10:52 pm
“Angel? Angel bunny? Come on out – it’s only a little wash.”
Fluttershy poked her snout underneath the gap of her couch and the floor, but the only bunnies down there were made of dust. She needed to clean under there at a later date; right now, she needed all her energy to find and eventually handle Angel into the metal bucket full of suds and hot water.
“Angel…” Fluttershy sighed and got back on her hooves, looked around her cottage, and grimaced unhappily at all the nooks and crannies Angel could be hiding. “I know you just had a bath, but you know that hole beneath that tree is filthy; you might not mind it, but I’m sure the other animal friends do.”
Fluttershy managed to turn her grimace into a grateful smile when she heard a few critters lend their support with chirps, hoots, and squeaks.
The ‘Nocturnal Bunch’ – as Fluttershy liked to call them – were few in number, but a close-knit group that were always happy to assist Fluttershy when the majority of her friends – diurnal in nature – turned in for the night, leaving her to stay up and make preparations for tomorrow’s schedule.
She would never openly complain, but setting everything up to make sure every critter was tended to took a lot of work, and she was very thankful for the help she received.
Especially from Angel, when he wasn’t being the most infuriating little brat in all of Equestria.
‘Oh dear, I hope he didn’t pick up on those vibes. Bad Fluttershy!’
Sighing again, Fluttershy rubbed at her eyes, looked at the clock on the wall, and tutted loudly.
Near midnight and she hadn’t even started going through the pantry for treats. The Nocturnal Bunch were preoccupied with helping her search, too, so no bird seed for the Tweetie family, no fish for Messere Otter, no milk for Whiskers McGee…
“Angel…” Fluttershy started with a distressed whine she couldn’t keep out of her tone. Her face fell, accentuating the dark shadows beneath her eyes. “You’re not the only one here, you know. Everyone else has their needs and it’s really…” She sniffed. “It’s really stressful for me to not be able to… to…”
A few sniffles got out before the couch cushions shifted and a dirt-covered Angel peeked out, face falling as guilt settled in a cold ball beneath his stomach.
Fluttershy sat on her rump, back to him, and sniffled and hiccupped, her pink mane falling across her face. The Nocturnal Bunch had stopped searching to chatter sympathetically to her; a few had taken note of his appearance and were giving him glares that were almost as scathing as the ones she put out.
Realizing that he had gone too far, Angel swiftly hopped out from beneath the cushions, scurried across the floor, swallowed his pride as he stopped behind Fluttershy and tugged on her mane, and put on his best ‘I’m sorry’ fa-
Fluttershy spun around, any trace of despair gone, and clasped her hooves around him with a giddy, “Gotcha!”
Angel balked in her grasp and stared up at her cheery – ever so slightly guilty – expression for several seconds before narrowing his eyes and nodding approvingly.
“Well played.”
The Nocturnal Bunch applauded with a chorus of animal noises – at least until Mr. Tweetie poked his head out the bird house and tweeted at them to be quiet, the baby was asleep – as Fluttershy trotted over to the bucket with her catch and gently placed him in.
Angel was quite proud of his owner, so he kept still and allowed her to wash him – even though it was only a little dirt, in his opinion – as the clear water turned a muted shade of brown.
“There, see? It’s not so bad,” Fluttershy cooed. As she wringed out a wash cloth, she turned to the Nocturnal Bunch’s unofficial leader, a snow-white owl who insisted her name was Rouge. “Miss Rouge, could you and the others get the snacks out for tomorrow? If it’s not too much trouble, that is.”
Rouge hooted in reply, reassuring her that it wasn’t, and made a signal with her wing before flying off into the kitchen. The rest of the Nocturnal Bunch followed, as quietly as they could so as to avoid incurring Mr. Tweetie’s wrath.
Or, Mother Faust forbid, Mrs. Tweetie’s wrath.
Fluttershy fell into the rhythm of washing and cleaning out Angel’s fur with the opening and closing of cupboards, clinking of utensils, and pitter-patter of raindrops making for background noise.
‘Rain drops?’
A turn of her head to the nearest window confirmed that it had started raining and reminded her that Rainbow Dash mentioned it during a friendly gathering with her other best friends at Sugarcube Corner.
“Cold enough for you?” Rainbow Dash had laughed when they were seated at a table and Rarity was bundled up and blowing on her hooves furiously. “Better get used to it – we’re bringing in a big ol’ rainstorm tonight.”
“D-dear, it-it’s almost w-winter…” Rarity replied through the chattering of her teeth. “H-have y-you no s-s-sense of m-mercy?”
“Nope!”
Her friends shared a good-natured laugh at Rarity’s expense, but Fluttershy couldn’t quite bring herself to join in, and not just because she felt bad.
Rarity hadn’t been quite herself since that horrible incident in the Crystal Empire.
Rarity insisted that she was fine once she recovered from the ordeal, but with winter rolling in perhaps the change in temperature was serving as a trigger?
It seemed unusual for Rarity to get cold so quickly, after all…
Fluttershy found herself falling into deep thought and only came out of it when Angel huffed and tapped her hooves irritably; the water was starting to get cold.
“Oh, sorry, Angel,” Fluttershy raced to finish up before the bunny could catch a cold and then she’d never hear the end of it. “You know, it’s getting cold so quickly because you took so long to get-”
Her front door suddenly shook beneath heavy blows and Fluttershy almost jumped out of her skin.
A dozen thoughts raced through the terrified mare’s head – timber wolf, manticore, dragon that wanted to sell something – before her fears were quelled when a familiar voice rang out, tinged with desperation and strain.
“Fluttershy! Fluttershy, p-please open up!”
It was Rarity, but something wasn’t right.
Rarity did not pound on someone’s door and she would not venture out into the cold, especially if it was raining.
Unless it was an emergency.
“Hold on, Rarity – I’m coming,” Fluttershy dipped her hooves beneath the water and gently lifted the curious Angel out to set him on a clean towel she had lain out earlier. “Just a second, if you don’t mind!”
She had said that last part as loud as she could because Rarity was still pounding on the door, but she doubted it was heard over the din.
