left hind hoof on the wooded floor drawing his attention. The rabid beast turned his head towards the sound and charged. Pinkie waited for the right moment to pull the trigger on the party cannon. When the target was in place Pinkie pulled the cannon’s trigger which lit the room in a flash of light. Confetti and party supplies, both large and small, shot from the cannons mouth knocking Mr. Cuddles to the ground. Pinkie had forgotten about the night vision goggles’ glare and was now rolling on the floor covering her now blind and hurting eyes. Pinkie stood up and rubbed her eyes with the back of her front leg. She opened her eyes to find the world around her in a blur or at least the outlines of the furniture around her. Pinkie could hear Mr. Cuddles’ pained grunts, she started moving to where she remembered Fluttershy’s unconscious body lay. The pink party pony quietly made her way through the darken room to aid her fallen friend. Her eyes had stop hurting but they still stung from time to time. She finally made her way to Fluttershy who was breathing slowly and had a stream of blood running from her mane to down her face. Pinkie wasn’t aware of this since she was partially blind, she could only feel the wet blood on her hoof. “Fluttershy? Wake up Shy we need to get out of here.” whispered Pinkie with a touch of fear in her voice. Pinkie heard Mr. Cuddles’ grunts come closer to them. She thought of carrying Fluttershy out of the shed and into town, but she wouldn’t be able to out run the crazed bear with the extra weight. “Okay new plan.” She said to herself. “Make Mr. Cuddles follow me, lose Mr. Cuddles in the Everfree, and go get help.” Just as she finished that thought the moon reappeared, its shine illuminated the sheds living room. Mr. Cuddles roar at the sight of Pinkie, she could barely make the outline of the window across from her. “Come get me you big dumb-dumb.” She said after picking up a pillow from one of the couches and threw it at his face. The pillow didn’t do much damage but it infuriated the grizzly. Once Pinkie was sure he would follow she galloped towards the window and jumped, crashing through it. She received a few cuts and a mane full of glass but nothing she couldn’t handle. Mr. Cuddles was too big for the window’s frame, so instead he rammed into the wall making a hole, big enough for him. “I hope Fluttershy has insurance.” Mr. Cuddles charged at Pinkie the second he recovered from the impact. Pinkie galloped at an amazing speed towards the Everfree trying to keep a gap between her and Mr. Cuddles big enough for him to follow but not too closely. Once they were deeper into the forest she began to pick up speed, now ready to lose him in the thick tree line. Since she was partially blinded, Pinkie was relying heavily on her Pinkie sense to guide her through the forest. She saw the outline of a pony a few feet in front of her, but her Pinkie sense told her nothing was there so she kept galloping. The figure she thought was a shadow turned out to be quite solid. Pinkie crashed into the figure sending them both stumbling onto the floor. “Ow that hurt.” When she tried to get up she felt a sharp pain in her hind leg that made her wince. Pinkie looked around and gasped when she saw the figure she had crashed into was now moving. She then realized it was a pony. “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry I didn’t see you there, are you okay?” the pony didn’t say anything he only lay there staring at her from the shadows. “Um are you hurt? My name is P-“, before she could finish her sentence she heard the grunts of one very anger bear. “Oh no! You need to run away, there’s a crazy bear on the loose and-“, her vision began to clear and she gasped once again of what she saw. He was covered in bandages from head to hooves, only his wings and tail weren’t bandaged. She was stunned at the size of his wings, they seemed to be two sizes too big. Pinkie wasn’t able to look in more detail as Mr. Cuddles made his way towards them. He was obviously hurt and didn’t seem he could make it far, she was hurt too but not as badly. “Go! Run away I’ll buy you some time!” he kept staring, with his head strangely still in the shadows, at her injured hind leg. Pinkie knew what he was thinking and said “Don’t worry about me, just go, I’ll be fine.” He still stared at her, now at her face. Before she could say anything more, Mr. Cuddles burst through some tall bushes and roared. Pinkie made her way between the injured pony and the rabid bear as quickly as she could. The pony only stared at her as she defended him. Mr. Cuddles lunged at them, Pinkie closed her eyes knowing that if she moved the stranger would be hurt even more or worse. Pinkie suddenly felt her body be lifted from the ground and the wind blew over her face. The roaring of Mr. Cuddles faded away as her body took to the night sky. The stranger’s fore-legs held her by under her fore-legs. They