My Little Monster: Friendship is Universal.

Chapters

The Nightmare Lingers!
The Horror From Beneath The Sands!
The Chill Clutch Of The Unseen Talon!
The Monster Remembers.
A Spell Gone Awry Unleashes Pure Terror!

The Nightmare Lingers!

They were sitting around the inside of the Golden Oaks Library, chatting amiably with each other as Twilight flipped through the yellowed pages of the massive tome that lay at her hooves, surrounded in an intricate spiral of runes.

Fluttershy watched her friend read from the book with unease slowly rising in the pit of her stomach.

Something isn’t right here. she thought as she looked on. Why is Twilight so concerned about this book? She only just got it in, she hasn’t even re-read it! That isn’t like her.

“Are you sure that this is a good idea?” asked Fluttershy, halting her friend’s amiable conversation in its tracks.

“I’m sure, Fluttershy.” said Twilight, smiling reassuringly, “This book has so many spells that I’ve never heard of. Spells to change shape, spells to heal the sick, there’s even a spell that can open portals to other worlds! And I’ve been dying to see the other you’s from Canterlot High and see how Sunset Shimmer’s doing.”

The others shared looks of excitement at the idea of meeting their much-talked-about human counterparts. That idea calmed Fluttershy somewhat, but the unease was still there, just numbed for the moment.

She allowed herself to think upon what it would be like to see her human counterpart, taking comfort in the distraction and allowing her imagination to soar at the possibilities, although she had a strong suspicion that her doppelganger would be, in fact, just like her.

Still, it never hurt to dream.

Sadly, her dream was cut short when the whistling started. It was low at first, but it quickly gained in volume until the very walls were gently vibrating with the sound.

The Bearers clutched their hooves to their ears to try and drown out the noise.

Then Twilight screamed, loud enough to penetrate the hooves and the strange humming. Fluttershy opened her eyes and gasped as she saw the tome’s pages begin to fly out of the book, every single letter on every single page glowing like a jack-o-lantern.

The humming distorted and twisted until it became a raging cacophony of screams, roars, howling and hissing.

There was another scream and Fluttershy watched in horror as Twilight’s eyes were filled with glowing yellow light.

Fluttershy awoke with a screech that startled the nest of birds that slept on the beam above her head into wakefulness. The yellow pegasus sat bolt upright, her fur soaked with sweat and her fear-filled eyes darting around the room, searching for invisible monsters.

After a minute her breathing slowed and she was able to think clearly. The memory of that day was still blazing brightly in her mind: the tome, the humming, Twilight’s reaction, it was all so terrifying.

Fluttershy heaved a shuddering sigh and got out of bed, she hoped that a nice glass of warm milk and an oat cookie or two might help her get back to sleep.

She headed down the stairs, wincing at every creak, and entered her small, darkened kitchen. She pulled the fridge door open and took out the milk, letting the rectangle of the fridge’s internal light illuminate her way to the counter and cupboards.

There was a window that divided the cupboards from the counter, a smallish one that looked out onto her backyard and the outlying thicket of the Everfree.

It was dark outside, the full moon was hidden behind some clouds and the only illumination came from the fireflies that danced in the still air.

It was beautiful to Fluttershy, even though it was filled with shadows.

She fluttered up to the highest cupboard and took out a cup and a packet of cookies, then she set them on the counter. She chanced another look outside and started when she saw that the glass had been fogged.

Fluttershy looked over at the thermostat that lay next to the window: it was only 79% outside; Could it be coming from in here? It is kind of cold.

Furrowing her brow, she looked back up and reached out to wipe away the condensation, but it wasn’t on the inside.

The fog spread slightly and then a large, dark shape gently tapped the glass on the other side, wiping the mist away and giving Fluttershy a clear look at the face that lay on the other side, a green-furred face, with a flat-topped head, a sloping brow and the pair of piercing silver eyes that lay under them.

Eyes that were now gazing directly at her with a mix of confusion and interest.

Fluttershy screamed as loud as her lungs and throat would allow.

The monster drew back, emitted a muffled snarl, and turned away, disappearing into the blanked of shadows beyond her line of sight.

Fluttershy, whimpering and sobbing at the same time, pulled herself into a ball and huddled in the corner farthest from that window, her wings wrapped around her shuddering body; there would be no sleeping this night, that much was certain.

Elsewhere, far beyond Ponyville, Princess Luna was staring down at the little town with a mix of confusion and worry.

There were dark storm clouds rolling in over the little hamlet, clouds that pulsed and swirled with the potential of powerful bursts of lightning and torrents of rain.

I didn’t hear anything about the weather pegasi making a storm when I read this morning’s paper. mused the lunar princess as she watched the clouds swirl and break apart in the chilly wind, which had also come suddenly and without warning.

Outside of her window the courtyard was littered with fallen leaves.

Nightmare Night is almost upon us. thought Luna, smiling with anticipation, for that night was the night when she got to visit Ponyville, and many other towns in Equestria, the night when she got to scare the adults and mingle with the foals, who loved her much more than their older counterparts, who didn’t judge her for her past mistakes.

Luna frowned: lately it seemed as though Celestia had noticed her dislike of the older generation’s distrust of her, and she had set up several meetings and parties to break the barriers that lay between her and the others. She had even gone to the extreme of announcing the first annual Lunar Ball.

Luna had protested this, but her sister would have none of it. “You have to get out there and face your subjects sometime.” she had said, “Or you’ll just make them distrust you more.”

“But why must I face the obnoxious aristocracy?” she had asked, “They only tolerate me because I am a princess.”