“P-please open…” Rarity’s voice dropped to a near inaudible whisper and the pounding had stopped. Fluttershy felt alarm run through her veins as she worked to unlock her door, hearing a scraping sound like somepony was dragging their hooves down the other side. “S-so c-c-cold…”
Fluttershy managed to undo the locks and pull the door open, a query of concern already on her lips, but she bit back a shriek when a familiar white-coated body fell forwards.
A drenched, white-coated body covered in sickly red smears.
“R-Rarity!”
“F-Fluttershy…” Rarity looked up pathetically, her winter jacket shredded with white puffs of cotton peeking out, and her expression miserable and pained. “Please… help me…”
“Oh my! What happened to you?”
Fluttershy felt her heart break as she flapped her wings to hover above Rarity and slide her forelegs beneath the unicorn’s belly. There was very little of the coat’s padding there and Rarity’s coat was damp and-
Faust, she was freezing!
The cold wind and rain battered Fluttershy’s exposed rump as she hovered in the doorway, trying to muster the strength to lift her friend. It was times like these she wished she was as physically adept as Rainbow Dash.
Fortunately, the noise was enough to wake Harry the Bear, who drearily stumbled across the room from his favourite spot on the carpet and kindly lifted Rarity in his huge arms.
“Th-thank you, Harry.” Fluttershy gasped as she gave her aching wings a break. She turned in place to manage the less arduous task of closing the door before walking over to where Harry laid Rarity onto the couch.
Gosh, she looked dreadful.
As somepony who placed great emphasis on appearances, a good way to tell if Rarity was feeling under the weather was when she looked anything but stunning, though Fluttershy was of the opinion that Rarity pulled off ‘unkempt’ rather well.
This was not one of those times.
Rarity had immediately curled into a ball once she was put down, but it did little to stop the onslaught of shudders and violent tremors that clacked her teeth together and made her breaths come out in shaky wisps. Black streaks of mascara ran down her cheeks and revealed the heavy circles beneath her eyes, and her lips were blue from the cold.
And maybe even blood loss, if those red smears were actually what Fluttershy suspected them to be.
“Oh dear…” Fluttershy swiftly worked to remove the remains of Rarity’s jacket, a hundred questions on her tongue that would have to wait until her friend didn’t look she was on Death’s Doorstep. “Miss Rouge! Please, I need you and the others to bring a, ah… a clean blanket and a hot water bottle! Please hurry!”
Rarity was trying to stop her from removing the last of her clothing, her delirious mind associating clothing with warmth and completely ignoring the fact that they were soaked straight through and the current biggest danger to her life.
Fluttershy managed to get the coat off – tearing it in several places, she hoped Rarity would forgive her – and toss the pieces off to the side.
Rarity was still curled up and shivering, so it was hard to see where she was hurt.
‘What were you doing outside?’
“Rarity, you need to get off the couch. It’s all wet and- look at me, Rarity. Rarity… you need to get off the couch or you won’t get warm, okay? That’s it. Careful. Okay, now just sit here an- no, lean on me, don’t try to do it by yourself. There, see? Now come here…”
It was like hugging a giant popsicle, but pegasi were naturally resilient to the cold and dampness, and Fluttershy didn’t even flinch as she wrapped her forelegs and wings around Rarity and laid her head on a shoulder.
Rarity clung to her, greedily taking the warmth as her own.
They stayed that way, embracing, until Rouge flew in with a blanket clutched in her talons and the rest of the Nocturnal Bunch scurried in with the hot water bottle.
Rarity didn’t want to let go of her source of heat, but eventually Fluttershy managed to free herself long enough to wrap the blanket around her friend, manually guide shaking hooves to hold the water bottle, and order the critters to keep an eye out before jogging into the kitchen.
‘What happened to you that there’s… blood?’
Fluttershy scrambled to make the quickest, hottest bowl of soup she could. Cupboards were left wide open and drawers were almost pulled out onto the floor in her rush, and every second that passed felt like a minute wasted, a minute that could have been spent making sure Rarity hadn’t fainted.
No, her animal friends would have kicked up a din if she did, so Rarity must have still been awake.
Fluttershy forced herself to not think about that kind of stuff and finished making the bowl of soup. She wrapped the ceramic bowl in a towel and ferried it out into the living room, several drops sloshing off the sides and going unnoticed in her trek.
When she arrived, Rarity was still, thankfully, awake, and her shivering had lessened. As Fluttershy knelt in front of her friend, she was further relieved to see that Rarity’s eyes weren’t so glazed and unfocused; they actually focused on her.
“Here – take small spoonfuls, okay? You need a full belly.”
Rarity obeyed and took the steaming bowl. Magic coated the length of her horn as she levitated the soup to her lips and drank.
That was good, wasn’t it? Rarity’s aura wasn’t even spluttering and neither did she seem particularly strained.
“…” Fluttershy waited until Rarity had swallowed several mouthfuls and the rest of the shakes had subsided before timidly asking, “Rarity? How are you feeling?”
“St…” Soup dribbled from Rarity’s numb lips when she tried to reply and she had to take a second to suck on them to regain some feeling. “S-still cold…”
“That’s good. W-well, I mean… it’s not ‘good’ that you’re cold, but it’s, um, good that you can feel it. It’d actually be worse if you couldn’t feel it because that would… i-it would mean hypothermia.”
“Hn…” Rarity swallowed some more soup, used one hoof to rub at her cheek in a daze. “… Fluttershy?”
“Yes?”
“I’m… I don’t…” Rarity blinked a few times and shook her head. “I don’t quite remember why I came here…”
“What was the last thing you remember?”
“I was… at home. Yes, I was at home, and I was, ah…” Rarity stared into the bowl and her quivering reflection. “I was… cold.”
“Cold?”
“It s-sounds silly, I know, dear… but it wasn’t just that I was cold. There was more to it, but I don’t remember; it’s…” Rarity frowned deeply and shook her head again. “It’s quite frustrating, to tell the truth.”
Fluttershy smiled sympathetically and reached out to touch her friend’s shoulder. “It’s going to be alright,” Rarity seemed to flinch at the contact for some reason, so Fluttershy removed her hoof awkwardly. “You’re safe here now and we can figure out what happened in the morning. But I’d, um… I’d like to take a look at you, if you don’t mind. You might be hurt.”