flew in silence to the edge of the forest, where the stranger gently descended to the ground. Pinkie sigh with relieve that they had escaped unharmed. Now she only had to go get help for Fluttershy, but first she had to thank the pony that saved her. When she turned around to thank him, he was already making his way back into the forest. “Hey wait! Where are you going?!” she asked while she tried to catch up with him. “I just wanted to say thank you for saving me.” She said in a cheerful mood. The bandaged pony stopped when she said this and turned his head towards Pinkie, who gasped once again. A dirty and black metallic mask hugged his face only covering his muzzle. The mask went around the back of his head where a thin pale grey mane draped over one side of his face all the way down to his hooves. The tips of his mane were colored indigo, like heavy fog falling from docks onto a lagoon brightened by the midnight moon. The one eye that Pinkie could see was sickly tainted by cataracts, covering most of his pupils and leaving only the black outlines. The irises were silver, all this gave him an undead look. Pinkie could only stare at him speechless, her head already coming up with crazy stories to explain his condition. Before she could pick a story, she heard a voice that made up her mind. His voice could only be compared to the creaking of an old, rusted cemetery’s gate opening by itself in the dead of night. “You are welcome.” He said with a deep rasp, his voice was given a metallic vibration by his mask that gave out an extremely eerie feeling. “Z-zombie!” Pinkie screamed and, forgetting her injured leg, ran top speed to town. The stranger, now alone, slowly turned his head towards the forest and drooped his head and with a saddened voice he said “Okay.” And disappeared in between the trees with a limp in his walk.
“Twilight it was a zombie I’m telling you!” It had been almost a whole day since Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had survived the encounter with Mr. Cuddles. “And I’m telling you there is no such thing as zombies, even if it were a zombie from the way you said he acted I doubt it.” The lavender mare was beginning to become tired of the same discussion from the past day. Pinkie’s rants about meeting a zombie in the Ever Free had the town in a bit of a panic. “Yes, yes, yes I know that it didn’t act like a zombie but I never said he was a bad zombie, maybe he ate cakes instead of brains.” Twilight face hoofed after hearing her friend’s comment. Spike came down from the second floor of the library just in time to overhear the conversation and ask “Then why did you runaway if it was trying to help you?” Pinkie looked slightly embarrassed and replied “He might have been a good zombie but he was still a zombie. I was scared so I ran away.” “So much for laughing at the ghosties.” Murmured Spike. Twilight frowned and said “Pinkie what if you were wrong and you ran away from an injured pony. He could have been in trouble and you left him there.” Pinkie cringed at the thought of leaving someone alone and injured in a dark forest with a rabid bear on the loose. Still trying to grasp at her small amount denial left she said “But his eyes looked dead, glazed white like a ghost.” Twilight groaned lifting a hoof to her forehead. Setting the hoof back down, she said “He probably had cataracts, Pinkie not only did you leave him stranded and injured but half blind too!” Pinkie’s eyes widened in realization as she gasped. “Oh no, I have to go find him before it is too late.” “Don’t worry Pinkie I’ll go round up the girls and we’ll meet you at the edge of the Ever Free Forest.” Pinkie gave her an estranged look “What’s wrong Pinkie?” asked Twilight “I don’t know I just felt what you said was very clichéd.” They looked at each other in confusion, even Spike stared from the kitchen entrance until Twilight broke the silence “Okay we’ll meet you there.” She said awkwardly. Pinkie nodded once and raced out of the library yelling “Don’t worry Mr. Zombie I’m on my way!” A loud groan could be heard from inside of the library and the voice of a baby dragon “Tea?” …… Pinkie waited by the edge of the Everfree for her friends. She looked into the forest, watching shadows moving from between the trees. Distant growls and cries could be heard from afar, insects and other small creatures moved away from the dark forest. There was a lot of activity in the Everfree compared to the dead silence that surrounded the place, even Pinkie found it hard to keep a smile. “Pinkie?” Pinkie jumped when she heard her name being called from behind. She turned around and saw Twilight and three mares. “Oh, hi Twilight.” Said Pinkie with more glee knowing that she wasn’t alone anymore. “Twilight said something about hunting a zombie?” A rainbow mane mare who ended her question with a yawn. “No silly not hunting, looking for a pony that looks like a zombie.” Pinkie responded, noticing