Shadows of Sins Past

Now that the dramatic events of this morning were over and done with, Westwood took his stroll trying to avoid contact with the crowd of ponies that had seen him previously in his stunned overload. Now it was quieter and he wasn't in a position that somepony was using magic to restrain him like some kind of wild animal. The warm sunlight felt good against his scales which absorbed more heat just from the uniform set of black scales over his entire body. He was content just killing time walking in a straight line through the sunlight.

After an hour or so, Westwood had lost his bearing and had found himself walking towards what looked like a forest that lacked the light that was readily present in the outside world. He stared at this forest border for some time as though analyzing the way this forest could possibly function. With a shrug of his shoulders he stepped into the boundary of the forest finding that the warmth he felt was near nonexistent as though something sucked the warmth out of the world, "This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder." He spoke looking at the boundary and then back ahead to walk further into the darkness until it became as dark as the cell that he had been trapped in for years. It away the darkness around him was comforting, possibly more than the sunlight he was swimming in before if only because he was accustomed to the pitch black void that he was in.

Sounds around him became more clear, his footsteps seemed as loud as cymbals in the absence of light. One noise different, the sound of a snapping twig which sent Westwood into the fight or flight reflex. His reflex sent him into a boxing style fighting stance as he turned. The sensitivity made him see into the darkness around him, "You better come out if you don't want to get flayed alive." He drake spoke which lead to a shuddering that he could hear shaking a bush.

"Please don't hurt me." A soft voice appeared from the dark, "I don't mean harm. I'm just looking for Angel." The soft and frightened voice continued as the shape of a winged pony could be seen exiting the bush.

Westwood looked at the shape for a minute. He had to be seeing things this time, if the figure of a winged pony was real he was going to hit himself to see if he wasn't having some sort of bizarre dream that made him hear talking ponies, unicorns and now pegasi, "Don't sneak around like that. It's hard enough to see and things sound louder here than outside." The dragon spoke to the soft voiced pegasus.

The voice, still cloaked in the shadows that hid her body, continued, "I'm sorry. I just needed to find Angel Bunny and-"

Westwood interrupted the pegasus before she could say more, "You don't need to apologize." He said to her. Something about this voice felt nostalgic to him, he couldn't quite place it right this second, but it gave him that feeling, "I'll help you find your rabbit if you want some help. I can see a little better in the dark than most pe- i mean- ponies." He said to her. It wasn't a lie, he did see better than others could in the dark if only because he was experimented on so often and had genes swapped with other creatures, "The name's Westwood by the way." He spoke to the pegasus.

The pegasus seemed to look away from Westwood, "My name's Fluttershy." She spoke in her soft tone that slowly degraded to a near inaudible tone.

Westwood caught the name regardless which he turned back around, "Then let's try and find that rabbit of yours." He said to  Fluttershy. He didn't know what went over him, he was offering to help find a rabbit in the middle of a massive forest that had little to no light though most of the density. He didn't know if he was just being soft or if something about this pegasus was making him easy to manipulate.

Fluttershy started following behind the larger dragon and looking around where they stood, "Thank you Westwood." She spoke with a voice that was more audible and had slightly more strength to it if that strength was infantile at best.

Westwood sighed hearing her voice, "Don't mention it." His reply came looking ahead and trying to spot some sort of rabbit. What was strange was that there was no rabbit of any kind around, it was a little unnerving that with the size of the forest that he had not found any sort of life outside of Fluttershy whom he found a short time ago, "So what happened to make your rabbit run away?" He asked while keeping his eyes scanning the forest floor and watching for roots that could trip the two of them.

Fluttershy sunk her head down, "I was trying to feed him, but I didn't have exactly what he wanted." She answered the dragon as though the fact that the rabbit's particular taste was her fault that she couldn't give him what he wanted to the dot.

Westwood snickered with his grin pulled to the side of his face, "Is that it? Sounds like that rabbit of yours is more of a spoiled brat than a pet." He said to Fluttershy.

He heard a rustling in the bushes to his side, an instant later something small and fluffy jumped out and clung to the dragon's face which he attempted pulling it off without hurting it with his claws, "Get off my face you hairball!" He shouted. The shout echoed through the forest while Westwood struggled with pulling the furry object from his face. He finally pulled the creature off his face and put it on the ground, "This belong to you by chance?" Westwood asked keeping the blunter parts of his claws on the scruff of the rabbits neck.

Fluttershy looked at the furry creature and then she gasped, "Angel. I was so worried about you." She spoke now nuzzling with the rabbit.

Westwood groaned rubbing his face with one hand. An odd feeling crept up his spine, he opened his eyes between his fingers to see sets of glowing eyes staring at the two of them, "Fluttershy. What lives in these woods?" He asked the pegasus taking a step back. He looked back at Fluttershy and saw that she was near paralyzed with fear.

"Monsters. Manticores, Timberwolves." She started though her voice fell to something that was inaudible.

Westwood took a stance in front of Fluttershy being her guardian, "Fluttershy, I want you to run. Don't look back, just run as fast as you can." He spoke to the pegasus before the glowing yellow eyes started to appear more. They were completely surrounded by these creatures around them. It was too late for escape, he had to fight, "I guess that it's time I tried fighting in my new body." He spoke.

Fluttershy shook like a leaf keeping near Westwood. She couldn't speak, she could hardly breath and she couldn't move.

Westwood's face turned at first to see the hostile creatures behind him, the other thing he saw was the look of mortal fear in Fluttershy's face even if it was obscured more by the darkness around them. The drake slowly turned his head once again, his eyes changed from the bright yellow to a deep red. His tone was now that of a low rumble as he growled to the crowd of creatures.