“Hurt?”
“Th-the b-blood…”
“Bl…?” Rarity looked down at herself, actually looked, and her expression became one of horror and revulsion. “Oh dear… I’m… Oh, this cannot be good for my coat.”
Fluttershy managed an amused giggle, despite the severity of things. Trust Rarity to say something like that. It was good though – it showed Fluttershy that she was beginning to come back to her senses.
“Erm, yes, check on, as it were…” Rarity took several more sips from the bowl before putting it aside and holding open the blanket. “I’m… I’m afraid I don’t remember how I might have gotten hurt.”
“It’s okay.”
‘Okay’ wasn’t entirely correct because as Fluttershy examined her friend for injuries, she started thinking that perhaps the blood on Rarity didn’t belong to her at all…
She couldn’t see a single sign of a wound anywhere and she was pretty good at spotting injuries – not to brag – that were hiding beneath the thickest of furs. Even when Rarity turned around to show her back, Fluttershy didn’t see anything out of place.
On one hoof, she was greatly relieved that her friend wasn’t hurt.
On the other hoof…
‘Whose blood is that?’
“… See anything, darling?”
“Uh, no…” Fluttershy shook her head, smiling despite her unease. “Not really.”
“Oh, well that’s good to hear,” Rarity turned back around, sat down, and covered herself again. “Although, I… I do have to question where this blood came from. You don’t suppose a…” She swallowed thickly with a wonky grin. “A beast might have tried to harm me on the way, do you?”
She had started shivering again.
“It’s possible.” Fluttershy responded with a nod.
Rarity’s grin waned a little. She went quiet, stared off to the side, and picked the bowl of soup back up.
“I’m sorry, dear, but this is very good soup. I simply must have more.”
“I’ll go make some more then,” Fluttershy stood a little too quickly, eager to get away, though she wasn’t sure from what. Implications and dark thoughts, most likely. “Call out if you need anything, okay?”
“Of course, darling. Erm, do you…” Rarity didn’t have enough warmth to blush properly, but the avoidance of any eye contact implied her embarrassment. “Do you think you could help me have a shower afterwards? I’m rather dirty.”
“It’s no problem.”
“Thank you, dear. You are a true friend.”
Fluttershy blushed beneath the praise and silently went back into the kitchen, her mood lifted now that Rarity was acting like her old self again.
‘The blood… I still don’t know why she was outside or what she was doing…’
No, it all had a rational explanation that would be revealed in the morning; Rarity was still too weak to do anything but rest, and Fluttershy didn’t feel up to going outside in the dark, especially if they were expecting a downpour.
They’d rest the night here, where it was safe.
Safe and warm.
11:09 pm
“Rarity? Rarity, please come out!” Fluttershy knocked on the door with as much strength as she could muster, her demureness wrestling with the urge to just see if Rarity was okay for Faust’s sake. “Rarity, you’re scaring me! What’s wrong?”
She rattled the door knob, whimpering when she found it was still locked.
How did this happen?
She was downstairs for maybe five seconds after Rarity asked for another towel – “one for the body, one for the mane, darling; you never use the same for both” – and she came back to this?
Faust, how could she leave her friend alone like that?
Fluttershy pulled on the knob and knocked again. “Rarity?! Please!”
“D-darling…”
“Rarity!” Fluttershy pressed her ear up against the wooden frame. There was no reply and it was only then she realized how fast her heart was beating. “Rarity, wh-why did you lock the door? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?!”
Silence.
No, not silence – there was…
Crying.
“Rarity, open the door, please!” Fluttershy could feel her throat clench up like it usually did when she was afraid, and she was very afraid right now, for her friend’s wellbeing.
This was not like Rarity.
“Oh, darling…” Fluttershy pressed herself against the wood even harder, as if to merge with it. “Here I am making you worry so. I’m so sorry…”
“It’s okay, Rari-”
“No, it’s not okay!”
Fluttershy jerked back and fell against the wall behind her, shocked by the sudden yell.
More crying.
“It’s not okay…” Rarity sounded as if she was right up against the other side and Fluttershy had a sense of déjà vu. “Nothing’s been okay since I came back. You… You girls… oh, you’re so kind and lovely, all of you. H-helping me… s-supporting me after that… dreadful trip…”
“…” Fluttershy cautiously drew closer. “You… I-I thought you said you were over it. That it was behind you.”
“I lied,” There was a thump as Rarity leaned her weight against the door and slid down it into a sitting position. Fluttershy could see her shadow beneath the door’s bottom gap. “I lied to all of you because I was so ashamed…”
“Of what?” Fluttershy’s brow creased in worry as she gently laid her hooves on the door and tested the knob.
Still locked.
“… I… I didn’t tell you the whole truth of what happened…” More soft sniffles and a sound between a cough and a shuddering breath. “When I was called to the Crystal Empire to make those dresses for Princess Cadance…”
Fluttershy nodded.
‘You went on a tour in the mountains.’
“I was feeling… adventurous. And so after I finished the dresses, I found this, ah… th-this little brochure for a tour in the frozen outskirts… F-for tourists, you see – they had this sled and… and it was pulled by dogs, and a guide showed you all these lovely… beautiful vistas that I thought could never exist in such an inhospitable environ. I went on it. Just me… the dogs… and the tour guide.”
‘But then the ground gave way.’
“He was-”
Rarity suddenly started coughing and Fluttershy called out in alarm, tried the door knob again, but Rarity just went on once she had gotten over the fit.
“He was such a gentlecolt, quite charming, too. Said… He said he’d done that tour a million times… before Sombra rose to power, you know. He said it was safe. But when… when he was showing me the last sight… the ice cracked and… and we fell. A few of the dogs managed to escape, but the rest of us… we fell into a… a hole, I think. It was deep and we… I kept banging into walls and sliding against things until we stopped.”
‘It was a system of tunnels Sombra made when he was a shadow and trying to get back onto the surface.’
“The poor dogs… I don’t know what became of them. I… I broke my leg and the guide he… he…”
“He fell.”
“No.”
Fluttershy blinked, too surprised to fully register the words. “What?”