her friend’s tired eyes she asked “How is Fluttershy doing Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow’s cyan coat looked dirtier than usual since she stayed up most of the night by Fluttershy’s hospital bed. “Doctor said she’s doing better, but she hasn’t woken up yet.” After a moment of awkward silence a porcelain white mare spoke. “Well we should get on with this ordeal. We wouldn’t want to be in the Everfree after dark now would we?” She finished her question with the whip of her well styled indigo mane. “I agree with Rarity. The Everfree is dangerous enough by day.” Said a pony mare while adjusting her Stetson hat over her blonde mane. “Oh hi Applejack I thought you would be too busy to come with us?” Applejack only gave her a reassuring smile and said “I’m never too busy to help out a friend, sugar cube.” Twilight walked closer to the forest noticing the unusual active state of the Everfree, and couldn’t help but feel uneasy. She turned to her friends with a determined look “Alright girls, first of all I want to thank each one of you to lend a hoof today. We are here because there is a possibly injured pony wondering around in the Everfree.” Everyone was attentive to what their friend had to say, even Pinkie who was trying her best to not be distracted by the pretty butterfly flying about. “And despite being injured, he helped Pinkie out of the forest. He helped our friend and we’ll repay the favor.” “How do we know he’s not in there?” Rainbow Dash asked pointing a hoof to the darkening tree line. “Good question Rainbow.” Rainbow straightened with pride by the complement. “Well since last night no one reported an injured pony other than Fluttershy or a heavily bandaged pony walking around. My best guess is that he is still wondering the forest.” “Twilight darling I don’t wish to be crude, but how do we know that he is still alive?” After Rarity asked her question there was an eerie silence amongst themselves as they stared at her. Nervously she apologized “I’m sorry, I did not mean to make any of you uncomfortable.” Everyone turned their attention to Twilight who began to answer Rarity’s grim question with a disheartened tone. “We don’t know if he is….. Dead or not but there is only one way to make sure.” She turned towards the forest with a renewed dread grasping at her heart. She knew there would be a possibility that this would be a retrieval rather than a rescue. Being optimistic when the odds are so slim is no easy task. “Alright girls let’s get a move on. Rainbow scout up ahead, if you see or hear anything come look for us.” Rainbow Dash saluted and flew off in front of them. Twilight turned at the rest of her friends after watching Dash fly off. “Diamond formation, Rarity cover our six.” They looked at each other with a knowing smile. “Darling, have you been reading ‘Saving Private Rider’ again?” Twilight’s cheeks crimsoned as she rubbed the back of her head. “Yea, sorry I think I got carried away.” They shared a small laugh before going on with their search.
………….. The first hour was uneventful other than a few timber wolves running away from the direction the mares were going. Their hearts jumped to their throats seeing the wooden creatures dashing at them from out of the foliage. The wolves ran past them paying the girls no mind. They turned their heads in confusion, watching the wolves disappear behind them. “Guys! Watch out for the timber …..Wolves?” Rainbow Dash appeared from the tree tops and landed in front them, with the same confused look as them. “I thought I saw timber wolves running towards you guys? You ok?” “Yes Rainbow we are fine. Did you find anything?” Rainbow flinched at the question and nodded slowly with a sadden face. “I think I found him.” Pinkie rushed at her asking questions. “Where is he? Is he far? Close by? Are there cookies? Is he ok?” Rainbow only answered the last question with a shake of her head. “Oh no, is he hurt? Dash answered with nod of her head. “Then what are we waiting for? We nee…” “It’s no good Pinkie. He’s ….gone.” A collection of gasps later, Twilight took a step forward. “How bad is it?” Rainbow looked straight at her with a grimaced look in her eyes, almost seeing through her “Bad, real bad. It took me over five minutes to be able to fly again.” Twilight noticed the wet fur under Rainbow’s eyes but didn’t say anything. Pinkie began to sob, covering her eyes with her hooves “It’s my fault I shouldn’t have run away from him.” Her hair straightened and fell over her shoulders and her coat seemed to have darkened. Rarity walked towards her and hugged her trying to comfort her “There, there darling you couldn’t have known this would happened, it’s not your fault.” It did little for the pink mare who kept weeping into Rarity’s shoulder Twilight and Applejack concentrated on Rainbow who didn’t seemed to be all there. “You alright there Dash?” Asked Applejack adjusting her hat to have a better