Courage the Cowardly Dog In: Mare-anormal Activity

Chapters

1 - Smoke and Mirrors
2 - Silence and Strangeness
3 - Phantoms and Nightmares
4 - Preludes and Panderings
5 - Secrets and Lies
6 - Mares and Stares
7 - Knights and Pawns
8 - Heroes and Villains
9 - Castles and Spires
10 - Winners and Losers
Epilogue

1 - Smoke and Mirrors

Author's Note

It's the first new story of 2015, and you guys are gonna like it, or my name's Celestia!

And it's not.

1 - Smoke and Mirrors

The post holiday season was a stressful one for all sorts of folks, for all sorts of reasons. The joyful spirit in the air seemed to dissipate as signs of the holidays were taken down, one by one. Windows slowly began to lose their decorations, and storefronts began to lose their trees and wreaths. Routines gradually began to settle back into normality as folks went back to work.

Rarity was busy taking returns and adjusting measurements for all the garments which had been purchased by stallions for their mares in the hopes of getting some action, without bothering to get the sizes right. Pinkie had been busy baking holiday cookies and treats, and would smell like gingerbread for the next few weeks, or longer if she continued using the cookie scented shampoo that she used, of which nopony was quite sure where she actually got it from. Twilight was in Canterlot on an assignment, and Rainbow Dash had been invited to Applejack's for the holiday, the rainbow mare having not been able to spend Hearth's Warming with her family for one reason or another.

Fluttershy in particular had a busy season, as the pre-Hearth's Warming days always carried new families into her home looking for animals to adopt. Those that were not sick or dangerous were gladly given to new and caring homes, and she had spent the last few weeks signing away dogs, cats and birds to new homes. She of course would perform occasional check ins following the rehousing, to make sure they were taken care of.

Now that it was January, the parties were over and the fillies and colts were back in school, the motherly pegasus was going to the different kennels and shelters around town, seeking out any particularly weathered or abandoned looking animals that she felt needed to be taken back to her home and cared for properly. Not just any animal would do, and though it was hard to explain, she knew when she saw them. It was an instinct, really. She didn't like the concept of animal shelters, but understood that most of them eventually found their ways to good homes.

It was early evening, and Fluttershy had spent most of her day running errands and visiting various animal rehousing facilities. There weren't that many in Ponyville, but she'd also divided her time between here and Donkey Xote, a primarily mule run town just a few miles down the road from Ponyville. Having visited two shelters already today and assured herself that accommodations were in order and the animals were taken care of, Fluttershy was just about to make her way home. Dark clouds were gathering in the distance, and she wanted to make sure her windows were closed and locked before any possible storm could hit. Her attention was drawn to a small pink dog huddled in the farthest cage by the door.

Looking left, then right, and seeing no attendants to speak to, the pegasus frowned. The poor dog looked absolutely terrified, and Fluttershy could not in her right mind leave the animal here like this. She didn't want to just... you know, take it, without asking, because that would be wrong. But an animal appeared to be suffering! Think, Fluttershy, think! Okay, she couldn't just take this animal, because that would be wrong, but maybe if the cage was accidentally left open... yes, that could work.

Squeaking quietly, she reached over and unlatched the cage, leaving it just slightly cracked open. The dog looked up from it cowering position, and appeared thankful. Fluttershy winked, nodded, and began to edge towards the door to the building. She was alerted by the creak of a swinging door behind her, and turned to see the pink dog following along behind. Fluttershy blinked.

"You're gonna follow me home, aren't you?" Fluttershy asked, though didn't sounded entirely upset by this. Almost relieved, if anything. There was nothing she hated more than seeing an animal in less than ideal conditions, and although she'd never seen this dog before, she couldn't stand the thought of it just being miserable in a cage, here, alone.

"Uh-huh!" The dog yipped. Truth be told, he couldn't remember exactly how he'd gotten here, but was determined to stay safe and out of trouble until memory returned. Fluttershy didn't register this as sentient speech, but recognized the behavioral patterns, and nodded in understanding. "Alright, well... we have to move quickly, before someone sees," she said. "Come on."

The dog hurried with her as she left the building, both of them making rapid time through the fading light and increasing darkness as they hurried through the snowy center of town. Thunder boomed in the distance, making them both yelp and move all the faster. Fifteen minutes later, Fluttershy flung open the door to her cottage, and both of them burst through into the safety of its entryway, drenched with freezing rain. Fluttershy fetched a towel to dry the canine, who allowed this passively, and her eyes fell upon its collar. COURAGE was imprinted upon its metal, and this only caused the pegasi's heart to sink further.

"You must be lost," she said quietly. "Someone's probably looking for you, and we-" Thunder boomed again. "-can't do anything about that now... go rest by the fire, and I'll make some posters to put up so we can find your family first thing tomorrow." She resented herself for taking the pup from the shelter, but would have resented herself more had she left him there. As Courage took his place in front of the fire, and Fluttershy went to get papers and markers and prepared to work late into the night, none of them paid any attention to the storm outside.

As such, neither of them saw the heavy purple fog rolling in beneath the pouring rain, an ominous mist that seeped through the town as the last of the sun's glimmer disappeared beneath the horizon, and left them absolutely no indication that things were about to get very strange indeed.

2 - Silence and Strangeness

Fluttershy's eyes snapped open. A scroll was sticking to her cheek and a quill to her foreleg. She'd fallen asleep making 'Missing Dog' posters late into the night, and had absolutely no idea whatsoever that shenanigans were going down outside. She blinked several times, rubbing her eyes and looking outside to get an indication of the time. The sun was high in the sky, blazing its presence near the peak of its journey.

"I slept all day?!" Fluttershy exclaimed, and leaped out of her chair. She pulled all of the posters she'd completed into a neat pile and tucked them into a saddlebag. Time was wasting, she hadn't meant to sleep that long! Then again, she hadn't meant to stay up as late as she had either.

"Courage!" She called, making her way into the kitchen. She had an entire cupboard filled with clean and empty doggie dishes, which she placed on the floor and filled with dry kernels and bits. The pink pup appeared on cue, and sniffed at the bowl, not entirely enthused but grateful enough to eat what was offered. He had not seen the strange happenings the previous night either, but was a bit more in tune with the spectrum of unusual occurrences. While Fluttershy was packing up her things into the saddlebag, Courage devoured the dry contents of the bowl and moved to the front door. It was this door that he flung open to get a better look at his surroundings, and the surroundings themselves that made his jaw drop and a howl to escape his muzzle.

Running to Fluttershy, he immediately began tugging at her saddlebag. Using biology defying logic that Pinkie herself would have scoffed at, he desperately warped his body into several different shapes. A lighthouse, a tugboat, a telescope. Then whined loudly. Fluttershy only looked down at him. "Do you have to go outside?" She asked cautiously, and moved to the same door Courage had just left. There she saw what he had seen... a thick blanket of purple fog two feet high that covered absolutely everything. Every alley, every crevice, every square foot of land covered by the ominous mist. It didn't seem to be threatening, but certainly wasn't normal. Then again, this was Ponyville, and normal had a very loose definition.