“I lied…” More miserable sniffles and a bout of coughing. “F-Faust… so cold. No, I lied to you, Fluttershy sweetness. All of you.”
“B-but…”
“He didn’t fall down another hole, he… he landed alongside me, but it was on his head. I didn’t even realize he was d… de… I didn’t even realize what had transpired until I managed to find the strength to light my horn.”
“…”
Rarity had told all of them, told Celestia and Cadance and Sweetie Belle, that the guide had fallen, and that was why nopony had found his body, just like how they never found those dogs.
She told them that and they believed her because…
Because… why would Rarity lie about something like that?
There was another choke and a hiccup before Rarity mumbled, “Cold… cold…”
“Rarity?”
“I… Those jackets we had were enchanted, I told you of them, no? They’re enchanted to always be warm. It was because of that I didn’t freeze down there, but… but I was down there for so long and I couldn’t move. The guide’s medical pack fell down… it was by sheer luck it landed close to me, and I managed to dress my wound… to the best of my knowledge, but I still couldn’t walk or climb back out. I was stuck there… stuck there with no food.”
“… You said the guide had supplies.”
“… A half-lie. He did, but a lot fell out during the tumble… there wasn’t much there and it didn’t last long.”
“…”
“I… How long was I down there?”
“Weeks…” Fluttershy licked her lips nervously. “We… A blizzard covered the hole up and it took so long to find it. The weather up there was so aggressive, not even the princesses’ magic could calm it. I thought…” She felt pressure behind her eyes as she thought back. “I thought we were never going to find you. I felt so useless and everypony was so tense…”
“You didn’t give up though, none of you did. Friends like you come along maybe once in a lifetime and I’ll always-” More pained coughing. “A-always be grateful to have you girls.”
“And we’ll always be there for you, Rarity,” Fluttershy vainly tried the knob again, a single tear dripping down her cheek. “So please… open the door so I can h-help you with whatever it is that’s wrong.”
Rarity didn’t open the door. Instead, she kept talking, a strange sense of desperation in her tone like if she stopped talking…
“I have to tell you… I have to tell you that… when I was down there, I tried to ration it all out… the food, I mean. I really did, but there was so little, and it seemed like nothing could quell m-my belly for long. The hunger started to set in. I… Ah hah… y-you know… I thought I knew what hunger was when Pinkie told us to refrain from eating so we could thoroughly enjoy that party for Mrs. Cake. It was… That was nothing compared to how I felt trapped beneath that ice; it was just this… terrible yawning abyss in my belly that constantly cried out. I tried sleeping… tried ignoring it… tried drinking the ice I melted in my jacket… tried eating snow and ice chunks… nothing worked.”
Rarity suddenly laughed; it was ugly and miserable.
“I kept… I remember how I kept cursing myself for not knowing more spells. I could have teleported out of there if I knew how to. Maybe even melted the ice with a heat spell or… or something. Anything. Eventually that ph-phase p-passed… not b-because I got over it, mind you, b-but because it took too much energy to stay angry, even at m-myself.”
Fluttershy could hear sharp clicks from the other side: the chattering of teeth.
“M-my ribs started showing a-and that was th-the point where I knew… I knew th-that I had to have something. The pain and emptiness w-was so p-potent as I s-searched for something edible… and th-then… then I…”
“…”
“… Y-you know… you know that when it’s c-cold th-the body stays p-pr-preserved?”
Fluttershy’s heart leapt into her throat and dropped straight back down with an overwhelming sense of dread and horror.
‘No… No, Rarity, please don’t tell me…’
“I-I was so… so repulsed by my own th-thoughts…” Rarity broke into hitching sobs that were occasionally broken up by sickly coughs. “I-I said… I told myself… ‘I will n-never amount to s-such a d-d-despicable act’…”
Fluttershy felt as if she was frozen to the spot.
“B-but I did! Oh Faust, Fluttershy… I-I did amount to such a horrific act! I ate his flesh! I ate it raw and… and I can still… I can- hyuurk!”
Unpleasant noises came through the door, but Fluttershy was deaf to them; she could only remain in the same position, her eyes wide and glistening, her cheeks damp with tears, and her mind numb from what she had learned.
“Urgh… I… I can still taste it… I can still taste it and now I’m… I’m so cold.”
“…”
Fluttershy didn’t know how much time passed as she recovered from the shock, but when she could think clearly again, she found herself slumped with her back against the door, facing the opposite wall.
‘I… I can’t believe it…’
The sound of Rarity whimpering and crying drew her back.
Whatever Rarity may have done, she was still Fluttershy’s friend, and right now, she needed her help and support.
“You didn’t have a choice…” Fluttershy said softly, turning her head so she was speaking to the wood. A few tears dribbled down her cheeks, made damp streaks in her fur. “You wanted to live… there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“B-but at wh-what cost?!” Rarity replied with such distress that her tone went high and strained so it sounded like a whisper. “Th-that poor stallion… I w-was so ashamed of wh-what I had d-done th-that I p-pushed his r-remains off th-that edge that I s-said he fell off… th-that I lied to y-you all about! I d-d-desecrated his body and I… I c-cursed myself…”
“No, no,” Fluttershy placed her hoof against the wood, her heart breaking in two. “Rarity, it was… absolutely horrible what you’ve been through and… nopony should have to make a decision like th-”
Fluttershy fell back from the door when it suddenly shook.
With her heart pounding in her ears, she almost missed the scream of pain that followed it.
“Rarity!”
Fluttershy leapt back at the door and pulled on the knob with all her might. It was still locked and Rarity was still screaming.
“Please open the door! Let me help you!”
“Y-you can’t!” Rarity sobbed and stumbled away from the door; Fluttershy could hear her wet footsteps against the floor, and then she heard the shower start a second later. “S-something’s w-wrong with m-me, Fluttershy. I-I c-could feel it when I ate th-that stallion’s flesh. S-s-something’s… inside me! It’s… c-c-cold and evil!”
A splash as Rarity fell into the tub.
A jingle as the curtain was yanked across.
“Discord!” Fluttershy wailed as loudly as she could. “Wh-wherever you are, please help me! Discord!!”
Over the roar of her own blood rushing in her ears and the knocking of the door as it shook in place, there was a chorus of animal noises as her friends rushed up the stairs, their voices cluttering her head.
