Monster In The Everfree

PROLOGUE

“Dammit,” the black stallion cursed at himself, “I promised Luna I would have that unicorn captured by now!” He brushed his green and orange mane, letting the sweat roll down his forehead. The stallion had been walking through the Everfree for hours in search of this unicorn. He needed to get that pony soon, or a lot of casualties would ensue. He remembered the event quite clearly.

***

Earlier that day, a tan unicorn came marching right into Canterlot. He had walked up to a guard, looked him in the eyes, and lit up his horn. Within seconds, the guard was drooling blood from his mouth, his body a lifeless corpse on the ground. The unicorn simply looked up at Canterlot Castle and walked in. He approached Luna, the black pegasus guard next to her staring at him in shock. He appeared to be different from the rest. He appeared… stronger.

No words were spoken until the tan unicorn reached Luna’s throne. He then simply told her what was to come of her home city. “The spell I just used on that guard is no where near as powerful as another spell I know, and it can be used on as many ponies as I want, all at once.” Luna’s eyes widened, but she remained silent to let the unicorn state his intentions. “If you wish for the city to remain alive within the next week,” he said, “I want you to make a public announcement to the entire city about your sister’s suicide, which, by the way, will actually be murder. You have one week. Your sister? Or the entire city? Your decision, princess. You, or someone under your command follow me, and you're all dead.” The unicorn left the room, Luna and her guard sitting with their mouths wide open.

Luna turned to her guard. “Shadowleaf,” she said, “follow him. Don’t get caught, and don’t make a move unless he attacks first. If at all possible, figure out if there’s a way you can take him back here alive. We need him contained.” Shadowleaf nodded. He went to leave, but Luna stopped him. “Shadowleaf,” Luna continued, “you’re the best guard I have. I trust you won’t fail me.” The guard once again nodded. “Now,” Luna said, “come with me. I need to give you something.”

Shadowleaf followed Luna down a flight of stairs, through a hallway, and into the third room on the right. Inside was the supply closet, for all of the guards to use as they please. In the corner, a locked wooden chest lay on a table. Luna brought Shadowleaf to the chest and, after a bit of magic, the lock clicked. She opened the chest and removed a silver ring.

“Princess,” Shadowleaf inquired, “what’s that?”

“This,” Luna replied, “is a device I want you to put on that unicorn’s horn. It blocks the output of all magic, no matter how powerful, and converts it into pain for the wielder. A few minutes with that, and he won’t even try to use magic.” Luna used her magic to create a dark blue necklace. She put the ring on the necklace, and the necklace around Shadowleaf.

Shadowleaf departed without another word. Once he got outside, he flew up into the air. Weeks of training was the only possible way he was able to fly with all of that armor. After locating the target, Shadowleaf landed in a nearby bush and removed the armor. There was no way he could be stealthy with it on, and on this mission, stealth was the name of the game.

***

Shadowleaf was getting exhausted. Just how long could a unicorn such as this one walk? The pegasus grudgingly pressed on, being careful as to not step on anything. He had lost visual on the unicorn, but he still needed to keep quiet.

Sure enough, after rounding the corner, he came across a lit up cave. The unicorn had to be nearby. Slowly, Shadowleaf entered the cavern. The pegasus instantly was greeted by three paths branching off in different directions. Luckily, the unicorn had been quite incompetent and had only lit up the path that led to him. Shadowleaf followed the lights.

As the pegasus came to a deep drop off, he readied his wings. Gracefully, and quietly, Shadowleaf glided to the bottom. A well-lit room crowded by tables was now in his sight. On the tables were all sorts of things: Potions, empty bottles, flasks of blood, books, and, strangely, a rotting rabbit’s head.