Stepping cautiously out into the purple mist, Fluttershy instantly found herself up to her underside in purple haze. There was only thick mist below, she couldn't even see her legs. The world itself might have ended a few feet away and she never would have known it. Courage leaped off the front porch onto her back, tugging relentlessly at one of her wings, still whining.

"We can't fly, Courage, it's much too damp. The humidity will weigh down my wings... and I'm scared of heights," she admitted. "Come on, just because it looks scary doesn't mean it is scary... that's what Twilight says. I do wish she was here, though," Fluttershy sighed, and began heading out into town at a snails pace, each step carefully tested to make sure there was still ground beneath.

"I'm going to regret this, I just know it," Courage complained, but remained on the pony's back. By no means did he want to be out by himself in this fog.

Turning the corner into town square, Fluttershy gasped. Courage peered over her head, at first confused by what startled her so. He didn't see anything... then realized that was just it. He didn't see anything. The square was silent and abandoned, not a single soul in sight; despite being late afternoon. There were no birds chirping in the distance, no crickets sounding off in the bushes. Not a single sound from a single pony could be heard or seen anywhere. Nearly a thousand residents of a thriving town were simply gone.

"Hello?!" Fluttershy called, venturing deeper into the square. There was no reply. She didn't like this at all, and began tacking up her Missing Dog posters as quickly as possible. She did not want to be out here any longer than was necessary, but if her friends were missing, she owed it to them to find an explanation. The posters took only half an hour to put up, she only had a few dozen of them, but there were more important things to attend to. Looking back at the dog on her back, she whimpered bravely. "We look around for a few minutes, then get back home and plan our next move, alright?"

"Uh huh," Courage agreed, though hesitant.

Rarity's Boutique was near the center of town, and the door hung open, motionless. There was no wind, not the slightest breeze. It felt as if time itself was frozen. Fluttershy peeked her head in the door, taking trembling steps inside.

"Hello?" She called.

"Nobody here, let's go before something bad happens," Courage insisted. He had enough experience in similar matters to know that whenever something looked spooky such as it did now, bad things were typically not all that far away. But being as though Fluttershy was his only companion for the time being, he wasn't about to part ways with her.

Not hearing him, or ignoring him if she did, the pegasus went farther in. Scraps of cloth were abandoned on the counters, half finished dresses left behind on their eerie pony shaped models. There was no reply to her calls, and no evidence of habitation.

Fluttershy moved onward, checking house after house, but every result was the same. Dishes still in the sink, food still on the table. And not a single living soul to be found, animal or otherwise. By the time she made it to Sweet Apple Acres, a few hours had passed, and being the dead of winter the sun was already starting to go down, casting red and orange light on the horizon.

She had no more answers, only questions. Ponyville was abandoned. She and Courage were all alone.

Looking around as they left the abandoned apple ranch, Fluttershy stepped back into the darkening purple mist, intending to head for home. Unfortunately, the pair of eyes watching her had other plans, and Courage had no trouble picking out the silvery orbs in the fading light. He howled with fear, jumping up and down on Fluttershy's back and pointing in terror.

"Oooooooooooooooooo!" He howled, and Fluttershy saw the eyes a moment later, yelped, and made a run for it.

3 - Phantoms and Nightmares

Author's Note

WARNING

This is the chapter where the Teen rating comes into play, and things start to get seriously spoopy. If things get 2spoopy4u, please watch the attached video, and then come back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QScxSMWOT-c

Thank you.

3 - Phantoms and Nightmares

The eyes that rose up out of the mist had no pupils, no sign of life behind them. They were solid silver as if their owner suffered from severe cataracts, attached to a vaguely pony shape, but there was little method of identification behind the misty shape. Fluttershy ran from the figure for several seconds, the mist thick around her legs, skidding to a halt about twenty feet later. She saw no sign of the creature which had startled her, alone in the fog again with Courage.

Still looking behind her, Courage was the one looking forward, and thus the first one to see the last rays of light from the sun disappear below the horizon. As darkness replaced light and the magically infused candle blazed to life around Ponyville in place of streetlights, the purple fog almost seemed to crackle with electricity and life.

The fog in front of Fluttershy began to roll upwards, forming into the shape of a misty pony. Courage's eyes widened, and then the fogpony opened its own eyes. Solid silver, and certainly ominous.

"Ooooooooooooooooo!" Courage howled, and began tugging desperately at Fluttershy's mane. "Aba! Ababababa! Ababababa!" He whined, doing everything in his power to get her attention. Fluttershy finally turned her attention from behind her and looked in front, ears going down almost instantly.

"Um, hello..." She whispered. "Nice pony... nice pony... nice..." She had a sinking feeling in her chest, but wouldn't forgive herself if she hadn't at least given it a shot.

The fogpony roared a terrible screech at her and started running at her, which prompted Fluttershy to book it in the opposite direction, with Courage whimpering on her back. "Not nice! Not nice! Not nice!" She kept repeating, running down the path leading away from Sweet Apple Acres and towards town. On either side of the path, more fog ponies were rising up out of the mist. They were equally vague though differently shaped, though all with the same, solid, silvery cataract eyes.

"Run, run, run!" Courage demanded, while the poor Pegasus was already going as quickly as she could, the saddlebags bouncing up and down on her side. A select few fog ponies had become a few dozen, all of them screeching and chasing after her. Fluttershy raced into town while being pursued, skidding around a corner and immediately coming to a halt as she saw what was waiting for her.

Hundreds of fog ponies, some still rising up out of the darkness, crowded around the marketplace. Most of them hadn't noticed her yet, but the few other dozen were still coming for her. Courage pulled at her mane, pointing at the nearest building he could find. "In there, in there, in there!" He babbled. Fluttershy didn't appear to understand the verbal words, but understood the general importance of getting the hell out of here.

She raced into the building, closing and locking the door. She realized only after that she was inside that she was inside Carousel Boutique. Panting from all the running she'd been doing, she stood with her lower half obscured by the fog that had seeped into everything, trying to catch her breath. It seemed safe in here at least, the door was locked and the Boutique was empty. At least... it had been empty. Another one of the fogponies was rising up from the central area of the Boutique, and Fluttershy recognized the outline and perfectly coiffed mane almost instantly.

"Rarity?" She asked quietly, almost in a squeak.

Rarity wasn't in the mood for talking, only giving off one of those angry, monstrous screams. Rarity rushed forward towards Fluttershy, who screamed herself and yanked on the front door. It wouldn't open. She fumbled with the lock, but Rarity was already on her, grabbing at the pegasi's back legs with her smoking fog-legs and yanking her backwards, off her feet. Courage howled with fear and surprise, leaping off of Fluttershy's back and unlocking the door from its various latches, while Fluttershy was dragged backwards towards one of the back rooms.