“Pack leader, what’s wrong?”
“Why are you yelling?”
“Can we help?”
“We don’t know where the ‘Discord’ has gone.”
“Help me get this door open!”
They didn’t understand her reasons or the cause of her distress, but they obeyed immediately.
Harry the Bear was too big and heavy to go upstairs, and Fluttershy could hear him roaring downstairs in concern, but she was too busy to answer as she and several other animals worked to open the door, break it down if they had to.
It turned out to be the latter.
Buck the Beaver managed to chew through the wood around the door’s hinges and with the combined weight of Fluttershy and the animals, the door stood no chance; it collapsed inwards with a crack and a snap.
Fluttershy fell against it, earned a few splinters in her belly, and pushed herself back onto her hooves, breathing heavily and looking around for…
For…
Teeth.
Bloody teeth scattered across the floor like little marbles.
Fluttershy was almost stepping on one and she made a bleat of revulsion and pulled back.
“Wh…? R-Rarity?”
The shower curtain was drawn, but Fluttershy could see a blurry shadow crouching beneath the stream of hot water.
“Cold… s-so cold…”
Fluttershy moved to help, but her animal friends suddenly latched on with claws, paws, and talons, and tried to pull her away.
“Wh-what’s wrong with you?”
They replied:
“No, pack leader, wrong!”
“Bad smell! Bad smell!”
“Run away!”
“Hurt you, hurt us!”
“I won’t abandon her!” Fluttershy mustered her courage and trotted forwards against the critters’ wishes.
They released their grip when she got close to the bathtub and Rouge gave one last keening cry before her talons unclasped Fluttershy’s mane.
“Please stay!”
Fluttershy ignored her.
Her friend needed help.
“Rarity?”
The shadow didn’t answer and rocked back and forth.
“C-c-cold… cold-d…”
A lump of ice settled in Fluttershy’s belly, but she ignored it, and reached out to pull the curtain back.
Rarity was curled up with her back to Fluttershy, thoroughly drenched in hot water… and still shivering like she was in the midst of a blizzard.
“Rarity…” Fluttershy reached out in concern and worry. “Rarity, please… I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wr-”
“I-I r-r-rememb-b-ber…”
“Pardon?”
Rarity turned to face her, miserable and tired and-
Fluttershy shrieked and stumbled backwards, and slipped on the wet floor.
‘Oh Faust, what is…?!’
“I r-r-remember wh-what h-happened…”
Rarity slowly rose and tried to get out of the tub, her eyes glazed and haunted, her movements jittery and slow.
“O-Opalescence… Sh-she s-started hissing at m-me… sh-she wouldn’t stop… I-I was so c-cold and… and angry. I p-picked her up… th-threw her… there was b-blood and I… I s-stopped feeling s-so c-cold when I… I…”
Rarity’s lips had turned blue again and were slow to form words.
“After it happened… I w-was h-horrified… I d-didn’t know what to-”
Rarity slipped as her forelegs were struggling to balance on the tub’s rim and crashed to the floor.
Spit, blood, and two molars burst from between her lips.
Fluttershy didn’t move to help, didn’t ask if she was alright; she gave another cry of terror and scooted backwards, her wings locking up against her sides.
“D-Discord… h-help me…”
Rarity didn’t notice the injury and got back up, blank-faced and with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I d-didn’t know wh-what to do… I c-came here b-because I thought y-y-you c-could help, but I… I forgot.”
Punctuating the heavy breaths Rarity took were clouds of mist that Fluttershy often saw on a cold morning, but somehow, she knew that the mist was from a dreadful chill instead of heat.
“… Y-you c-can… st-still help…”
Fluttershy moaned in despair as Rarity came closer. “No… no, don’t…”
“I’m s-s-sorry, d-darling… Y-you were offering help a-and I w-was ungratefully r-refusing it. Th-the t-truth is… I do n-need your help.”
Rarity gave a big smile that made the small conical spikes of ice sprouting up from her blackened gums glint.
Another tooth fell out.
“W-we’re f-f-friends.”
“Rarity…”
“F-friends help each other.”
“P-please, you’re sick, Rarity… you’re not thinking clearly.”
“I d-don’t w-want to hurt a-anypony l-like I d-did with poor Opalescence…”
“You’re scaring me…”
“S-so p-please help m-me… l-let me have s-s-some of y-your warmth; j-just a little bit. I’m s-so cold, Fluttershy.”
“Please…”
“Help me keep warm.”
Breath as harsh and biting as a blizzard wind washed over Fluttershy’s neck.
She screamed, punched Rarity in the side of the head, and sprinted out into the hallway, tears streaming down her face.
“HELP!!”
Her critters scattered and shrilled their frightened animal noises as Rarity roared from in the bathroom, a sound born from a throat caked in spider-webs of frost.
“Fluttershy! Fluttershy, don’t run! It makes it worse! Please, I-”
Another horrible roar and Fluttershy felt her heart leap into her throat when she heard Rarity stomping after her.
“I can’t control it if you run, Fluttershy! Just give me a little bit of your warmth; it’s all I need! Just a little bit or I’ll lose control and take all of it! Come back, Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy sobbed openly as she ran downstairs, thinking that if Rarity had sounded enraged and monstrous instead of deeply afraid and fearful, then she wouldn’t be so tempted to stop and let it happen.
When her hooves touched the bottom floor, she blubbered out something that might have been ‘run’ or ‘hide’ to the critters downstairs, and made for the door.
She didn’t know where she was going or what she was going to do, but anywhere was better than here, where her own best friend was trying to kill her.
“Fluttershy!”
Despite the pegasus’ speed – especially when she was afraid – and the significant head-start, Rarity was thundering right behind her, wheezing hard like she was in pain, and-
Fluttershy yelped as she was pushed to the floor. Her legs burned as they scraped against the carpet, but the worst of her pain came from a breath-taking chill that ran down her spine from where the hooves made contact.
Rarity had literally stolen the heat from her body with that one touch.
“Stop this at once!”
Fluttershy wailed, shouting ‘no’ over and over as she was dragged back by her hind legs. She grabbed at the carpet, at a nearby stool, a coffee table…
And then Harry the Bear bellowed in rage and swatted Rarity aside with a massive paw.