look at Dash. Both of the mares looked at Rainbow with concern when she didn’t answer immediately, she only stared at the ground unable to find the words she needed. “There was…so much blood.” She shuddered, remembering the horrific images that she had seen earlier. Twilight leaned in and placed a hoof and wing around her friend giving her the best comforting hug she could muster. AJ only shook her head, displease with the inability to save the poor stallion. “I know its tough sugar cube but you gotta tell us more. What did him in?” It was a few moment before Rainbow could answer the question. “There was a dead bear a few feet away from….the body. His belly….there was just a hole.” After she spoke she covered her face with her hooves, shaking her head as if trying to shake off the memory. Twilight tightened the grip around her friend.
……..
It had taken Pinkie and Rainbow sometime to settle down enough for them to keep going. They knew that the stallion was dead but they still had to retrieve the body and bring it back to Pony Ville for a proper burial. “It’s up ahead, just over that boulder. Do you mind if I stay behind the boulder while you and Twilight do your thing?” Rainbow asked still a bit shaken up. Rainbow’s actions concerned Twilight, just how bad is it? When the group reached the boulder, both Applejack and Twilight exchanged looks. “Okay, Applejack and I will go take a look. Once we see that everything is clear I’ll send a flare to signal the pick-up team.” Explained Twilight still worried about what she was going to see just over the boulder. Applejack nodded at her and they proceeded to go around the boulder. Rainbow, Pinkie, and Rarity waited anxiously for the flare. A minute passed by and the trio was starting to worry when they heard a voice call out to Rainbow “Rainbow get over here and explain this!” Twilight called out her friend. “Oh no! I don’t want to see that again!” she yelled back, a light shudder ran through her back. “There’s nothing here sugar cube!” said Applejack with concern in her tone. Rainbow looked at her other two friends in confusion. They both frowned and made their way around the massive rock. Rainbow groaned “Wait hold on!” she called after them and rushed behind them. Rainbow’s heart began to pound heavily when the other side started coming into view. Once they entered the clearing they saw a dead Mr. Cuddles under a tree in the far right, but no pony, unlike what Rainbow had said earlier. “What? But he was here, I swear!” exclaimed in an outrage. She walked next to Twilight and pointed with her hoof next to Applejack “He was right there, with no guts or anything. You got to believe me!” her raspy voice raised to a shrill. “We believe you Rainbow but there’s no blood.” Twilight said with a serious tone as she looked around to find clues. “Maybe it was another animal but there is no drag marks on the ground, still doesn’t explain why there is no blood.” She tapped her hoof on her chin thinking of all the possible explanations. All the other girls stayed quiet letting Twilight think, meanwhile Applejack looked around. “Maybe he really was a zombie and he walked away.” Said Pinkie with a hopeful voice. Twilight groaned internally. “Pinkie there is no such thing as a zombie, we’ve discussed this before.” Applejack was looking at a disruption in the dirt when her eyes widen in realization. “Actually Twi, Pinkie might be on to something.” Twilight groaned out loud this time “Not you too Applejack!” before she could say anymore Applejack waved a hoof “Not the zombie part but maybe he did walk off by himself.” This brought Twilight’s attention and she made her way to Applejack, the rest followed. When they were next to her Applejack began to explain herself. “See here, this looks like somepony was lying on their side and got up in a hurry,” she said pointing at some dirt that was recently disturbed. She then followed more tracks with her hoof “Then they stumbled that way…” she stood still fear gripping her into a cold embrace. The others followed her gaze and gasped. There behind some bushes stood a figure wheezing heavily. They all stared at the shadow as it limped into the light. “Hello? Who are you?” called Rarity nervously. The figure walked slowly still wheezing. With no response the girls assumed it was hostile so they prepared themselves to fight. The figure’s head was finally struck by light revealing a very long and messy misty white mane coming from a face that was mostly covered by bandages and a black metal muzzle covered the bottom half. Two heavily misted eyes stared at them unblinking. Their breaths were caught in their throats as they saw the stallion. He walked into the clearing completely revealing himself. They all huddled together and screamed when they saw the rest of him. Loosened bandages covered his body but where his belly should be a massive gaping hole was instead. Bandages hung at the cavity’s