Fluttershy whined and struggled against being dragged by the fogpony's enhanced strength, whimpering an apology. "I'm sorry..." She squeaked, and lashed out with her back legs, kicking Rarity in the face. The fogpony screeched and staggered backwards, reeling. She got up to attack again, but the front door swung open and smashed against the wall, a large and curly shape flickering against the candle lit darkness.

"Move!" It demanded, and Fluttershy moved, frightened and confused.

There was a WHUMP sort of sound like a muffled gunshot, and Rarity suddenly tumbled over backwards, glued and bound to the floor by what appeared to be twisting, binding streamers. Fluttershy slowly looked up, and Pinkie Pie stepped forward into the Boutique, dressed in a black jumpsuit and holding a smoking gun-like contraption that she'd shot the streamer webbing out of. Pinkie stepped over Rarity, and looked down at her with determination.

"Party's over," she deadpanned.

"What... how..." Fluttershy started, but Pinkie cut her off.

"Not now, later. We gotta get off the streets until sunrise... this is their time." She said gravely. "Come on." Pinkie left to go back outside, and Fluttershy looked at Courage. Neither of them liked this, but it wouldn't do to be trapped in a building. Courage climbed back onto Fluttershy, and the pegasus followed Pinkie back out into the darkness, the sounds of angry fogponies screeching in the distance.

Pinkie led her out into the darkness, and the trio stuck primarily to the alleys, while the fogponies roamed the streets. Pinkie kept unusually quiet, peeking around each corner she came to in order to ensure a clear pathway. Pinkie led her back to Sugarcube Corner, the two making their way inside. The doors quietly clanged shut behind them, sealing them off from the majority of the dangers outside...

...temporarily.

4 - Preludes and Panderings

In the middle of Nowhere, Courage lay on the lap of the farmer's wife, completely at ease with himself. It had been a long and blissful day of doing absolutely nothing, such a kind of day that he dearly wished would come around more often. The summer heat had been unbearable on all of them, and none of them wanted to go outside unless they absolutely had to. The farmer was in his chair, newspaper draped over his lap, snoring away. The farmer's wife, who went by Muriel, absently stroked her hands across the pups head every now and again, having to pause her knitting to do so.

Courage yawned tiredly, slipping from the lap that he had wasted so many hours on, intending on finding something a bit more productive to do. Perhaps food, yes, he was in the mood for something delightful to snack on. There were lots of things in the cupboards, and it was more than likely he'd find something there.

Passing by the farmer, the man stuck out his leg as Courage passed, tripping the dog and Courage fell flat on his face. The farmer pointed at him and cackled with laughter as if someone had just told the funniest joke in the world. "Stupid dog!" The farmer snickered. "Go get me mail while you're down there!"

Courage picked himself up, brushing himself off, and gave the farmer a reproachful glare. He pushed open the screen door, which banged against the outside of the house and came to rest slightly ajar. Courage huffed and made his way down to the mailbox, peeking inside it. A few useless catalogs for things they could never afford, but nothing decent. No mail, of course, there was never any mail.

He turned to make his way back into the house, but something caught his attention. He paused by the mailbox, squinting into the distance. Something was out there, but it was much too far away to see what it was clearly. He popped his eyes out of their sockets, rearranged them into binoculars, and placed them back up again. It was only at this moment that he could see the thick purple fog rolling towards the farmhouse in the fading evening light.

"Ooooooooooooooo!" Courage shrieked, dropped the catalogs, and ran back into the farmhouse, arms flailing. "It's coming! It's coming!" He howled, not entirely what 'it' was but knowing that it couldn't possibly be good.

"Didja get me mail?" The farmer demanded, and got up to his feet upon seeing that the dog was emptyhanded. "Stupid, good fer nothin' dog..." He muttered, and rolled up his newspaper to swat Courage with it. Courage ducked and rolled, tugging on the wife's apron. "Come on, come on, we gotta move!" He whined.

"What is it, Courage?" She asked, getting up to peer outside. The fog was rolling in rapidly, and was easily visible by now. "Oh, my. Eustace, it looks like we're in for a storm."

"What's eh?" He grumbled, sticking a finger in his ear. "If a storm's comin', me mail's gonna get all wet!" He glared at Courage. "Gotta do everything myself..." He stormed out through the screen door, ignoring the dog's protests, and went to pick up the catalogs. He turned back to the house, waving them. "See?! There's nothin' to be afraid of, ya stupid-"

It was at that moment the fog rolled over him, and his final words descended into a shriek of terror.

"Eustace!" The wife yelled, and tried to go after him, but Courage picked her up, hauling the woman over his head. He carried her up the stairs as the fog rolled in through the front door, finding temporary safety on the second floor landing.

"I think we're safe," Courage sighed, putting the woman down.

The fog seemed to have other plans, however, as the misty shape of the farmer rose up out of the mist, glaring at them both with solid, silvery eyes. He gave off a monstrous screech and lunged for the woman, grabbing her arm while Courage grabbed the other.

"Miiiiiiiine..." The spectre growled, yanking the woman towards him.

"Mine!" Courage repeated, yanking the woman towards him instead.

"Oh, my..." The woman gasped, while the tug of war over her companionship continued. Each pulled with all their strength, but while Courage seemed to possess fourth wall breaking abilities, he did not have the superior strength of the fog monstrosity. The farmer cackled and gave a mighty yank, sending both his wife and Courage hurtling down the stairs into the waiting purple mist.

The last thing Courage heard before blacking out as his head smacked against the floor was the terrified scream of the farmer's wife, shouting his name as if from a great distance and sounding very, very far away. The next thing he was consciously aware of was staring through the bars of a cell, at a kindly yellow and pink horse with unusually large hair.

As it turned out, however, he remembered very little of all this, and was struggling to remember how exactly he'd gotten here. The horses which called themselves Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had been mostly silent for the last couple of hours as they struggled to remain unseen, and Courage had never been so thankful in his life to see the first rays of red and orange break over the dark horizon. Pinkie gave a sigh of relief and stepped out into the open, Fluttershy squeaking with fright.

"Pinkie, don't!" She exclaimed.

A trio of fogponies saw them almost instantly as Pinkie walked towards them, screeching that hideous noise and lunging forward. Courage howled and held tightly into Fluttershy's ears so tightly she winced with pain.

The fogponies rushed Pinkie Pie, who never so much as glanced at her streamer-based weapon. The first rays of sun shot across the horizon and the fogponies shrieked, waves of mist rising up off their bodies. Their forms collapsed into the purple blanket coating the ground, and Fluttershy took a tentative step forward.

"Are they gone?"

"For now," Pinkie said grimly.

"For now."

5 - Secrets and Lies

"Now wait just a minute!" Fluttershy said, stomping her front hoof down suddenly as the sunrise grew more intense off in the distance. Untold numbers of miles away, Celestia had awakened and was doing the job she'd been doing for centuries. One might wonder if she ever grew tired of it, or even if she ever secretly slept in now and again while Luna raised the sun instead. Could Luna even do that? She'd have to ask next time she saw one of them, but she was starting to distract herself again. Now was not the time to go mentally wandering.