Shadowleaf picked up a book. It was titled Spells and Solutions: A Guide to Customized Magic. The pegasus opened the book to a marked page, revealing an assortment of spells. Two spells in particular had been scribbled on with notes, the first being a spell to create a disease which causes instant death. The second was to create a disease which spreads instantly. The first was most likely what was used on the guard, the second more than likely was the one the unicorn has spoken of.. It appeared that this unicorn knew what he was doing, and Shadowleaf needed to inform Luna immediately.

Shadowleaf turned and began walking out. He had seen enough to know that this unicorn was a threat and definitely couldn’t be taken on alone. Just as he was taking his first step, something slammed into the back of his head. Taken by surprise, this made Shadowleaf collapse to the ground. His vision blurred as an immense pain rose on the back of his skull. He looked up and saw the same tan unicorn from earlier, levitating a crowbar in front of him. With a smirk, the unicorn slammed it into Shadowleaf’s head once again, this time smashing his nose. Everything went black.

***

“What the hell just happened?” Shadowleaf sat up, rubbing his nose with his hoof. As he took the hoof away from his face, a large amount of red, sticky blood came with it. He was severely bleeding. The stallion stood up, and took a look around.

He was in some sort of cage, that was obvious. The black steel bars blocked his path of escape. He seemed to be deeper in the cave now. It smelled extremely of bile, wherever he was. The intense pain in his nose and the back of his head was not helping his situation, either.

The room seemed practically empty, aside from a table with a book on it. Too bad Shadowleaf wasn’t a unicorn, he could’ve used it. What would the unicorn do with him? Had he failed the princess?

A few hoofsteps echoed through the cave. Following them were louder steps, the echo effect slowly fading away as the volume increased. The tan unicorn popped out from a cavern and took a look at Shadowleaf. “Oh, good, you’re awake,” he said, eyeing over his prisoner.

“Who the hell are you?” Shadowleaf asked, “and what the FUCK are you doing to the city?”

“For Luna’s sake,” said the exasperated unicorn, “relax. All I did was kill a guard with dark magic. I can’t even do the mass killing spell-”

“You lying bastard, you said-”

“I know what I said, pal,” the unicorn snapped, “and I was telling the truth. I’m going to kill them all for sending you after me. You didn’t let me finish earlier. I can’t do the mass killing spell without help.”

“What do you mean?” Shadowleaf had already grasped the concept. He was most likely going to be the so-called help, against his will of course. He of course would never do anything for that brute willingly, even if he was tortured beyond his limits.

“What I meant,” chuckled the unicorn, “is the spell requires a host.”

Now Shadowleaf was confused. “A… host?”

“Yeah, dumbass. A host. It’s not the same spell from before. It takes about fifteen days to start working, though.”

What was he talking about? Shadowleaf was now panicking. What was going to happen to him? He was the host? Host of what? A virus?

“W-what are you going to do to me?”

“Aw, lighten up, scaredy-cat. All I’m going to do is create a being of mass destruction using you.” The unicorn levitated the book off of the table. “And this book is all I need to begin. Well, and you, of course, but capturing you was a sinch!”

“Let me go! You can’t do this! Luna will kill you! When she realizes I’m gone, you’re dead!”

“Perhaps,” said the unicorn, quite skeptically “but how can they possibly get me if you devour them on sight?”

“What?”

The unicorn laughed, and began to cast the spell in the book. “Like I said, it’ll take fifteen days.”

Shadowleaf screamed in agony. He felt like his entire chest had just exploded, and, in a way, it had. A dark aurora came gushing out of his chest and enveloped him. All parts of his eyes turned blood-red. Three claws on each hoof pierced through his skin, and his teeth sharpened, two growing into vampire-like fangs.

“What did you do to me?!?!” Shadowleaf screamed, pain still surging through his body. He could see through the dark fog around him, which meant he noticed the smile on the unicorn’s face.

For a moment, Shadowleaf thought he could smell the unicorn’s blood, like he could sense the flow in the stallion’s veins. He immediately shook the feeling and replaced it with his anger.

With an evil laugh, the crazed unicorn spun around and began to leave. “Welcome to day one!”