side, colored black with blood, half eaten intestines hanged from the hole swaying ever slightly as he limped. Rainbow threw her face to the left and emptied her stomach’s content. Their fear struck faces turned to the right when they heard something move heavily. They saw Mr. Cuddles’ body move onto his back, his belly bulged in odd places violently. It expanded greatly until it burst open spraying what seemed like metallic black goo onto the air. The mares screamed again and Rainbow’s face was a dark green tone. The black spray floated gently over to the stallion who just kept staring through them. The spray flew right into the cavity accumulating and filling the hole. Even the black stains in the bandages drained into the mist. Once the cavity was filled with the black goo, it turned from pink flesh to white fur. They all flinched when he began to cough uncontrollably dropping on his now full belly. They could only stare unable to say or do anything. Once his coughing ceased he stood on shaky legs and opened his eyes. Once he saw them staring at him, his eyes widen in surprise and gave a step back, looking from left to right. He seemed to be just as terrified of them as they were of him. Pinkie started to move forward, struggling against her friends trying to hold her back. When she was free she looked right at him, he began to shake mildly. She gave a few steps forward causing him to backpedal and get his back hooves to step on his extensively long and unkempt tail. With a yelp he fell backwards on his back. The pink mare was now close enough to see him in detail. Some of the loosened bandages showed heavy scarring between them. Oddly around one inch of his hair tips were colored midnight blue, which was strange even for pony color schemes. His mane and tail looked like tangled spider webs. His hooves were cracked and scratched, the hair above them was the same color tone as the tip of his hair. His figure was boney and sickly. He turned from his back onto his belly, shaking his head he looked up at Pinkie and flinched covering his head with his fore-hooves. He acted as though Pinkie would strike him. “Are you ok?” Pinkie asked truly concerned. The others held their breath waiting for the stallion’s reaction. He hesitated when he slowly brought his fore-hooves down. He stood up and nodded looking to the floor. Everyone relaxed if not much though. “What in the hay was that?” yelled Rainbow. The strange stallion recoiled and tried to make himself seem smaller. He began to back off slowly. Pinkie saw this and intervened “Hey don’t go, I’m Pinkie Pie, that’s Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle.” She pointed to each respectively. They nodded awkwardly except for Rainbow Dash who only crossed her fore-legs while hovering over the rest of them waiting for an explanation still glaring at the stallion. Pinkie was having a bit of trouble staying peppy after what she had seen. “What’s your name?” she asked with a forced smile. There was silence for a few moments before he glanced at them and realized Pinkie was talking to him. He cleared his raspy throat causing his mask to resonate the sound. It had the same effect over the next words he said “Foggy Bays.” He said still looking at the ground. “Alright now that we know each others name how about you tell us how you did that?” said a very frustrated Rainbow. He flinched again giving a few steps back. “Rainbow calm down. Foggy is it? Can you please explain what we saw?” said Rarity giving him the friendliest smile she could muster at the moment. “What did you see?” he asked. This caused Rainbow groan loudly and give him an incredulous look. “We saw you come back to life and part of yourself exploded out of that bear and attached itself to you again!” she half screamed at him. He gave a few more steps back. “I don’t know.” Rainbow was about to yell at him when she was stopped by Twilight. “Rainbow Dash stop!” Rainbow landed and began grumbling to herself. Twilight brought her attention back to Foggy who was still not making eye contact with anyone of them. “Well I’m sure he can answer our questions once we go into town.” Once she said that Foggy looked right at her with terrified eyes. His wings spread open ripping some of the bandages. They all gasped when they saw the size of his wings. Though he was slightly smaller than a fully grown Pegasus his wings were twice the size of a normal Pegasus. With a flap of his wings, a gust of wind shot towards them lifting him into the sky and through the thick branches. “No wait comeback!” yelled Pinkie. Rainbow went after him leaving a rainbow streak behind her. Once she broke free of the branches she started looking for Foggy. He had already gained distance but that was nothing for the fastest flier in Equestria. Within seconds she was already on his tail. When Rainbow reached for his tail, he clenched his chest and his body and wings went stiff. Foggy lost air and