Celestia had put a hoof to her chin for a moment before smiling and saying, “What if I summoned the Bearers to lighten the mood? I’m sure that they would love to see you again.”

Luna had smiled back at her sister, “Would you really?!”

Celestia had chucked and said that she’d arrange it. This gave Luna a far more positive outlook on the Ball, but she was still wary of it.

“How interesting could it be, even with the Elements there?” she thought, remembering the incident at the first Gala that they’d been invited to, the one that Celestia had, after her laughter had died down, told them not to “liven up” again.

She was startled out of her thoughts when something large and shadowy passed by her window. She looked out and saw a bat, large and black with deep red eyes, pass by, wheeling through the air before fluttering out of sight.

“That didn’t look like any of the bats that I’ve seen before.” Luna thought, feeling a shudder pass through her.

There was something about those eyes, it was like they had been staring right at her.

She shivered again and resolved to keep the window closed for the night.

“Maybe I should put a barrier around it, just to be safe.” she thought for a second before she let out a soft chuckle.

“Good Faust, Luna, are you really so foalish?” she taunted herself aloud, “Frightened of a bat, one of my favorite animals, what is wrong with me?”

Still chuckling to herself, she turned and headed for bed.

She didn’t see the bat return and perch upon the small terrace that led to the window, affixing her with its red, unnatural eyes.

The Horror From Beneath The Sands!

The sands burned like hot embers, baked by the blazing Saddle Arabian sun that hung in the cloudless sky like a large, yellow-golden eye.

Daring Do grunted as she threw another spadeful of compressed clay over her shoulder. She had been toiling under the sun since before it had arisen, digging and hauling tons of earth up, and her wings were aching fiercely from the strain.

But she only paused to take a mouthful of cool water that her guide, Hutter, had provided her. She was far too interested in this new site for care about stopping, after all, it wasn’t every day that a pyramid and half a sphynx appeared out of nowhere; Daring wasn’t sure what kind of spell had brought them, but she guessed that she would find out soon enough, she always did.

At the moment she was digging out the sand-filled entrance that led into the pyramid. It was hard labor, the sand and clay having been hardened, probably as a result of whatever magic had brought it here in the first place.

It was also interesting in terms of how large the whole structure was: the few remaining pyramids in Saddle Arabia were at least five storeys shorter, and the entrance that she was unblocking was also far larger than was necessary.

Daring felt a rush of excitement sweep over her at the prospect of the pyramid being of alien build. She had uncovered many ruins of magical build, but she had never uncovered something alien made.

This idea made her work double-time and, after another hour had passed, the last of the compacted clay fell inwards and Daring stepped through the entrance.

To her surprise the room that she found herself in was lit by torches, but that brief shock died away when she remembered that the whole place probably still held some traces of whatever magic had brought it here.

Though, for a second it seemed like the torches were burning silvery-white, but then she blinked and the flames were yellow as the should be.

“Miss. Do, are you alright?!” called Hutter, his deep voice echoing off of the dusty stones.

Daring turned back and called back, “Yeah, I’m fine! C’mon down, Hutter, the air’s actually breathable!”

There was a pause, followed by an annoyed grunt, and then Hutter leaped spryly into the chamber.

“I’m so glad my guide can keep up with me this time.” she thought with a small smile, remembering her past guides and how many times they’d have to be rescued and how much they whined. But Hutter was fast, strong and far more intelligent than she was willing to admit to herself.

“So,” said the stallion in question, shaking the loose sand off his pinfeathers, “what have you found?”

“Not much.” said Daring, her eyes leaving the pegasus and scanning the area, “But did you notice how tall everything is?”

“Yep.” said Hutter, looking around before his eyes settled in on something that interested him, prompting him to walk past her and stride towards something at the center of the chamber, something half-obscured by the shadows cast by a massive pillar.

Daring followed Hutter a ways before she noticed something on one of the pillars.

“Wait a second!” she called, moving closer to the pillar, “Come look at this.”

She heard Hutter heave a long-suffering sigh before he trotted over to her.

“See these hieroglyphics?” she asked, pointing a hoof at the myriad of strange characters that had been etched into the ancient stone, their paints faded and peeling, but still there.

Hutter looked at them and blinked in confusion, “These don’t look like any language that I’ve seen, and I’ve seen most of them.”

Daring felt an excited smile start to form on her lips, “D’you think-”

“It wasn’t aliens, Daring.” said Hutter, dismissively.

Daring huffed and pouted, earning a small smile from the stoic guide.

Hutter reached into the pack that was slung around his side and pulled out a piece of paper and a lump of charcoal. Daring found her attention being drawn back to the shadowed thing at the center of the room and she began to trot towards it, knowing that it would take Hutter a few minutes to get a good rubbing.

When she was close enough to see it properly, she realized that it was a large sarcophagus with golden plating set with shining jewels, bright paint that had barely been touched by time and a carved face at the top.

Most of these details were ones that Daring recognized from her many adventures: the Saddle Arabians, the Kopteks and many other ancient civilizations had crafted sarcophagi not unlike the one that she stood before now, but the death mask was different, wrong in many ways.

For one thing, the eyes were too close together, and far too small to belong to a pony; the snout was also unnatural, being tiny to the point of being almost nonexistent and oddly-shaped, overhanging a thin, small mouth set in a grim line.

Daring felt a cool tendril of unease slither up her spine as she drew nearer: she knew that the old civilizations were wonderful carvers and they made sure to make their dead look as good as they could manage for the Afterlife, so it didn’t make sense for any of them to carve something so hideous unless…

“Unless this pony did something bad, something Really bad.” she thought, looking down into the faded blue eyes of the death mask.