Pinkie gave no answer at Fluttershy's outburst, but turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"You clearly know more about this than I do, and I want some answers. What is this fog? What happened to my friends? Why aren't we effected by it?" Courage nodded his head in agreement, silently backing her up.

"Your friends are gone," Pinkie said grimly. "Whatever the fog manages to use as a host effectively erases the inner contents. I'm sorry," she said. "The fog uses the husks of its victims like puppets. When the day is active they're dormant, but when night falls... they're a deadly force that I'd not recommend be messed with. You saw what happened back there."

Fluttershy said nothing, unable to form words but giving off a pained whimper. Friends... gone... she couldn't even comprehend that.

"As for the fog itself," Pinkie continued, "It's only dangerous once, when it first rolls in and corrupts everything in touches. You must have been lucky enough to avoid it. Once the daylight hits it for the first time, it poses no threat. When did you first encounter it?"

Fluttershy still stood stunned for a moment, and Pinkie shook her shoulder. "Don't fall apart on me! When?"

"M-morning," she whispered. "Yesterday morning."

"So the fog wasn't dangerous anymore by then," Pinkie confirmed. "If you had gone out during the night, though, it likely would have corrupted you, and you'd be as vacant as the rest of them. "

Fluttershy felt her eye twitch. "How... do you know all this?"

"Because I was in Donkey Xote last week, and the same fog came rolling through the town. Completely devastated almost the entire population. I think whoever is doing this is moving north," she said. "Which very likely means-"

"-Canterlot is next..." Fluttershy finished. "Twilight's up there!"

"As is Celestia," Pinkie added.

"We have to warn them! Maybe put a stop to it... we have to try!"

"Uh huh!" Courage agreed.

"But... Ponyville..." Fluttershy began.

"Is already corrupted," Pinkie said. "There's nothing that can be done here. We have to get to Canterlot, and we have to fly. Using the roads will be too dangerous and time consuming."

Fluttershy looked down at the ground. "But... I don't like flying..." She said quietly, shuffling her front legs. "I'm not very good at it." She was preparing to say something else, when her mind struck a recent anomaly. "Wait a minute, we? What do you mean we have to fly?"

Pinkie grinned at her, and her body was enveloped by green fire. A monstrous black creature stood in her place with bulging blue eyes, and there was the distinct droning sound of buzzing insect wings as its dark carapace lifted off the ground. "I didn't want to tell you at first," she said, sounding apologetic. "I wanted to help you, and I didn't think you'd trust me. Will you?" She asked.

Fluttershy stared at it the insect, her heart sinking. So Pinkie was gone as well, leaving only Twilight. Whatever cruel sorcerer commanded the purple haze was on the move, and likely already had a headstart on them.

The changeling before her was enveloped a second time by green fire, and Pinkie once again stood in her place. When Fluttershy gave a questioning look, Pinkie shrugged. "You'd be surprised how much hate and intolerance I get... it's better that the others not know. You can keep a secret, right?" She said.

"Sure," Fluttershy promised. "My animal friends tell me secrets all the- my animals!" She cried.

Sensing her train of thought, Pinkie shook her head. "They should be fine," she said. "I don't think their neurological systems are advanced enough to be effected by the fog. Otherwise we would have been overrun with swarms of angry killer squirrels last night," she said.

"So if you can't be a changeling, how are you going to fly?" Fluttershy asked, her mind still distracted by the thought of swarms of angry killer squirrels.

Pinkie grinned, and the green fire burst around her again. This time she was replaced by Rainbow Dash, who posed heroically. "The most awesome way I know how," she said, intending to be funny.

Fluttershy just stared at her, still overcome by grief at the thought of her friends no longer being around. "Is that supposed to be humorous?" She asked.

Courage had been primarily silent during this exchange, but crossed his arms now in defiance. "I really don't think that's amusing, or my name's Hogglesworth," he said. "And it's not."

"Sorry," Rainbow said, sighing. "We only have one day to get to the bottom of this, maybe two at most, I don't know when the fog will roll through Canterlot," she said. "But we have to fly now," she warned. "And quickly. I know you're under a lot of stress right now, and it's a lot to ask for you to try and put that aside so suddenly, but-"

"I'll come," Fluttershy said firmly. "Twilight still needs our help, and we have to warn them."

"Thatta girl," Rainbow said, and took to the air in a streak of prism colors. Despite all her other shortcomings, Fluttershy had to admit the changeling was very good at bouncing from persona to persona, even if the result afterward was rather disorienting.

"Wait for me!" Fluttershy squealed, and took off for the castle in the distance with Courage cowering on her back, clinging to her neck and mane like his life depended on it.

Author's Note

I ask for trust and patience. Those of you who know me know I do not write grimdark typically, and though all seems lost, nothing is gone forever...

WaitAndSee

6 - Mares and Stares

30 hours after the first fog had rolled through Ponyville, on midafternoon of the next day, Twilight Sparkle was none the wiser to anything being wrong in any of the surrounding areas. She had been excited about being asked to do a presentation at the Canterlot Library, and had kept herself fairly busy. Spike was in charge of preparations, which meant setting up and taking down.

"You ready, Spike?" Twilight asked, overflowing with excitement. The two were standing behind the curtain of the small stage at the library primarily used for puppet shows. She'd never given a public lecture like this before, and expected a fair turnout. "I really hope lots of ponies show up, Spike," She beamed. "Reading and writing are important attributes that everypony should have. If I have time at the end I'll even reveal some of my trade secrets about writing a successful thesis!"

"If you say so," Spike shrugged. He didn't particularly care either way, he was just happy to see Canterlot again.

"I do say so," Twilight said, and stepped through the curtain.

"Fillies and-" she began, but stopped short as she got a look at the attendants to her lecture. The seats were filled with foals, most of which were younger than the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Most of those children were sitting next to their parents and fidgeting in their seats. This was absolutely not the audience she was expecting, and her eyes focused on the venue sign while feeling her heart sink into her chest like a stone.

TWILIGHT SPARKLE'S READING CORNER 1p-2p

A unicorn mare who'd set up the event stepped forward, delight on her face. "I can't thank you enough for agreeing to read to the children, it's so hard to find good help these days."

"I... anytime?" Twilight asked, a grin plastered on her face while her left eye twitched. She'd been in such a hurry she hadn't exactly been thorough with reading the program requirements, slightly ironic in hindsight.

"Wonderful," the mare said, sounding delighted. "Here's today's selection." She handed over a brightly colored book that Twilight, astonishingly, had never heard of before.

"Lunabrony Presents... Goodnight Woon?" Twilight asked, sounding incredulous. "Are you sure this is a real thing? Because this doesn't sound like a real thing. I know every book in Canterlot, and I don't know this one," she whispered.

"It's a foreign book," the mare said. "Now if you please." The mare turned to the crowd. "Are you youngsters all excited for Twilight Sparkle?!" She asked in a sing song voice. Twilight had never in her life imagined herself in a position where she'd had to read to children, she'd always been more of the 'lecture an auditorium full of ponies willing to be educated' fantasies.