fell through the tree line. Rainbow stopped and hovered over where he had fallen through. “Rainbow? Where did he go?” Rainbow, surprised, lost a bit of altitude but caught herself quickly, she turned around and saw Twilight making her way towards her. “I don’t know, he just fell here.” She said pointing towards where Foggy had fallen. “Oh no, we should go see if he’s ok.” Twilight said concern a present in her voice. She began to descend through the trees. “Right, let’s go see if the guy who put himself together after being gutted by a bear is okay.” Rainbow followed her friend back into the forest. Once she was through the trees she saw Twilight’s horn shining purple light over an unmoving Foggy from a distance. “How is he?” she asked the unicorn not really caring for the stallion, at least not anymore. Once she landed beside her, Twilight’s magic ceased and she shook her head. “He’s dead.” Rainbow didn’t know how to react to that statement. “Are you sure cause he looked pretty dead before, more than now.” Twilight began to pace back and forth. “Yes, according to my scan he died from a cardiac arrest I also picked up strange anomalies.” Rainbow deadpanned at Twilight comment. “I don’t need a horn to know that.” The unicorn didn’t pay attention and raised her horn letting a magical impulse shoot out of her horn. “I sent a location spell to Rarity they are a klick northwest, hopefully they’ll be here in a few minutes.” Rainbow raised a brow in confusion. “Why didn’t you send the flare? You said it yourself, he’s dead.” Twilight shook her head looked at the recent “deceased” with a thoughtful expression. “Not yet, I need to see if what you originally saw was a corpse or an illusion.” Rainbow took slight offense to what she had said. “I know what I saw.” She said under her breath. “We’ll see, for the mean time we should keep our distance in case he is contagious.” Rainbow grimaced and took a few steps away from the corpse. Twilight cast a quarantine bubble over the body for an extra safety measure. They waited for the rest of their friends to arrive, Rainbow looked around trying to keep herself busy while Twilight lay staring at Foggy’s body from a distance. A rustle in the bushes caught both their attention. “I’m telling you Pinkie I’m sure this Foggy fellow is just fine.” From a group of shrubs Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie appeared. “I hope so darling, it is becoming awfully late.” Said Rarity as she jumped over a puddle of mud. Both Applejack and Pinkie walked through the mud. Applejack worked in the mud and didn’t mind it and Pinkie seemed to be too sad to care. “Hey gals did you find him? Pinkie is still upset about him running away like that.” Both Rainbow and Twilight looked at each other and then at Foggy. The rest followed their gaze and gasped at what they saw. “Oh my, gosh! Rainbow killed him!” screamed Pinkie surprising everyone. “Hey! He died all by himself!” she screamed back crossing her fore-legs in indignation. “It’s true Pinkie. He died from a heart attack.” The three newcomers looked confused. “Then why didn’t y’all send the flare yet?” asked Applejack as she walked past Rainbow and stopped next to Twilight. “I want to make sure that he will …… stay, and not walk off.” They all shuddered at the gruesome memory, Rainbow more than the others. “Any theories about what we witnessed Twilight dear.” Said Rarity keeping her distance. “Initially I thought that it was a very powerful illusion spell, but after I scanned his body I could not sense any residue of such a spell.” Twilight stared at the body with a serious look on her face. “I also read different types of magic but I couldn’t get a clear read.” Pinkie was too sad to pay any attention to what the rest were saying. It was her fault that Foggy was dead…. Again, she cried to herself as they continued. “How so?” asked a now closer Rarity. “The scanning spell I used has three specific variations: Earth pony, Pegasus, and unicorn. Each one is designed for each race to have the utmost reading. When I scanned for a Pegasus, the reading was blurred.” Pinkie kept crying until she felt a hoof on her shoulder, when she looked up she met with Rainbow’s magenta eyes. Rainbow gave her a comforting smile. Pinkie dug her face into Rainbow’s cyan chest and cried. Rainbow only patted her back doing the best she could to make her pink friend feel a little better. “I found it strange, so out of curiosity I scanned him with an earth pony scanner spell and it was also blurred.” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “What for sugar-cube he is obviously a Pegasus” Twilight shook her head “You’re missing the point AJ, I used an Earth pony scanner spell on a Pegasus, it should have read as an error but he still appeared as an Earth pony. The same thing happened when I used a unicorn scanner spell.” She groaned in frustration as she held her head. “I’m going to run more tests when we take him into Ponyville.” As if on cue a coughing fit resonated from the black mask and the once dead body began to move. All of the mares jumped up in surprise. Only Pinkie had a grin on her face. “Impossible, it wasn’t an illusion he really came back to life.” Twilight said to herself. They all stood next to each other, only Pinkie bounced in place. The stallion stood weakly and turned around to see them staring at him. Once again he shied away. “You shouldn’t have followed me.” He said looking away from them. “Was that a threat?” asked an overly aggressive Rainbow. He dropped on his belly, he shook his head slowly. “Rainbow would you relax already. Does the poor feller look in any way menacing?” Rainbow looked at the shaking Pegasus in front of them and only tsked. Pinkie once again took the initiative and step forward. “We won’t hurt you. I Pinkie promise; cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” He looked up at her just in time to see her place her right hoof over her right eye. He seemed to relax a bit and stood up, but still refused to look at any of them. “Why did you fly off before?” Twilight took a step forward. “I was afraid.” He said simply. The mares looked at each other in concern. “Afraid of what dear?” asked Rarity still weary of the strange stallion. “Going into town.” He replied. Pinkie stopped her bouncing and tilted her head in confusion and said “There’s nothing scary about Ponyville silly.” She gave a cheery smile at the stallion. Rainbow moaned impatiently, “Look there is something definitely wrong with you and you’re coming with us, like it or not!” she took a few steps forward, which made Foggy turn around and try to run. He’s legs were too weak and he fell on his belly. “Rainbow no!” yelled Twilight as Rainbow glided towards the stallion. He looked up at her when she landed and put up his front hooves as if to protect his head from an incoming blow. Everyone galloped after Rainbow who only stood there staring at the viciously trembling stallion. When they were close enough they could see him in detail and they all gasped except for Rainbow Dash who still observed in silence. Now that the bandages were torn they could see that he was missing patches of fur. Over the exposed skin, scars, sores, and burn marks gruesomely decorated him. Some scars looked surgical while others looked as if chunks of flesh had been ripped off his bones and had somehow healed. Some even circled around his limbs and neck. It was disturbing to say the least. “By Celestia what happened to him?” asked Twilight to no one in particular. They had thought that he was simply shy, but this proved to be more than crippling social anxiety. He was truly terrified. They were all sickened by the state he was in, Rarity had to look away with the threat of tears. Applejack took her hat of her head and held it over her chest with a grimace over her face. Rainbow and Twilight stared in concern. Pinkie took a step forward causing Foggy to flinch. “Hey, everything is going to be ok, we won’t hurt you. I Pinkie promised remember.” Pinkie tried her best to give him the best comforting smile she could muster. The stallion lowered his hooves from his face and for the first time looked straight at Pinkie Pie. Pinkie felt slightly uncomfortable looking into nearly entirely milky white eyes but she kept her smile. He hesitantly stood back up and went back to refusing to look at anyone. “What happened to you?” asked Twilight as Foggy gave two steps back trying to put more distance between him and the girls. He stayed silent for a few moments. “I get hurt a lot.” the answer was vague and it irritated Rainbow, but she didn't show it. He has obviously gone through many things and he didn't trust them. “Could you please come with us into town?” at this he raised his head and looked straight at Twilight. She could see the intense fear in them. As fast as he looked up he looked away and shook his head. “Why not? I'm sure we could help you.” he shook his head again. Twilight looked back at her friends and they all shrugged in confusion. Pinkie stepped closer to him and for once he didn't back away. “Don't be silly, there is nothing to be scared of in Pony Ville.” before she could say anymore he spoke. “I always get hurt in town. They always hurt me.” they felt cold run down their backs hearing that. “Who hurts you sugar-cube?” Applejack's question made him look back and fro over the ground, almost lost in thought. “Sugar-cube?” they could hear indistinct mumbling coming from his mask. They were only able to make out a few words; 'again' and 'no'. His estranged demeanor began to worry and scare them more than before. He was obviously not right in the head. Pinkie walked closer and placed her hoof over his shoulder trying to gain his attention. It worked as he trembled and lifted his face up to hers. The look in his eyes made everyone step back except for Pinkie. “The demons.”