SKRAK
Fluttershy gasped and looked to the side to see Rarity slide down from where she had struck the wall and left an imprint of cracked plaster and splintered wood.
“… Ungh…”
Harry placed himself in front of Fluttershy and reared on his hind legs, claws extended and maw stretched open to emit bone-rattling roars and growls.
“What… You beast…” Rarity got back up, shaking loose dust and splinters from her steaming- oh Faust, she was steaming. “You… miserable… creaturrraaaghhh!!”
Fluttershy balked and shook her head in disbelief as her friend convulsed, and her stomach twisted at the sound of flesh splitting and bones snapping apart and realigning as Rarity’s kind and generous heart was swallowed by whatever monstrosity had been lurking beneath the skin.
Limbs stretched out like taffy, hair fell out in clumps, flesh turned black and blue with frostbite, and the skin around Rarity’s grotesquely lengthened muzzle sloughed off to form a macabre, cheek-splitting smile.
Rarity was growing, but also shedding mass just as quickly, and her belly turned in on itself while her ribs poked out against her chest. That beautiful mane and tail that was the envy of almost every mare in Ponyville became dry and stringy with most of it falling to the floor like a purple mat.
Blue eyes sunk back into their sockets.
Rarity screeched a sound that was as tormented as a nightmare and charged forth at an awkward but frighteningly fast lope.
Harry stood firm as Fluttershy darted out of the way, but was pushed back despite still being twice as large, and his defiant roar turned into a whine of pain when Rarity snapped her teeth and kicked her hooves, sapping his warmth with each blow.
Fluttershy cried in despair. “Harry!”
Just as sharp hooves drew blood and twinkling frost appeared on Harry’s fur, Rarity was struck in the head with a carrot. The strands of mane that still clung to her scalp whirled about as Rarity turned to face the couch.
Angel poked his tongue out and clapped his paws.
“Come get some!”
“Angel, no!” Fluttershy held out her hoof, but could do nothing to help as Rarity- no, whatever it was that had cruelly twisted Rarity’s visage into this malformed thing skittered across the cottage with a garbled shriek.
Angel deftly leapt over the creature as it slammed into the couch and knocked it over. He landed and pointed at Fluttershy before turning back to face his opponent.
“Go!”
“N-no, I’m not-” Fluttershy’s legs shook so hard it was a miracle she was still standing. “You can’t take her on by yourself!”
Harry pushed himself up off the floor and growled at her.
“Find friends! We hold it off!”
“B-but-”
The deformed creature scrambled over the couch, joints locking and unlocking in a din of pops and cracks as it shuffled towards bear and rabbit with its eldritch gait.
The sounds…
Both Angel and Harry turned to face her:
“Find friends now!!”
Fluttershy ran out the door and into the rainstorm.
‘Don’t look back. Don’t look back.’
“Discord!” She cried out as she forced her rigid wings to fan out and take her into the air, hoping that maybe he was finally returning from whatever it was he did when he wanted some ‘me time’. “Discord, help me! Discord!!”
11:19 pm
‘Inhale, exhale… inhale, exhale… inhale…’
Rainbow Dash smiled hugely as she dive-bombed through a particularly dense cloud; the water splashed against her face, so wonderfully invigorating, and when she emerged out the other side, the droplets trailed like an afterimage.
‘Exhale.’
There was something magical and poignant about flying amidst a rainstorm, though she’d never admit such namby-pamby feelings to her friends.
The feeling of entering and exiting a cloud, the sensation of life-giving water cascading down to the earth and streaming against one’s coat, the tingle of one becoming Attuned to a storm and seeing their mind’s eye the vast power of the weather patterns.
Rainbow Dash often felt that most pegasi – Fluttershy, Blossomforth, even Thunderlane – didn’t understand the sheer awesomeness of flying amidst storms like this, and that was why they didn’t do it.
She felt sorry for them, missing out.
‘Inhale, exhale…’
Twirling around like a corkscrew and drilling out the side of another cloud, Rainbow Dash spread out her wings and paused in mid-air, using her mind’s eye to examine the layout and find the next largest cloud.
‘Inhale, exhale… inha…’
Rainbow Dash felt something resonate within the storm.
She focused on the intrusion, feeling for the disturbances in the air to gauge what it was.
A pegasus, not too surprising.
The disturbances were strong, frantic – the pegasus was panicking.
‘Fluttershy?’
Rainbow Dash focused on her friend’s irregular flight pattern and quickly launched into a spiralling descent, easily closing the gap between them within moments, and once she was directly in Fluttershy’s path, she spread her wings to catch the air and come to a complete halt. She opened her eyes and cut off her mental connection to the storm.
“Yo, Fluttershy, come to join me for a-”
“Rainbow Dash!!”
Fluttershy slammed into her with the force of a typhoon.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes bugged out; she held her friend tightly and used their momentum to pull off some tricky manoeuvers that allowed them to come to a complete stop almost immediately instead of tumbling around until the air slowed them down.
“Whoa! Damn, Flutters – what’s the big idea?!” Rainbow Dash’s irritation faded when she felt Fluttershy shaking uncontrollably and heard her breathing frantically. “Uh… Flutters?”
“R-R-Rarity… S-sick… need help… p-please!”
“What? I can’t understand you.”
Fluttershy pulled back and even in the darkness of the storm, Rainbow Dash could see the sheer terror on her pale face. “Oh, Rainbow… th-there’s something w-wrong with Rarity!”
“What do you mean? Does she need our help?”
“Y-yes! No! I-I… I don’t know! I don’t know what to do!”
“Hey, hey – chill out, okay?” Rainbow Dash pressed both her forehooves against Fluttershy’s damp cheeks – not just from rain, she suspected – and forced her to meet her eyes. “What’s wrong with Rarity?”
Fluttershy tried to inhale, but it came shuddering and shallow. Nevertheless, she said in a more stable tone, “Sh-she came over to m-my house… covered in blood and s-saying she was cold.”
“Whoa, whoa – blood?!”