The response was an immediate chorus of cheers and giggling, and Twilight found herself plastering a wide grin on her face to compensate for being backed into a corner. Her eyes glanced at the mare with a devious I'll get you for this sort of glare, but she began reading anyway.

The first ten minutes went smoothly enough, then twenty, then thirty. Forty five minutes passed, and Twilight was just beginning to think that she was going to finish up this unusual situation without any problems when the front door of the library swung open and slammed against the walls, prompting a chorus of "Shhhhhhh!" from scattered, annoyed readers.

Twilight had stopped in midsentence, unable to believe her eyes. Was that Pinkie? And Fluttershy? With a dog?

"What in the world?" Twilight asked, prompting the majority of the young fillies and colts to turn around in their seats for a better look.

Fluttershy was overjoyed to see her friend, although in her excitement she rather forget where they where. She took several steps towards her friend, eyes bright with hopeful relief. "Twilight!" Fluttershy called. "We-"

"Shhhh!" The head librarian hissed. She was an older pony with a remarkable resemble to Mayor Mare, right down to the half moon glasses she wore on her muzzle. But she was sitting behind the desk with stacks of books on either side, an open book in front of her ready to have its return date stamped and placed back in its proper location so it could be checked out again. This was what she spent the majority of the day doing, stamping books and shushing ponies like this pegasus, who didn't seem to know how to be quiet.

"But we came all the way from-" Fluttershy began. She found it slightly insulting that she was the one to be shushed, considering she was the quietest of the six on a naturally regular basis.

"Shhhh!" She wasn't having it. "You two, sit your flanks right down until reading hour is finished. Now." Her voice was so stern that both Pinkie and Fluttershy sat their rumps down at once. Twilight looked absolutely bewildered, but continued her reading session. Although her voice had now taken on an unmistakable shaky tone.

Over at the desk, Fluttershy's cheeks had reddened, and she had marched herself right over to the librarian, speaking a deadly menacing whisper. "Now you listen to me right now," she hissed, trying to appear brave but her pinned ears gave her away. "We have come a very long way to solve a precariously dangerous situation, that very well may turn out to be life or death. We are NOT leaving until we talk to Twilight, and we will NOT be quiet, do I make myself understood?"

The librarian glared at her with such anger, only causing Fluttershy to suddenly revert to her natural position of cowering in the corner.

"Or we can just wait over here until she's done..." She said quietly, and plopped down on her haunches in the corner by the door. Pinkie, or at least the Changeling pretending to be Pinkie at the moment, had never quite seen anything like it, although she didn't know Fluttershy well enough to find it remarkably unusual, and joined her by the door to wait.

Today was already turning out very strangely.

And it was about to get a whole lot worse.

7 - Knights and Pawns

While the three mares got over the initial confusion of reuniting at a live reading of a children's book in a library full of foals, the children gradually filtered away. Twilight had finished her reading to wild applause, although reading such fictitious nonsense about the beloved pair of princesses had prompted her to state a disclaimer at the end of her reading.

"The tales told in the book you've just seen are fictional, any similarity to real events or mares is purely coincidental. Please don't try any of the things you've just heard at home." Only Twilight would deem that statement necessary, and several of the parents gave her unusually cryptic looks.

The children just looked at her with obvious confusion before losing interest. Now that the story had finished, they had their own super important business to attend to. There were trees to climb, clouds to sleep on and pillows to be thrown at unsuspecting siblings. And they had to do all of that before dinner!

The mares were busy catching up, and Twilight was becoming increasingly upset upon receiving the knowledge that not only was there a changeling in her presence, but that the rest of her friends were beyond saving and potentially gone forever. That wasn't the sort of news that anyone would take peacefully.

Courage, meanwhile, climbed down from Fluttershy's back, intending on doing some searching of his own while the mares were holding their palaver. He didn't feel like wasting any time, and slowly left the library through the front door. His first reaction was to look up at the sun and judge the time. Mid afternoon, only a few hours left until evening. But if they were lucky, the fog wouldn't have hit Canterlot yet, and he wouldn't have anything to worry about.

The little pup began running down the street away from the library, not liking to leave Fluttershy behind but figuring they'd be in there a while. He felt like he had an important mission to do, and nothing was going to distract him from helping his new friends!

He passed by several clothing stores, a used bookstore, a toy store, another clothing store, a... wait a minute. Courage backtracked to the last window, peering into the display. A bright red yo yo lay on a velvet pillow, and Courage gasped excitedly. "Yes!" He exclaimed, and the overhead bell rang as he disappeared into the store.

He didn't have much money, only a bit or two he'd found lying in the gutter, but it was enough. Courage left the store with the yo yo, cackling as he bounced it up and down on its string. "Hee hee hee hee heeeee!" He grinned, then tucked it away. He was certainly a sucker for classic toys, and couldn't pass it up. Wait a moment, what was he out here for again? He frowned a bit, then gasped. Oh, yeah! Looking for clues. Totally important.

Okay, NOW he was going to focus. Courage resumed running down the street, looking for anything out of the ordinary. All of the shops appeared fairly standard for a magical society, except for one. At the very end of the street on an overgrown lot that clearly hadn't seen care in quite some time, stood a large, brightly colored building labeled as APOTHECARY. Above it, mounted over the door was a massive fake cauldron, with a bright red spoon spinning around and around the perimeter of the bowl, animated by either magic or some variety of gears.

"I know I'm gonna regret this," Courage said, and ran forward to try and peek in the dirty windows. He couldn't see anything, and looked at the door instead. He whined, then tried the handle. Carefully, slowly, as if it would burn him. It didn't, and the door opened.

Slowly peeking his head inside, the pup looked at the items lining the walls, mostly jars filled with nasty looking things like limbs and eyeballs. Turning his attention to the counter, his eyes bulged so far out of his head that they bounced out of his sockets and rolled across the floor. He was trying his hardest not to be seen, and trying even harder to convince himself that what he was seeing wasn't actually there.

"Nooooooooooooooo!" Courage shrieked, grabbed his eyes, and shoved them back into their sockets. The apparition he'd seen was already starting to turn towards him, but he was getting the heck out of there. Courage slammed the door shut and made a direct run back towards the Canterlot Library. The pup flung open the door and raced back to where the mares were holding their palaver, grabbing Fluttershy's mane and yanking on it desperately.

The pup howled to get their attention, turning his body first into a pink fog, then a zombie pony, rocking back and forth on two legs with his arms outstretched. This was followed by a pink cauldron, and he popped back into a canine, still babbling.

"I think your critter might have found something," Twilight said, looking at him. "Did you find something?" She asked Courage. Then looked at Fluttershy. "You think he's alright?" She asked.

"Yes!" Courage said, grabbed Fluttershy, and ran back out the door holding the squeaking pony over his head. Pinkie and Twilight exchanged a glance, then ran after them.

Courage ran right back to the Apothecary shop, and plopped Fluttershy down in front of the doors, pointing at them.