Well, either that or they really were aliens.

“I’m done copying the hieroglyphs.” said Hutter from behind her. Daring instinctively spun around and saw him rolling up his rubbing before sliding it into his pack. Daring cleared her throat and gestured to the sarcophagus, “Shall we get this sucker open, or do you wanna head back?”

“I suppose we should open it.” said Hutter.

Daring smiled, “You’re the best.”

Hutter smirked, “I’m only doing this because I know that you won’t shut up about it if we don’t do it right now.”

Daring stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to the sarcophagus and checking it for traps. When she was satisfied that it was trap-free she nodded to her guide and they both threw their combined weight against the lid.

There was a loud, grating sound as the ornate lid began to slide away. The sound set Daring’s teeth on edge and the sour odor that began emanating from within made her eyes water, but she powered through regardless.

After a full minute of heaving and panting the lid slid off and fell to the stone floor with a loud BANG!!

Hutter flew up to one of the nearby torches and pulled it out of its bracket, then he brought it down and lifted it over the lip of the sarcophagus, allowing it to illuminate what lay inside the stone coffin.

It was a mummy-that much had been expected-but one that was utterly different than the ones that Daring had seen before. It was bipedal, bound in yellowed bandages that had fallen away in areas to reveal dusty patches of gray fur and dried muscle pulled taut over a vaguely familiar-looking skeletal structure.

Daring’s eyes moved up the decayed body, noticing how small it was in comparison to its final resting place and how its body was ever-so-slightly contorted, like it had died in pain; finally she saw the long, pointed ears and short snout.

“A diamond dog?” said Hutter, looking surprised.

“No.” said Daring with a shake of the head, “Its snout it too small and its ears are too big, see?” she gestured at the oddly proportioned extremities, “It looks more like a jackal to me.”

“I diamond jackal? I….don’t think I’ve ever heard of them before.” said Hutter, sounding unsure of himself.

“That’s because there’s no such thing.” said Daring, gazing at the mummy with the same uncertainty. There was something about the shriveled carcass that unnerved her; It wasn’t just that it appeared to be a new species, it was the odd scale of the sepulcher surrounding it and the disturbingly hateful look that was etched onto its desiccated face,

“It feels so...wrong.” she thought as she watched the light from the torch cast shadows in the mummy’s sunken eye sockets, “I think we need to get out of here right now.”

Daring turned to Hutter and voiced her thoughts.

Hutter did a double-take and affixed her with a scrutinous gaze. “You’re joking, right? We can’t just leave now, I need to take more rubbings and-and we need to take stone samples and test for spores and-”

“I don’t care, Hutter!” snapped Daring, “We need to leave, now!”

She felt heat rise in her chest as the shadows around her lengthened.

The torches went out, then flared back to life a silvery-gray color.

A gust of icy wind blew into the chamber from the massive entrance way, its coldness made Daring’s teeth chatter and her skin break out into a field of goosebumps.

Then they heard it, a low humming that gained in volume until it had made itself heard over the moaning wind.

Daring took out her binoculars with shaking wings and held them to her eyes, wanting to see what lay outside the door. Unfortunately, she didn’t need to look far, as her eyes fell upon a dark cloud that was heading for the doorway; a dark cloud that was humming-no...buzzing.

“Locusts.” she said aloud, her eyes widening as the swarm of insects came into her line of sight.

She turned to Hutter, a command to take shelter rising in her throat, a command that died when she saw what Hutter was doing: he was looking down into the sarcophagus, the light from his torch reflecting off of his wide, terrified eyes.

“Hutter? What’s wrong?” asked Daring running over to her partner, who was quaking and trying to form words that wouldn’t come.

She came up to him and placed a hoof on his back. Hutter made a low moaning sound and gestured a wing to the inside of the sarcophagus.

Daring felt the chilly unease inside of her become full-blown dread as she got closer and looked into the dusty sarcophagus.

A pair of silvery eyes stared back at her from a wrinkled, skeletal face.

Daring screamed, and her scream broke through Hutter’s haze of fear and he turned and bolted for the entrance; Daring didn’t have the mind to call out to him, she was transfixed by those silver eyes, which now gleamed with a malice and hunger so strong it made Daring’s eyes tear up.

Then the Mummy began to move. Slowly at first, moving his claws, his pointed ears and his thin arms, bandages tearing and ripping a she did.

Daring moved backwards as the movements continued.

The Mummy sat up, his ancient spine cracking like dry timber and his disused joints popping loudly. He turned his head towards her, slowly, keeping his eyes on her as she continued to move back.

A dry paw wrapped around the lip of the sarcophagus; Daring noticed that one finger bore a ring inset with a black gem.

Then the Mummy spoke, his voice raspy, but also deep and authoritative.

“What fool has awoken me?”

That did it. Daring Do turned and ran as fast as she could, ran out the entrance, ran into the locust-shrouded night, ran from the undead horror that lurked within that dusty tomb.

Ran from the Mummy.

Author's Note

Internet Mozzarella sticks fro whoever gets what movie Hutter got his name from.

The Chill Clutch Of The Unseen Talon!

“Well, Ms. Sparkle, it seems like you’re ready to leave!” said Nurse Redheart, a warm smile forming on her lips.

Twilight nodded and returned the smile, thankful to be able to get back to her friends, who had been growing more and more worried about her health ever since she had cast that spell, an event that was still hazy and fragmented.

“What book was I even studying?” she wondered as she left that sterile room behind and trotted down the hallway,

Twilight shook her head, as if the physical action would shake the mental cobwebs away, but, try as she might, she was still unable to remember anything.