A roar came from his throat as he rushed forward. The next sounds that could be heard were loud yelping like a dog being hurt. Soon a loud crash could be heard and light began flooding into the battle ground. Westwood seemed to have curved blades of an ethereal mass on his forearms. Behind him was a large splatter of blood and organs even if his own body was clean. He turned his head seeing the source of the eyes from before, an assortment of different creatures were scattered about. Wolves made from branches and wood, humanoid dogs with jeweled collars, and other various beasts scattered about, a large mass of eyes were now absent.

Another loud growl penetrated the world as Westwood charged at the creature nearest Fluttershy, the timberwolf closest to her was the first to receive the drake's rage. The blades on his arms severed through every point of the wooden creature turning it into kindling wood. The enraged drake had his fangs bared at the creatures like a rabid animal .

Fluttershy was now more terrified by Westwood than she was of the monsters, she saw a mindless savage that had just murdered Celestia knows what that mess of blood and organs had been at some point, "Westwood! Stop!" She shouted attempting to reach the dragon and bring him back to his senses.

The screams had fallen on deaf ears. More organs, limbs and extremities flew through the air as the ethereal blades cleaved through meat and bones as though they were made out of butter and paper. It was no longer a dark battleground, it was a slaughter.

The segment of the forest was now bare of trees. Blood, organs and limbs scattered throughout what was the slaughter Westwood's enraged form took. His breathing was deep, rapid and animalistic.

Fluttershy was terrified, the drake she met that was helping her search for her lost rabbit had brutally murdered a crowd of monsters, even the ones that attempted to flee were not spared, "Westwood!" She shouted one last time.

The drake spun his body around, one of the ethereal blades stopped just short of rending Fluttershy's head from her shoulders. The enraged red eyes that Westwood had slowly faded to the normal yellow color, his mind had returned to normal and the blades vanished like they were air. He looked at the battleground and saw what he had done in his rage. Flashbacks of his nightmares began echoing through his mind. The looks on the villager's faces resembled that of Fluttershy's look of total terror.

Fluttershy saw that his eyes had turned again, slowly she started to move again, "Westwood?" She asked with the look of terror on her face as well as concern in her eyes.

Westwood's eye formed a small tear in the corner of his eyes realizing that he was close to killing the cream colored pegasus that he had tried to help, "Just get away from me." He spoke gritting his fangs.

Fluttershy's voice shuddered seeing that Westwood was back in control, "No." She started and she moved closer to the dragon. Yes she was afraid, but she could see that he had intended on protecting her, "I'm not going to leave." She spoke looking around at the gore around her, "This wouldn't have happened if I would have just told Angel to eat what he had." She spoke using her flaws to try and comfort Westwood the best she could, "It's my fault you had to."

Westwood looked at Fluttershy thinking that something was wrong with her, "You're scared of monsters right? Why do you accept me yet I am probably the biggest monster of them all." He spoke seeing the world around them and that there was a circle where blood was not present, a circle around Fluttershy.

"Because you only became like that to protect me. If you were a monster then I would be dead too." Fluttershy spoke keeping close.

The tear that had formed in his eyes slowly trailed down the frame of his face, "You are a strange one Fluttershy." He spoke before picking up the pegasus, "Let me at least keep you from stepping in all this crap." He spoke keeping the white rabbit and the cream colored pegasus from being near the blood and gore that was left in his rage. The fact that Fluttershy had seemed to forgive him so easily for being a monster was confusing to him when the last time he went into the rage he was imprisoned for years and became a test subject.

With the look of the outside world present, he saw that he had spent more time wandering in those woods than he had originally thought, "Tell me where you want me to drop you off at. I have a place to go." He spoke jumping and making it to the top of one of the trees, the act confused him on how his leg strength could have gotten him up to this height, but being able to see where he was going instead of wandering in the dark was something he wasn't going to complain about.

Fluttershy was taken by surprise when Westwood had picked her up and now the three were high up in the trees and could see the clock tower and the tree library in the distance showing where Ponyville was, "I have a home near the edge of Everfree Forest. If you can take me there I'll be fine." She spoke to the black scaled drake.

Westwood nodded to Fluttershy and used the same strength as before to leap from one tree to the next. The new speed and balance the drake found made his long walk through the forest so much short even to the point it was merely a few minutes from the center of the Everfree to the border where he found what appeared to be a cottage that literally was in the border of the forest. He wasn't going to argue with the placement, if it was safe enough then it was safe enough. Besides, he had to meet with the princess Twilight had called to meet him.

"Alright you're back home. Now try and keep yourself out of trouble." He said to Fluttershy as he turned and started running back to the library so he could be back in time for his royal appointment.

By the time Westwood got back to the library, the sun had already gone down and the moon began to rise as well. He slammed the library door open with his shoulder. Instead of meeting with a princess, all that was there was Twilight waiting by reading a book.

"You're almost late. What took you so long?" Twilight spoke in irritation at the dragon in front of her.

"Sorry. I got lost when I was walking around." Westwood lied in a smooth enough manner to pass it off as an excuse.

Twilight groaned, "Fine." The violet unicorn spoke before looking out the window and to the rising moon and the shining stars that Luna had began setting in the sky.

Westwood set himself on the ground and sighed as he watched the moon rising in the sky. The dark sky gave him some comfort. He felt like he could hide from what he had just done, much like how he wanted to stay in the dark when he was being experimented on. His time in the dark meant that he wasn't being cut up like a Christmas turkey.

Minutes turned to hours and Westwood eventually fell asleep while still in a seated position. After some time asleep he began to shake as the nightmares had started. As if this was what was intended by Princess Luna, the alicorn had appeared in the library looking at the dragon in front of her. She started to him for a moment and soon after entered the dragon's dream.