Twilight looked up at the giant cauldron overhead, frowning. "I've been in Canterlot dozens of times, and never seen this store..." She said, then entered through the door. Pinkie shrugged, and followed, with Fluttershy in the rear. Courage had a hold of her tail and was skidding his paws in the dirt, trying to hold her back, but she dragged him in anyway.

The smell of the shop was absolutely awful, and Twilight gagged slightly before coughing to announce her presence. "Hello?" She called. "Is anyone here?"

Someone was indeed here, and the pointed ears of the figure that turned to face her from behind the counter flicked as he spoke. The owner of the shop was wearing a labcoat lined with many pockets, his hands stuffed into the lowermost pair.

"Of course, my apologies for keeping you waiting," he said pleasantly. "Welcome to Katz Cauldron. I'm Katz," the crimson feline said pleasantly. "How can I help you?"

8 - Heroes and Villains

Katz stared at the three girls who had entered his shop, and the three girls stared back. They had no clear idea who he was, nor he them. The only common denominator in this situation was Courage, who hadn't stopped his babbling since they'd walked through the door. Katz stared at the dog with contempt, and slowly came around the counter on his long and skinny legs.

"I... despise... dogs," he said coldly, and walked over to where Courage was jumping up and down, trying his hardest to push the trio of mares back out the door. The mares would not budge however, and he picked up Courage in one hand, tossing him nimbly into the air and punting him out the door like a football. Courage's howls receded into the distance as he was lost to view.

Fluttershy was on him instantly, her face flushed red with anger. "How... DARE you!" She exclaimed. "What kind of pyscho just kicks a dog like that?!" She demanded.

"That dog and I go way back," Katz said simply. "He's more annoying then he looks. In any case, do not concern yourself with him." He tapped a sign on the wall, declaring -NO DOGS ALLOWED- in bold black lettering. "I have a shop to run, and animals tend to make a mess of things.

"That still doesn't excuse treating animals like that!" Fluttershy said.

Katz tapped his fingers together. "Dreadfully sorry," he said. "You're right of course. What was I thinking?" He snapped his fingers suddenly, looking brighter. "Say, I know, why don't I show you the back of my shop?" He offered. "I have some lovely new shipments in, I think you ladies might be interested in."

"Well," Twilight began. "We really are in a hurry, so if we could just look around for a moment-"

"Nonsense!" Katz insisted, and swept them towards the back with a grand gesture of his arm. "It'll only take a moment, and you'll be back outside in no time!" The girls, reluctant, but wanting to appear well mannered, followed him into the back room.

Courage had landed in the mud in the street, and pulled himself to his feet; covered in muck. He groaned and shook himself with the force that only a dog could manage, debris flying in every direction. It took only a moment to get his bearings again, and he ran back towards the shop, tugging fiercely on the front door, but the door was locked. Katz emerged from the back room, smiling devilishly at him. "Stupid dog," the cat said, and yanked down the blinds in the door, obscuring his view completely.

Whining, Courage paced up and down in front of the store. Glancing at the horizon, he saw the sun was starting to go down, and if anything at all was going to happen, it was going to happen soon.

Inside the shop, Courage heard an assortment of random noises, but the noises he could identify were perhaps the most terrifying of all. Someone was screaming back there! It was faint and muffled, but someone was definitely screaming.

"I'm coming!" the pup yelled, but he wasn't getting in the front door. Looking around desperately for some way to improvise, he settled on the tree he'd landed next to when being thrown out of the store. He took only a moment to run back over to the tree and climb to its lower branch, the bark rough and cold due to the chilly advancing evening. Courage reached behind him and pulled out the yo yo he'd bought earlier, looping it around the lowest branch and looking reluctantly down at the storefront.

"The things I do for love," Courage complained, and leaped off the branch, all the while making a bugling trumpet noise.

"Brr brr brrrrrr!" He announced, swinging on the string right through the window. Courage ducked and rolled, landing on his feet, the string swinging freely outside the window. He tugged on it several times, but it was fastened securely to the branch and would not come off. He eventually gave up and left the string there, dangling in the faint wind. The screaming from the back of the shop continued, reminding him of his mission, and the dog leaped into action.

Courage kicked open the door to the back of the shop, and gaped at the sight that met him. His jaw dropped so far that it actually became unhinged, and hit the floor with a crash like an anvil that had been dropped off the roof of a building.

Katz stood on the top of a remarkably unstable structure, all three mares tied together with ridiculously thick rope. At the bottom of the structure, sitting on the floor, was the most massive cauldron Courage had ever seen. So large in fact that he couldn't even see what was in it beyond the top of it. Twilight was desperately trying to use her horn, and it was sputtering on and off, but nothing good seemed to come of it. Pinkie was attempting to change into different things, but no matter how many times her body was covered in green fire, she remained Pinkie.

"Try all you want," Katz announced. "Your magic won't work here!" Looking down, he grinned at Courage. "Nice of you to join us, just in time," Katz said. "Welcome to the show, Courage!" And with hardly any more fanfare than that, he pushed the three tied mares over the edge into the massive cauldron.

"NO!" Courage screamed, but there was nothing he could do. The screaming of his friends was silenced only by a tremendous splash, and Katz' laughter.

"Muahahahahaha!" Katz cackled, and pointed a red finger at Courage. "Get him!" He yelled. "GET HIM!"

The cauldron began bubbling over with purple fog, rolling down the side of its metal and hitting the floor with sizzling steam. Courage took several steps backwards as sunset finally arrived, and three silver, blank eyed figure rose from the fog quickly filling the back room of the store. One pegasus, one earth pony, one unicorn. All three of them stared at him for a moment, hissed their terrible screech, and lunged for him.

Without any other choice, Courage ran for his life.

9 - Castles and Spires

Author's Note

NOTE: Chapter 6, retitled to Mares and Stares, has been overhauled to include 300+ more words so it meets my personal requirement of 1,000 word chapters (minimum). Feel free to go back and look at the new material!

9 - Castles and Spires

Courage made a run for it, leaving the safety of the Apothecary and dashing into the street, pursued by the mindless husks of the friend he had worked so hard to make. He ran outside where he thought for the briefest moment he might be safe, then realized with dismay that this was not the case. The sunset had begun while he was inside, as some miles away in the mighty castle, Celestia herself was finishing her daily routine and would soon retire to bed. The sun was barely visible over the horizon now, only a few lingering rays of light remaining.

He stopped for only a moment to look behind him, the doors to the Apothecary swinging open moments later as thick plumes of purple fog rolled out and spread in every direction, his former friends standing framed in the doorway. Fluttershy stared at him with her silver eyes for a moment before giving a terrible screech and lunging for him. Courage yelped and bolted away so quickly that it was only his skeleton which took the first few steps, before reaching behind to grab his own pelt, stuff it back over his bones, and continue running.

"Oooooooo!" Courage howled, making a mad dash to stay away from the fog. It covered the ground and spread ridiculously quickly, seeping under doors and through cracks in windows to take over the inhabitants laying within. He could not see their fall from normality, but heard the hissing and screeching of fogponies from within the buildings as the monsters awakened.