She was almost to the front desk when the sounds of a scuffle reached her ears.

Twilight turned and looked back down the hallway to see two burly orderlies wrestling with an earth pony with an olive green coat and a brown mane and tail.

As she watched, the pony threw himself into the nearest orderly, throwing him to the ground before spinning and delivering a powerful buck to the other, who was thrown into a nearby stretcher with enough force to send him rolling down the hallway.

Having seen quite enough Twilight decided that it was time to step in; She lowered her horn and yelled out “Hey!”

The olive pony whirled on her and bared his teeth, which Twilight noted bore canines-an unusual genetic defect for a pony to have and one that made him look far more intimidating.

“Don’t try anything, mister!” she warned.

The hostile stallion narrowed his eyes and took a step towards her.

Twilight fired a bolt of magic that hit the strange pony right between the eyes: his eyes rolled up and he slumped to the ground in a boneless heap.

Twilight heaved a shuddering sigh and sank to the ground, feeling a spike of pain pierce her head. Why did I do that? she thought, groaning and rubbing her head with a hoof as the pain slowly died out.

Behind the unconscious stallion, the orderlies were slowly getting to her hooves with moans of pain.

“Sweet Celestia, that guy was strong!” exclaimed one of them.

“Yeah, it felt like getting hit by a bus.” groaned the other.

“Hey! Did you knock him out?” asked the first orderly, pointing to Twilight; his partner frowned, obviously annoyed at being emasculated whilst knocked-out.

“Eh heh heh….yes?” responded Twilight, weakly.

The two orderlies sighed and then lifted the unconscious stallion onto the dented stretcher with much grunting and muffled curses. Twilight turned away and started back for the front door, after all, her job was done, she had stopped a crazy pony and had remained injury-free whilst doing so.

All in all, I’d say that concludes any strenuous things that I’ll be doing today. she thought as she walked out of the hospital and into the cold rain.

Inside her house, Fluttershy lay huddled and trembling in her bed as the rain pounded her roof, filling her house with its cacophony. The yellow pegasus whimpered and curled up tighter as a peal of thunder boomed outside.

She hadn’t moved from her bed ever since she had seen that monster looking in at her. She shuddered as she recalled those dead eyes looking right at her, sizing her up, probably wondering if she’d taste good.

What if it’s still out there? she wondered, feeling tears of fear spring up under her tightly-shut eyelids, What if it got into the house and is standing over my bed, waiting for me to fall asleep so it can take me and eat me?

One of her eyes popped open and she stirred slightly, wondering if she should chance a peek.

No! That’ll only make it angry!

Something cold touched her hoof.

Fluttershy screamed and leaped onto the floor, her fall softened by the many blankets that she had pulled down with her.

She was up and ready to flee a nanosecond later, her wings unfurled and ready to fly. She looked around her small room, scanning every shadow before her eyes landed on a lump that was moving under her sheets.

Fluttershy backed away as the lump moved slowly towards her like a shark in a fabric sea.

“P-please…” she whimpered, getting ready to bolt.

The lump stopped, then let out a decidedly un-monstrous yip.

Fluttershy blinked, then fell on her rump as a small dog emerged from under the sheets, grinning goofily and wagging its tail.

Fluttershy stared at the oblivious dog, then burst into gales of relieved laughter that shook her whole body.

“Oh, thank-hehehe-thank goodness ihihihit’s you, Spot.” she said through her giggles.

Spot yipped again and barreled up to her, covering her face with wet dog kisses.

Fluttershy wrapped her arms around the dog and pulled him closer, feeling herself calm down as she felt his heartbeat against her skin.

A sudden peal of thunder made her hold the dog tighter.

“Why hasn’t the storm stopped?” she wondered aloud, “You’d think that the weather pegasi would have broken it up by now.”

As if to illustrate her point, there was another peal of thunder and a flash of lightening that filled the room with its blue light.

And in that light, Fluttershy caught a glimpse of a dark shape fly by her window.

A dark shape with wings.

The yellow pegasus whimpered and held the dog tighter, knowing that it would be a while before she even dared to set a hoof outside of her room.

Nurse Redheart stood outside of the cell, looking at the raging tornado of a pony within.

It was absolutely amazing how strong the mysterious stallion was: he had already broken two restraining spheres, given three of the hospital’s burliest orderlies bruises and black eyes, and he had bucked several small holes in the wall.

The beasts aren’t working. she thought as another orderly went down, clutching his jaw, I guess it’s time for the beauty to step up.

Redheart stepped inside of the cell and smiled benevolently at the panting stallion, who was glaring at everything and everypony.

“Ahem.” Redheart cleared her throat loudly, getting the stallion’s attention, “Excuse me, sir, but I’d very much appreciate it if you could refrain from doing any more damage to the cell and the orderlies. I don’t know what your issue is, but I’m sure that it can be resolved peacefully.”

The stallion looked at her inquisitively and seemed to be holding back a comment. Redheart lit her horn and levitated a syringe full of sedative from a nearby tray, which was one of the few that had yet to be knocked over. “ Now, why don’t you let us give you something to help you sleep and-”

“I don’t need to be sedated!” shouted the stallion, suddenly, “I don’t need a nice, warm bed, I don’t need medication and I don’t need your damn kindness! I just need to end it before the next full moon!.”

Redheart’s magic drained from her horn along with the blood from her face; The syringe fell to the floor, forgotten.

“‘End it’?” She asked, hoping that he hadn’t meant what she thought he had meant.

The stallion’s tense shoulders slumped slightly and his ears flattened against his skull as he let out a deep sigh. Redheart was shocked at the sudden change in his demeanor and greatly unnerved by the way the angry blaze behind his brown eyes went out, leaving nothing behind at all.