“I… I tried helping, I really did! B-but then she… then she…” Fluttershy was beginning to hyperventilate again, her eyes clouded with panic. “Oh gosh, Rainbow, I-I left my animal friends all alone!”
“Animals? So Rarity’s at your home?” Fluttershy nodded and Rainbow Dash pursed her lips in determination. “Okay. Look – go get the rest of the girls while I see what’s up with Rarity.”
“No!”
The words were barely out of her mouth when Fluttershy shrieked and clasped her hooves with a grip like iron. Rainbow Dash almost jumped out of her skin from the outburst and floated back a few inches.
“Flutters-”
“No, you don’t understand!” Fluttershy shook her head, scattering water droplets from her drenched mane. “Rarity… she’s changed. I… It happened right in front of me…” She hiccupped and started crying again. “Sh-she’s not herself anymore and if y-you go back, she’ll h-hurt you…”
The only time Rarity had ever harmed Rainbow Dash was with an errant needle during a measuring session, so she was having trouble believing Fluttershy’s words.
At the same time… Fluttershy would never lie about her friends, and Rainbow Dash doubted Pinkie would rope Fluttershy into a prank.
‘Jeez, I hope this is just a prank…’
“Hey…” Beaming confidently, Rainbow Dash gently freed her hooves and patted Fluttershy’s shoulder. “This is me we’re talking about; even if Rarity would try to hurt me, there’s no way she’s gonna land a hit on this piece of work.”
Fluttershy wasn’t convinced.
“Don’t go,” She pleaded in such a small voice that the rain almost drowned it out. “Please don’t go.”
Physical acts of affection weren’t really her thing, but there and then Rainbow Dash had no qualms about hugging Fluttershy.
“You know I can’t abandon any of my friends. I won’t abandon you and I won’t abandon Rarity.”
“But…”
“Go get the girls. I promise I’ll be okay.”
“R-Rainbow…”
“I promise.”
Rainbow Dash patted her on the shoulder once and then flew off in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.
She heard a muffled shout, but when she looked over her shoulder three seconds after ignoring it, Fluttershy was a yellow and pink dot fading in the opposite direction.
11:22 pm
The lights were still on in Fluttershy’s cottage and the front door was wide open when Rainbow Dash landed just before the threshold of the entrance.
The rain plastered her mane to her forehead and she slicked it back before venturing forwards, calling, “Rarity?! You in here? Yeesh…”
She stopped a few steps inside because not only was the place a mess, but it was cold as heck. Rainbow Dash’s breath floated in front of her muzzle as she surveyed the overturned furniture, the crumpled carpet, and cracked walls.
‘Creepy. Usually there’s a bunch of animals running around, but this is…’
It was dead silent, save for the faint whistle of an unattended kettle blowing steam in the kitchen.
“Rar…” Rainbow Dash flinched back as her next step landed on a picture frame and grinded some of the glass; she was lucky she didn’t get cut. Carefully, she picked the picture up and observed the still image of her, the rest of the girls, and Spike smiling happily. “… Rarity?”
She walked over to a coffee table that had been turned on its side, set it back up, and placed the frame on it. Her eyes widened when she let go of one of the legs and noticed a vivid red smear on her fetlock.
‘Oh, shit…’
“Hey, Rarity! Where are you?! Fluttershy just flew into me crying up a storm and freaking out about you, what gives?”
The kettle whistled on and the rain continued pitter-pattering against the windows.
“Where the hell are you?” Rainbow Dash felt her throat tighten as she trotted into the kitchen and placed her hoof in the sink. It was a similar sensation to when she just knew that Pinkie was going to prank her, but didn’t know where and when.
Squeak-squeak
Cold water splashed over her hoof and the red smear washed off into the drain. Rainbow Dash turned the faucet off as soon as it was all gone and turned to trot back out in the living room, sighing and flicking her hoof to…
“Huagh… huagh…”
The tightness in Rainbow Dash’s throat grew stronger and a chill went through her body when she saw the creature standing in the doorway.
‘What… the fuck?’
“Huagh… huagh…”
The creature twitched and shuddered with every mist-producing breath, and the black tongue inside its open maw flicked and lapped at teeth made from solid ice. It was gangly, emaciated, and mangy – Rainbow Dash had seen Fluttershy bring in plague-ridden wolves in better shape.
“Ah… Agh…”
The pony-shaped head tilted this way and that; the bone-white antlers growing- no, sprouting through its scalp tapped and bumped against the doorway that was too low for its stature.
Crk-crk-crk
“She’s not herself anymore and if you go back… she’ll hurt you.”
“No…” Rainbow Dash said aloud and shook her head as if to physically dislodge the quivering voice from her head. “No, this can’t…”
But as much as she wanted to deny it, there was no mistaking the familiar shade of blue in those sunken eyes that vibrated with confusion, pain, and… and something else that made Rainbow Dash’s ‘fight-or-flight’ instinct kick in with a vengeance.
She ignored it and chose to ‘stay’.
“R-Rarity… Oh shit…” Rainbow Dash took a step closer, forcing her throat to open back up and her eyes to stop prickling. “What… what happened, Rares?”
Snapping her teeth hard enough to cause several chips, Rarity blinked and struggled to focus. “R… R… bow…”
“Y-yeah, it’s me…” Rainbow Dash smiled weakly, trying not to flinch at how harsh and dry the voice sounded; she got the mental image of a violent blizzard from just hearing it. “It’s your friend: th-the most awesome and fastest pegasus in Equestria. You remember me… r-right?”
“… b-bow… D-D-Dash…”
“That’s right. So… So you’re, uh… heh, feeling a bit under the weather, huh?”
“…”
“You’ve been complaining about the cold since you got back… even when it was still summer. I just, uh… Heh, I just thought you were being dramatic. Sh-shows me for assuming, eh?”
“D-Dash-sh…”
“I’m… Fuck, I’m so… sorry, Rares,” Rainbow Dash’s smile crumbled and tears spilled down her face despite her best efforts. There was a deep yawning ache in her chest that pulsed every time Rarity shook or her eyes darted around, struggling to remember. “I should’ve… I should’ve kept a better eye out for you. I… What sort of loyalty is that? A f-friend that can’t even… D-damn it!”