"It's getting worse!" He moaned, remembering Fluttershy's cottage. They had been extremely lucky the fog hadn't entered the building. Perhaps it had been an early first draft of the fog, or perhaps the cottage was just more well put together. Either way, the fog had not entered her home as it did these, and it was the only reason he was still here. He wouldn't be here for long, though, if he couldn't manage to keep ahead of it.

The small pup flew down the central street, turning the corner at the Library and spying the castle in the distance. That looked safe, he could hide in there! The fog would surely never find him hiding in a place that large! It was his best chance, being as though he was unable to fight the fog directly, and more monsters were being created by the minute as the fog rolled through Canterlot. He made a dash for it, running faster than he'd ever run in his life. Courage barreled through the front doors like a bullet, slamming them behind him and jumping up to lock the various latches with several clicks. "Yes!" He barked.

There was still no time to rest, however, as he wasn't sure if the fog could penetrate the door, and didn't want to stick around to find out. The front hall of the castle was mostly deserted, with the exception of the few pairs of identical guards which roamed around. None of them were paying any attention to him, he was just a dog, after all.

Courage ran up several sets of the spiral staircase, continuing his flight while he looked behind him to ensure that the fog wasn't coming to take him and drag him away.

It wasn't. Not yet, at least.

Looking behind him when he made it to the third floor landing, he never saw where he was going, and thus never saw the figure he crashed into. Courage felt like he'd run into a brick wall and slammed into it, tumbling over backwards several times as a result, and nearly falling back down the stairs. He did finally get a look at the tall, deeply purple figure he's run into, a pony of enormous size who stared at him with rich blue eyes filled with annoyance, her features framed by an eternally active astral mane that never seemed to stay in one place for more than a moment.

"Thou hast better have a good explanation for this," she said grimly, eyeing him with such ferocity that he may very well have found himself imprisoned should he give the wrong answer.

Courage babbled his explanation incoherently, using visual displays to increase the fluidity of his story. He stretched his body first into various pink incarnations, first a horse, then a spinning cauldron, then a zombie, rocking back and forth on two legs with his arms outstretched. He whined loudly, looking up at the dark purple horse with desperation.

"...So what thou is saying is," she began, "An evil sorcerer from another world has attacked these lands, turning the residents into mindless slaves, and is attacking my home at this very moment, and may very well take over Equestria completely if we don't stop him?" She asked.

"Yes!" Courage announced, holding up a large white scorecard over his head with 10/10 emblazoned upon it. "How did you know?" Most folks couldn't understand him, and he was immensely relieved to find she was the exception.

"Just a hunch," the mare said, and winked at him. "I am Princess Luna, and your efforts to thwart this evil scheme are noble, and will surely be commended. But first, we must act," she said. "Follow us quickly, dog, for we have an idea as to how to stop it before this night is over!" She turned and ran further down the hallway, with Courage having to hurry doubletime to keep up with her.

She led him down into a dark storage area, and her extensive horn lit up with light to brighten the area. She began to dig through to the back of it, objects flying over her shoulder and several nearly hitting Courage in the face. There was some board game he'd never heard of, a deck of cards, several plushies including what looked like a chicken, a fox, a rabbit and a bear, a tube of silly putty, and a frisbee.

"Aha!" Luna announced, grinning. "I knew it was back here!" She said. Courage leaned in to get a better look, and when he saw what Luna had dug out, he immediately knew what she was thinking. And he grinned, too.

10 - Winners and Losers

Courage immediately recognized the item that Luna pulled out of the closet. It was a battery powered vacuum. Cordless, of course, as outlets were nearly unheard of in Equestrian society. A very large one at that, about double the size of the standard shopvac. He could only think of one use for it in such a time as this, and looked up at Luna with surprise at her ingenuity, but also fear at the thought of what might happen if it didn't work.

"You sure about this?" He asked.

Luna didn't immediately understand him as she had a moment ago, but would recognized the slight tilt of his head as the universal symbol for confusion. "If fog needs to be contained, what better way to contain it than with a suction mechanism?" She asked. Going with Courage to the end of the hallway she looked down over the balcony to the lowest floor in the entryway. The fog had rolled in through the doors, and there was no sign of the patrolling guards which Courage had seen only minutes earlier. He shivered at the implication, knowing very well they were still down there... somewhere.

Until the fog could be dispatched, they were stuck up here. It was still active, bubbling and foaming violently. Luna looked down, frowned and her horn sparked to life. Brilliant purple aura shot into the vacuum with such force that Luna herself was nearly thrown backwards. It blazed into the tool as a blasting pillar of violet light, Luna cringing all the while as if she were significantly uncomfortable.

When the light finally faded from her horn, the alicorn panted heavily, her heart racing. "I've charged up the vacuum with moonbeams," she said. "Moonbeam is a very pure light, and hopefully should be able to counteract the dark forces, otherwise we'd only be sucking up fog without any real progress. Give it a try, pup." She smiled knowingly.

Courage nodded, and picked up the nozzle of the machine. He flicked it on with his paw, giving a startled jump as the vacuum roared to life. The nozzle vibrated and swung around with such force that poor Courage was tossed around in the air in all sorts of random directions as the hose danced wildly in the air, with the canine clinging to it in the hopes he wouldn't be thrown into the fog and consumed.

Luna acted quickly, and took hold of it with her magic, with Courage sliding down onto her back. "Perhaps I should do this part," she said gently, and stepped forward. The hose found the fog almost instantly once it was contained and aimed, and the fog resisted only for a moment before being pulled into the nozzle.

Courage yelped and pointed as a fogpony rose up out of the mist and screeched at them, but Luna aimed her weapon at it. The hose pulled the fog away from the monster with such power that the fogpony screeched even louder, bright rays of moonbeam shooting from its body in all directions. The fogpony gave one final screech before there was the sound of shattering glass, and the mist removed itself from a very disoriented looking guard, who was blinking slowly as if waking from a very deep sleep.

"You alright, there, Cornelius?" Luna called, and the guard slurred some sort of acknowledgement.

"How did you know that would work?" Courage asked, peering over her shoulder.

"I didn't, but I saw something similar in one of my games," Luna said. "Granted, it was about this writer pony searching for his missing mare with only a torch to fend off the darkness, but this isn't all that different," she said. "Come now, there's much to do!"

Progress was mind numbingly slow, and the hours wore on as they pushed their way out of the castle and down the street, revitalizing one fogpony after another. There were guards, and thankful Canterlot residents, but no sign of the mares whom Courage had come here with. They made their way down the street just far enough for Courage to see where the Apothecary stood, and leaped off Luna's back onto a safe patch of ground where they'd already sucked up the fog.

"Little dog, wait!" Luna called, but Courage ignored her. He ran to the front of the shop, yanking on the front door with relentless determination; but it was locked. Courage kicked the front door with such force that he hurt himself, but was no closer to getting in. Dark laughter came from above him, and he looked up to see Katz grinning at him triumphantly from the giant spinning cauldron that advertised the store.