“Please” he said, looking her in the eye, “I need to die. I’ve seen you ponies use magic, it must be very powerful here, right?”

Redheart said nothing, only gaped at him in horror.

The stallion sighed again, “Please answer me, I don’t want to have to go through another night under the moon.”

Redheart numbly shook her head, “N-no.” she finally managed to stammer out, “I-I’m not going to...to help you do something so...so horrible!”

She moved forwards a few feet, not wanting to get too close to the stallion for fear of him lashing out again. He’s obviously insane. she thought sympathetically, I can’t let him try anything, I won’t let a fellow pony die when I can prevent it! I just need to calm him down and then subdue him.

“Listen, mister-?”

“Talbot, Lawrence Talbot.” said the stallion without any enthusiasm.

Lawrence Talbot? That’s certainly an odd name. thought Redheart as she moved closer.

“Okay then, mister Talbot. Just tell me why you want to die.” she said, adding a soft “Please.” to cap it off.

Talbot’s eyes grew misty and he said, in a low voice, “I’m a murderer.”

Redheart’s heart stopped.

“Wh-what?” she stammered, cold sweat breaking out on her brow as her horn powered back up.

“I've killed people, tore them to shreds, eaten them.” said Talbot, his tone never changing, “I’m cursed, y’see. Every full moon I turn into a wolf.”

He turned slightly and showed off his cutie mark, which was a strange symbol that Redheart had never seen before: it was a simple star-shape surrounded by a circle, the star lacked any detail or color, and the lines that composed the symbol were straight and black.

“This is the mark of the beast.” explained Talbot, “It shows that I’m a cursed man: I can’t age, I can’t die, and I will never stop killing unless someone finds out how to kill me first.”

Redheart fell on her rump, still gaping at Talbot, who only sighed and hung his head dejectedly.

“I’ve had this conversation so many times before.” he said sadly, “And nobody ever believes me. Even you think that I’m crazy and you’re a talking horse!”

Redheart yelped as Talbot kicked out, knocking another hole in the wall.

“I don’t know how much longer I have before I turn!” he shouted, “If you aren’t going to kill me then put me in chains and lock me in your strongest prison; I will not kill anyone again!”

Neither Talbot nor Redheart saw the orderly with the syringe until he had stuck the needle into Talbot’s rump and pressed the full dose into his veins. The olive-green stallion gasped as his eyes began to cloud over and he staggered a few steps towards Redheart as his mind was pulled into a drug-induced haze.

“Please...please help me….please kill me.” he whispered a second before toppling over, out cold.

The silence that followed Talbot’s fall was deafening, and Nurse Redheart wished she could scream to drive it off.

What is wrong with this town? she thought, Angry griffons, parasprites, chaos gods, Ursa Minors, Nightmare Moon and now this nutjob.

She started to get up, but a little voice in her head said something that gave her pause.

Then why did he seem so sad? He wasn’t lying, that much was obvious. So why would he say all that if it wasn’t true?

Nurse Redheart tried to stifle that little voice, but the damage was already done and, as she went into the bathroom to clean herself up, she found her mind wandering back to the mysterious stallion with the strange name and the even stranger cutie mark.

He did talk kinda funny. she thought as she washed her hooves and ran them through her disheveled hair, “Anybody”? “Man?” “Horse”? Who would call a pony a Horse and what the hay is a “Man”?

Redheart sighed in exasperation as she started drying her hooves.

There is definitely something wrong with Lawrence Talbot, she thought, but it can’t be a curse….can it?

Far, far away, in a small, snow-shrouded town that sat in the sprawling shadow Falconia, the capital of the Griffon lands, something was prowling the icy streets; Something without fur, feathers, skin, bones or organs that could be seen.

Paw and talon prints appeared in the snow out of nowhere, random griffon townsfolk felt unseen talons grasp their limbs or caress their bodies with careful, almost sensual softness and, if one were to listen in the dead of night, one could hear a disembodied voice talking in a high, mirthful voice.

“Oh, what a brave new world is this!” it had been heard saying, “A new body, a new world and so much potential for experimentation! I could get used to this place!”

The joyful madness in that voice had driven many of the townsfolk to sleep with pillows over their heads to block out the ramblings, though it didn’t muffle him when he sang.

Of course, no-one knew what was happening and the authorities were never able to catch the unseen individual.

And then the first murder occurred.

A homeless griffon had been found with his throat viciously slashed. Whoever had killed him had taken his clothes and left the body in the snow; the blood that had pooled around the body had frozen solid by the time that it had been discovered.

No-one knew who had done it, but many whispered accusations were aimed at the unseen entity that had been stalking the street,

And, as the townsfolk talked and whispered and feared, Jack Griffin, known by his victims and enemies as the Invisible Man, began his trek towards Falconia with a song on his beak and murder on his mind.

Author's Note

Two Monsters for the price of one!!!

The Monster Remembers.

The Everfree was rapidly turning into a swamp under the incessant torrent of icy rain; the timberwolves had retreated farther in to be with their young, the cragodiles and star-spiders had stopped their hunting in favor of sleep, and the Ursas slept on through the onslaught in the dark of their caves, dead to the world.

There was only one creature in the Everfree who was out and about.

The Frankenstein Monster heaved a vaporous sigh and turned his head to the gray sky, letting the rain sooth his burning skin; He was running low on energy, and would go into a deep slumber if he was not revitalized soon.

A bolt of lightning lashed out form the clouds, but didn’t hit him. This aggravated the Monster greatly and he stomped a hoof in frustration, the force of the impact creating a small crater that filled with rainwater.

The Monster looked down at his face, framed by the muddy edges of the crater, and hissed. He had never liked his face, it made him an outsider, a freak, a monster that men would try to kill on sight.

Of course, they had never succeeded, their bullets and knives and fire hurt him, but nothing could kill him. He had already survived floods, a fall into a sulfur pit, being set on fire and being crushed and battered in more explosions than he could count, though he couldn’t count very high.

Why had he lived so long?

That was a question that had plagued him for years. He knew a bit about how he had come to be: he knew that his body had been made from the dead and that he had been given life through lightning.

“Your father was Frankenstein, but your mother was the Lightning!”

The Monster let out a low moan of sadness as he remembered Ygor, the broken-necked shepard who had been his only friend in the world. But the Son of Frankenstein had taken him away.

“Frankenstein.”

The name slithered up from his throat like a wet snake, the name was venomous, hated above all else. The man who had given him life and then rejected him as if he were nothing.

The Monster had wondered why his own father had cast him aside for many a century before finally coming to the conclusion that Henry Frankenstein was nothing more than a madman who was blinded by the need for “Perfection”, a state that the Monster knew that he would never embody, not in a million years.

The Monster felt tears well up in his eyes. He still wondered if his creator would have accepted him if he had been truly “Perfect”.

But that was only a dream, and one that rarely came to him; He was far too busy fleeing from people who wished to either kill him or use him. He had been trapped in that cycle for so long that any span of time that he could spend alone was truly comforting to him.

But they always found him. They always ruined his peace.

The Living. thought the Monster with a snarl. Oh how he hated the living! Even in this new world he knew that the strange creatures that lived here would hunt him.

But at least they were small and fragile-looking; They’d be easy to break.

The Monster smiled to himself as he stood up, black lips drawing tightly over yellowed teeth. The little horses who lived in this world were weak, they had to be! No strong creature could be so thin and small

A strange sound pierced his thoughts, a familiar sound: it was the sound of someone crying and It sounded close.

The Monster began to move towards the sound, the sadness in it drawing him to it like a moth to a flame. He had never heard one of the Living cry like that: it wasn’t terrified weeping or mournful wailing, it was just sad.

No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than he had entered between two massive oaks that led out onto a winding dirt road, one that led to a nearby town whose silhouette he could see behind the curtain of rain.

But he couldn’t see the one who was crying until he looked down.

There was a small horse sitting alone in the road, her tiny frame shuddering with sobs, an oddly-colored board with wheels lay broken at her hooves. As he watched, the little horse wiped an orange hoof across her eyes and shook some of the falling rain out of her purple hair.

“Stupid Diamond Tiara...stupid Silver Spoon.” he heard her whimper.

The Monster cocked his head, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the still-sniffling horse: it was small and had a high-pitched voice, so it was probably a child, and its voice was also feminine, so it was probably a girl, but then again, who could tell in a world like this?

The Monster didn’t like any of the Living, but he disliked the children of the Living far less than the adults: the children were younger, far kinder than their aged counterparts. The Monster even remembered befriending a little girl whose ball he had retrieved from a rooftop.

But that had been just one child, he had met others, the first person that he had met after his escape from that drafty tower had been a little girl.

She had also been his first victim.

The Monster hadn’t meant to kill her, she had shown him how she had made daisies float in the water and he had picked her up and tossed her in to see if she would do the same, but she never came up and the Monster had fled after realizing what he had done.

The Monster felt his heart tighten as he remembered her shocked and frightened cries. She had been so very young….and he had killed her.

He often wondered if the townspeople would have been kinder to him if she had lived, maybe she would have spoken up or him, maybe she would have been his friend.

Friend.

That was a word that seared his throat whenever he said it, that made him sick with envy to watch the Living practice. Why did they get to have friends and not him? What made them so special?

But, even as that often-thought-of question entered his mind, the answer came charging behind: It was because he was ugly, dead, a killer, a monster.

The Monster hissed out through his teeth and then turned to leave.

SNAP!!

The Monster stopped and stared down at the broken branch under his hoof, a second later he heard a soft, muffled gasp.

Slowly, he turned back and saw the orange horse staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.

“Alright, team. It’s time to nut up or shut up!” bellowed Captain Swift Wing, looking at his crew of weather pegasi with a critical eye.

“As most of you know, there has been a massive, unscheduled thunderstorm roarin’ above Ponyville, we haven’t been able to contact the weather pegasi in that town, so we’re gonna go in and bust some heads, ‘cause pegasi do NOT SLEEP ON THE JOB!!”

No sooner had his thunderous last words left his mouth than his crew roared back in appreciation.

Swift Wing’s aged face split into a smile, his 40-odd years of service had made him quite distinguished, earning him a reputation for speed and bravery that only one other living pony has surpassed: that pony being the famous Rainbow Dash.

I’ve gotta remember to race that youngster, see what she’s really made of. he thought as he looked out at the horizon.

There was a storm brewing, he could see the thick clouds and the massive branches of lightning that flew from them, he could hear every rumble of thunder echo across the grassy plains.

It was powerful, but not in the same way that the pagasi would make. The pegasi always made it their mission to keep the thunderstorms from getting too out of hoof, they would keep the rainfall down and make sure that no flooding happened, and they’d make sure that nopony was struck by lightening; A pegasus thunderstorm was a work of art,

But this storm wasn’t like that: it was big, dark and carrying an ominous weight to it. Swift Wing could feel the electricity in the air and the damp made his wing joints ache.

It’s like some kinda monster. thought the captain as the storm let out another roar.