"I'll admit, I'm impressed you made it this far, Courage!" He admitted. "But you'll never win! My fog is everywhere, and not even you can stop it all!"

Courage pouted, trying to scramble up the front of the store, but continually slid back down. He growled in anger, before spying the yo yo dangling from the tree that he'd used previously. He ran towards Luna, leapfrogging off her back onto the trunk of the tree, almost immediately sliding downwards towards where several fogponies were waiting. He yelped and scrambled back up, grabbing the toy and unwinding it from the branches.

Katz was too busy laughing and taunting him to much follow this, so Courage had time to twirl the toy over his head like a lasso, before throwing it. His aim was true, and the string first wound around Katz' ankles before spiraling up his legs. Katz shrieked with annoyance and reached down to unbind himself, losing his balance in the spinning cauldron.

He fell, then, with a terrifying scream, right off the top of the building into the purple haze below, where numerous fogponies were eagerly waiting to catch him.

"No! NO!" He screamed, struggling to escape their grasping hooves and gaping jaws. "Don't you know who I am?! I'm Katz, you idiots! Katz! RELEASE me, you brainless sacks of-" Hi screams were cut off as the fogponies pounced on him, and although both Luna and Courage looked away, his screams still echoed through their minds.

Almost immediately... the fog began to lift. It sizzled, steamed, smoked, and evaporated, spiraling towards the dark sky in great plumes, leaving behind incredibly confused, otherwise healthy ponies behind. Little by little, the streets began to clear, and things began to return to normal.

"Yes!" Courage exclaimed, then looked down to where Katz had fallen. The fog had lifted, and there was no sign of him. Nor was there any sign of the three girls whom he'd befriended.

Author's Note

To Be Concluded...

Epilogue

Although the situation was resolved, Courage was still uneasy. He whined at the locked door, standing outside the Apothecary, and tugging at its locked handle. He was glad that the fog had lifted, but was still worried about his friends.

Luna gave him a sympathetic smile. "Well, seeing as the building is no longer inhabited, I suppose it's alright if we go inside," she said, and blasted the lock with her horn. The tumbler caught, and the lock opened, falling to the ground with a metal clank. Courage wasted no time in dashing inside, his spirits lifting as he found what he was looking for.

Fluttershy, Twilight and Pinkie Pie were in the back room, looking dazed. They brightened up as soon as they saw the pup, however. The giant cauldron into which they had been thrown had been overturned, thick purple slime spilling out into the corners. It looked like hardened magma, and no longer posed any danger.

"Courage!" Fluttershy squeaked, and rushed to him. "You did come back! What happened? My head feels funny..." Courage returned the hug that he was given, and patted her head in sympathy.

"Look, it's Princess Luna!" Spike suddenly exclaimed, perched in his usual spot on Twilight's back.

"Agh!" Twilight yelped, nearly jumping a foot in the air. "Spike, how'd you get here?!"

"I've been here the whole time," Spike deadpanned. "You brought me with you."

"Oh. I guess I sort of forgot you were here," Twilight admitted, cheeks burning red. "Sorry." Spike huffed and crossed his arms.

Luna smiled at the reunion, and then coughed. "I think a ceremony is in order, but there are still a few things to clear up. The citizens of Canterlot very narrowly escaped a bleak existence of slavery today, but I want you three to return to Ponyville at once to ensure that the residents there are returned to normal as well. They were under the curse more than a day longer than Canterlot was, and there may be lingering side effects."

"Like what?" Twilight asked.

"I'm not sure," Luna admitted. "I've never experienced this particular curse before. But generally the longer the one is hypnotized, for I think that's partially what this was, the longer a full recovery takes. There might even be a small risk of body switching."

"Body switching?!" Twilight gasped.

"Well, there's a lot of minds trying to get back to their host bodies," Luna said. "Since those minds have been floating around Ponyville for two days, there's a small risk they might get mixed up upon return. It's an extreme example, so just make sure everything's in order."

Pinkie nodded in understanding, then yelped as Luna turned her gaze on her.

"As for you," Luna said. "I have nothing against Changelings, but I must ask you stop impersonating my little ponies. It makes things... confusing."

Pinkie hesitated, then returned to her insectoid carapace in a flash of green fire. Twilight shivered.

"I'm never going to get used to that," the unicorn said.

"Now then, enough talk," Luna said. "To the castle! It will be sunrise soon, and my sister will want to hear of what has happened."

Two hours later, Luna and Celestia stood side by side in the main entryway of Canterlot Castle. Courage stood before them, feeling quite intimidated.

The night mare stepped forward."Courage, in commendation for your acts of selfless bravery and determination, we would like to hereby award you the Pony Medal of Honor," Luna said. and looped a large gold medallion around his neck.

Courage looked down at it, beaming.

Luna continued. "Young pup, before we return you home, is there anything that you would like to have as a reward? Anything at all."

Considering this, Courage's eyes widened after a moment, and he darted up to whisper in Luna's ear.

Luna listened, and looked at him with surprise. "You could have anything at all," she said. "Are you sure?"

Mmhmm!" Courage said, tail wagging.

Shrugging, Luna agreed. "Very well," she said. "Safe travels, Courage. You are always welcome here should you wish to visit."

The two alicorns both lit up their horns, blasting Courage with their respective magics, and the powers of night and day. The dog was consumed by red smoke, and then was gone. Sighing with relief, Luna looked over at her sister. "Thank goodness that's all over with," she said. "I suppose that makes us even for the Changeling invasion. I slept through that, and you slept through this."

Celestia nodded.

"Are you alright?" Luna asked. "You haven't said a word since I woke you up. That's not like you. Usually I can't shut you up."

Celestia shrugged.

"...Sister?" Luna asked, now sounding alarmed. "You sure you're alright?"

"Eeeyup," Celestia said, and Luna facehooved.

Back in Nowhere, Courage arrived on his front porch in a plume of red smoke, looking incredibly excited to see it again. The medal still hanging around his neck, he looked around expectantly. There was a second burst of smoke from his paw, and when it cleared he looked down to see himself holding a brand new yo yo.

Courage grinned widely, showing off his crooked teeth. "Yes!" He exclaimed, and bounced the yo yo up and down on its string several times, before tucking it away.

"Courage, is that you?" Muriel called. "Wherever have you been? You're going to be late for tea!"

Eustace grunted from behind his newspaper, never looking up to see who was at the door, and not really caring. "I don't see what you gotta let that stupid dog in here for," he complained. "The more time you spend with that dog, the less time you spend making me my dinner!" He huffed. "Leave him out there."

Courage sighed contentedly, and entered through the front door of his house, the door swinging shut behind him. Things were already getting back to normal, and things were going to be perfectly alright.

Author's Note

Courage will return... eventually.

In the meantime, here's a link to the brand NEW special episode that just premiered last year (2014) and eventually inspired this whole story. Thanks for reading!

http://vimeo.com/114929878