He shivered and looked back at his crew, who were doing wing-ups and stretches in preparation for the task at hand. I hope everything goes over well. he thought as he watched them, but something in his gut told him that he should be prepared, because the storm was going to put up a fight.

And with that thought Captain Swift Wing turned back to his crew and began barking orders, this time making extra sure to keep them in line.

Behind him the storm grew….and a shadow made its way through the thick clouds.

Author's Note

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, GUYS. Have some cool music, after all, Halloween only comes once a year. :pinkiecrazy:

A Spell Gone Awry Unleashes Pure Terror!

Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and bearer of the Element of Magic, opened her eyes to find herself in Ponyville’s town square.

She looked around, trying to piece together just how she had arrived there in the first place, the last thing that she could remember was her standing over a large tome, her horn alight with powerful magic and her eyes glowing.

Now she was here.

But something was wrong.

Where was everypony?

“Hello?” she called.

Dead silence greeted her.

The purple unicorn shuddered and looked around, but there wasn’t a soul in sight: the windows were all shuttered, the doors were locked, the town square was as desolate as a graveyard.

And there was something else, something that Twilight couldn’t quite pin down. She blinked and then realized, with a start, what was wrong.

All of the color was gone. The once vibrantly colored town had been plunged into a sea of black, white, silver and gray which made the shadows darker and the light dimmer.

She shuddered and called out again, “Hello? Is anypony there?”

This time she received an answer: a voice came to her on a powerful gust of wind that blew up great clouds of dust, an old voice that creaked and whistled, a female voice.

“Even a man who is pure at heart and says his prayers by night, may be come a wolf when the wolf bane blooms, and the autumn moon is bright.”

Twilight shielded her eyes from the dust until the wind died down, then she opened her mouth to ask the mysterious voice what it meant, but she was interrupted by another speaker, one whose was deep and bore a thick accent that she couldn’t place.

“Listen to them, children of the night, what music they make.”

Another voice joined in just as soon as its predecessor had faded.

“You go! You stay! We belong dead!”

This voice was far deeper, raspy and slow, like the speaker was having great difficulty forcing the words out.

No sooner had that voice faded away then a veritable cacophony of new speakers followed in its wake.

“You have created a monster and it will destroy you!”

“And Yet I shall awaken memories of love and crime….and death.”

“The claws of a jaguar, they rip like this.”

“Get down, you fool!”

“The Phone is dead, do you hear that, Vitus? Even the phone is dead!”

“Then why don’t ya sing? Sing! Go on, sing, sing!!”

The myriad voices swarmed around Twilight, deafening her, threatening to overwhelm her with their sheer volume. She clapped her hooves to her ears and sank to the the silver earth, trying in vain to blot out the voices.

Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, they ceased, with nary an echo or reverberation to signify that they had been there in the first place.

Twilight slowly removed her hooves and hesitantly got back up. She bit her lip and looked around the black and white facsimile of the town that she knew so well. There was nothing on the ground level, but the horizon was now darkening with the beginnings of a storm, and a big one at that.

Twilight blinked once and found that the storm cloud had moved far closer than it should have.

“There’s something wrong with it.” she thought as she squinted her eyes in an attempt to see better, “The storm cloud is moving way too fast, I doubt even Rainbow Dash could move a cloud with that kind of speed.”

Then a sound came to her ears: a chittering, squeaking sound that was gaining in volume with every passing second. Twilight looked away from the cloud and nearly screamed when she saw what was making the noise.

Rats. Thousands of them, millions, even! All red-eyed and all frothing at the mouth. All headed right at her.

Twilight backed up and turned to run when a shadow fell over her. She turned and saw that the cloud was now upon her, but it wasn’t a cloud now, it was a massive swarm of black bats that blotted out the gray sun with their numbers.

Twilight screamed and ran as fast as her hooves would allow, while the two swarms of vermin met and flowed together like a black river.

Twilight ran and rounded the corner that led to Fluttershy’s house, but the path that should have been there was now overgrown with thick trees and creeping vines, and the ground was shrouded by thick fog that came from nowhere, but seemed to blanket everything.

She turned back and ran the other way. She could hear thunderous crashing behind her and she turned to see more trees erupting from the earth, hemming her in.

The terrified unicorn turned and stopped when she saw that the way into the Everfree was gone. In its place was a boggy swamp that echoed with the cries of strange anmals.

She turned back and the swarm of bats and rats fell upon her like a shroud of shadows.

But, to her great relief, they rushed past her without a single one of their mangy, hairy bodies touching her. They left only the sounds of their paws and leathery wings behind. Her relief vanished, however, when she saw what they had left in their wake.

The Ponyville that she had grown to love was gone, and in its place stood tall buildings with thatched roofs and cyclopean stonework. The cobblestone streets glowed under the beams of tall, wrought iron lamps and a thin layer of fog was creeping in from around the corners of the street.

She walked slowly, her heart pounding in her chest, her hoofsteps clattering on the cobblestones. She passed by a darkened alleyway and thought that she heard a low, manic chuckle.

She sped up and rounded a corner to find that the town had given way to a dark and gloomy moor, with gnarled trees and sloping hills; Twilight could see an old graveyard in the distance.

A low, mournful howl pierced the stillness and made Twilight’s hair stand on end. It sounded to her like a timberwolf, only sadder, but there was a certain edge to it that she didn’t like; it sounded just as hungry as it was sad.

She turned away from the moors and felt her heart soar when she saw Carousel Boutique nestled between two of the tall buildings.

Twilight broke into a full gallop and she didn’t stop until she had plowed through the (thankfully) unlocked door.

“Rarity! I need-” she stopped when she saw the inside of the boutique.

The various dresses, scraps of cloth and tailoring supplies were all gone, the floor was carpeted with dust and the lofty ceiling and bare ponyquinns were festooned with spiderwebs.

“H-hello?” called Twilight, “Rarity? Are you in here?”

“Yes, Twilight, I’m here.” said a voice from above her. Twilight looked up and screamed when she came face-to-face with her friend, who now bore piercing red eyes and a mouth full of glistening fangs.

“I’ve been waiting for you.” she hissed, opening her mouth and dropping from her perch towards Twilight. The unicorn leaped out of the way and raced for the door, hearing the sounds of flapping wings behind her.

She leaped out the door and bucked it shut just as the monster that had once been her friend slammed into it. Twilight galloped away, not wanting to stick around to find out what had happened to the generous mare.

She ran blindly, her eyes hazy with tears of fear and horror. She had no clue what had happened to Rarity, or the town itself, but she wanted everything to be the way it was before.

She was so caught up in her own sadness that she didn’t see the pit until it was too late, and she fell fast and hit the ground hard.

Twilight quickly regained her hooves and looked around, wondering what new terror awaited her: the pit had led into a massive room, filled with mounds of what appeared to be jewels and treasure. The silvery light of the torches that hung from brackets made them shine and gleam like miniature suns.

And at the center of the room was a large, ornately-carved coffin.

No, not a coffin, a sarcophagus. thought Twilight, moving closer in spite of her fears. She looked down and gasped when she saw that the sandy ground was moving towards the center of the chamber, taking her with it.

Twilight tried to halt her sudden movement by digging her hooves into the earth to get a better grip but found that there was no solid earth to find purchase on. Dread gripped her heart and she tried to use her magic to grab at a nearby pillar, but, to her horror, her magic didn’t work.

Then, with a deafening grinding of stone-against-stone, the sarcophagus slid open and the darkness loomed to greet her.

Twilight’s scream was cut short when several long, yellowed strands of gauze shot out from the shadows and wrapped around each of her limbs, tightening like pythons as they dragged her, thrashing madly, into the dusty depths.

Then she was standing upon a grassy field, gnarled trees surrounded her like crooked soldiers and above her she heard the rumble of thunder.

She barely had time to register all this before a bolt of lightning struck the ground a few feet from where she was standing prompting her to run.

She ran out from the thicket and into the boggy swamp where black snakes rose up at her and hissed. From the swamp she ran into an endless sandy tundra where the shapes of pyramids blotted out the sun and the sky was live with locusts. Twilight galloped over a dune and found herself in a wintry hillside where a disembodied voice laughed at her and footprints appeared in the snow without an owner.

And still she ran.

She passed out of the snow and into the ruins of an old castle with crooked, broken walls and odd alcoves that were filled with inky shadows; she could swear she saw a tall figure lumber past an old and broken window.

She opened a door and found herself in a dank sepulcher: armadillos and rats scurried away from her as she passed under an archway that led into a chamber filled with coffins, coffins that were being slowly lifted up by pale talons.

“Oh please, Celestia, let me out of here!” she wailed as the first set of red eyes peered at her from over the lip of the nearest coffin.

There was a hiss, then she was screaming and then-

She was awake, drenched with sweat, gasping and teary-eyed, but awake and back in the world of color.

She heard a gasp from her left side.

“Good heavens, Twilight, are you alright?” asked the familiar voice of Rarity.

Twilight turned and was relieved beyond words to see her friend standing there, her eyes blue and not red and her teeth flat and not pointed.

The unicorn wasted no time in pulling her into a tight hug that she reciprocated after a moment of confusion.

“I had the worst nightmare of my life!” she wailed as she buried her face in Rarity’s soft fur.

“I can see that.” replied the Element of Generosity, “But it’s alright now, darling, it was just a bad dream, nothing more.”

Twilight only buried her face deeper.

Rarity began to softly stroke her friend’s back, shushing her and slowly calming her down. “It’ll be okay, my dearest Twilight. You’re safe and sound, nothing is going to hurt you, I promise.”

After a while of this, Twilight finally fell back to sleep and Rarity tucked her in and sat back down, waiting for the other Bearers to arrive at the hospital to visit. She was relieved beyond words that her friend had woken up, the doctors had said that the spell that Twilight had attempted to perform had gave her a severe magical overload and she’d be lucky if she didn’t slip into a coma.

Rarity sighed and placed a hoof to Twilight’s chest, which was slowly rising and falling.

“Sweet dreams, Twilight.” she said, leaning down and giving her a gentle nuzzle that produced a soft coo from the purple unicorn.

Rarity smiled and then headed out the door to get some much-needed coffee.

Elsewhere, in the dark depths of the Everfree forest, a monster stirred, then opened his pale, gray eyes.

With a low groan he got to his hooves, hooves which he was sure he didn’t have before, but that didn’t matter very much to him at the moment.

He stretched his long limbs, the stitches that wound their way beneath the pale green fur rippled and moved like tattoos.

There was a storm coming, he knew that because the metal bolts in his neck where picking up the growing electricity in the air and sending tiny bursts of static into his system.

He assessed the damage to his person and found, to his surprise, that the explosion and subsequent fire hadn’t burned his black overcoat or undershirt, it hadn’t even singed the mop of black hair that sat atop his square cranium.

“I belong dead.” he said in his deep, raspy voice, “So why am I still alive?”

There was, of course, no answer.

With a growl of annoyance, the Frankenstein Monster turned and began to lumber through the thicket of trees nearest to him, determined to find some shelter from the oncoming storm.