Rarity made a groaning noise from deep in her throat and slinked forwards with a motion that made Rainbow Dash’s skin crawl.
“R-Rainb-bow…” Rarity whined. “C-cold… s-so c-cold…”
“W-we’re gonna help you, Rares! You hear me?” Rainbow Dash attempted to smile through her tears, attempted to support her friend when they were suffering so. “Flutters has probably got everypony together and… and Egghead’s totally called the princesses by now. Hell, I bet even Discord’s gonna show up any second now and just… just snap his fingers, and then everything will be sweet!”
“C-cold…”
“Don’t sweat it, Rares – I’ll stick right by your side until they get here. I know you won’t hurt me. You’re not like that.”
Rarity pushed her to the floor and closed her teeth around a foreleg.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as bright red blood spurted against her face and didn’t fully comprehend what was happening until her brain finally registered the cries of her tortured nerves.
“Ah… Agh… AGGHHHHH!!”
Rainbow Dash screamed and shook her leg, but a terrible chill was settling in; it numbed her flesh and resonated within her bones, and when Rarity’s jaws started working back and forth, literally breaking and resetting to do so, the pain went from a white-hot stab to a dull throb.
It terrified her worse than the initial pain and she cried out while punching her attacker with her other foreleg.
“No no no, stop! Rarity, please stop! It’s me, Rares – I’m your friend! Y-you’re hurting me! Stop stop!!”
Despite being the picture of starvation, Rarity was much heavier and stronger than Rainbow Dash, and the taste of blood, of warmth had driven her into a frenzy. She growled and moaned in rapturous delight, oblivious to the pegasus’ desperate struggles.
“St-stop!” Rainbow Dash wailed and reached up to grab at Rarity’s horn and pulled with all her might. “STOP!”
CRACK
Rarity’s jaws snapped open and she reared back on her hind legs with a high-pitched whinny of pain. Clouds of ice-cold breath billowed into the air as she stamped and bucked around, specks of blood and saliva flinging from her lipless mouth.
Rainbow Dash looked at the broken horn in her hoof for a moment before dropping it with a gag of disgust, and then scrambled back to her hooves. Her mangled foreleg was dead weight and she held it close to her chest, mouth open in horrified disbelief.
“Y-you… Rarity, what-”
Rarity shrieked and lurched forwards with her antlers.
Rainbow Dash dove out of the way and took to the air as Rarity speared the underside of Fluttershy’s overturned couch.
‘She hurt me. She actually hurt me.’
‘Get your head in the game, RD! That’s not Rarity; not anymore…’
Rar… The monster that bit her tore its antlers free and came at her again. Its head rotated with a sickening snap so its jaws were vertical.
Rainbow Dash flew higher and pressed herself up against the roof, shuddering and panting as the monster bit down on empty air and fell over from its own momentum. It flopped and thrashed beneath her like a fish out of water, and Rainbow Dash felt bile rise in her gullet from fear and the sight of the monster twisting into positions that would break a normal pony’s spine thrice over.
‘Shit shit shit! Foreleg’s numb as fuck and I’m… shit, I’m starting to feel woozy.’
Her frightened grimace twisted into one of determination. She punched herself in the head with her good foreleg while the creature below finally managed to stand and rear up on its hindhooves, howling in frustration.
‘No, come on, RD! You’re better than this – you can’t give in! The others might need you to restrain this thing so Twilight can do her fancy magic thing and bring Rarity back to her old self again.’
Rainbow Dash took deep, measured breaths as she looked around the cottage for something that could be used to bind or sedate the monster. Fluttershy dealt with dangerous animals all the time, even operated on some that were sick or injured, so surely she’d have some sedatives around?
She turned her head to look towards the kitchen and that proved to be a terrible mistake.
Immediately after she turned her head, the monster fell back on all fours, took a deep breath, and belched forward a twinkling stream of frosty wind. Rainbow Dash gasped in pain and closed her eyes as she pulled her face away from the brunt of the wind; her body was stinging all over like she was caught in a blizzard.
If she wasn’t a pegasus, Rainbow Dash would have been frostbitten and paralysed within a few moments.
But even with her resilience, she knew it wouldn’t be long before her muscles were too sore to keep her aloft.
“Damn it!” Rainbow Dash snarled through clenched teeth and moved to fly around the ceiling in irregular patterns. The spot where she had just been was caked in frost aside from a near perfect imprint of her body.
The monster blew out streams of frost, but couldn’t turn its head fast enough to track her. The ice-cold breaths stirred Fluttershy’s curtains, and it caught Rainbow Dash’s attention.
‘The curtains!’
Rainbow Dash zipped over to the farthest corner of the ceiling and waited until the monster exhaled before flashing back over to the curtains and tearing them off the railing with her one good foreleg and mouth.
This would be tricky, but Rainbow Dash didn’t give up on anything because it was hard.
As the monster shrieked and let loose with another bone-chilling exhale, Rainbow Dash zipped down and flew past the creature’s legs, looping one end of a burgundy curtain around the right hindleg and pulling it taut.
The creature fell flat on its face and a few teeth flew out, but Rainbow Dash was already working to tie the length of curtain around the other hindleg while it was stunned. She wished Applejack was there, she could probably lasso a proper knot in the blink of an eye, even with a lame foreleg.
Somehow, she managed to finish the most complex knot she knew in time to recoil backwards with a gasp of surprise as the creature twisted to the side and came after with snapping jaws.
Flapping her wings frantically, Rainbow Dash managed to dodge the bloodstained teeth and take to the air. The monster tripped up again, and she zipped back down to swiftly kick it in the side so she could bind the forelegs together.
It was a mess of teeth, shrieks, and flailing limbs, but she did it. She bound the monster’s forelegs together and fell back on her rump, quivering from the rush of adrenaline and bleeding from several cuts those sharp hooves inflicted.
Rainbow Dash’s numb foreleg felt heavier than before and was still bleeding from where the monster’s teeth had ripped skin and flesh asunder.
“Hah… hah…” Rainbow Dash’s heart was beating against her ribs so hard she felt it would burst out. “D-don’t worry… Rares. We’ll get you back to normal. Just bear with me a little while, okay?”
She didn’t know if Rarity could hear her; the monster was thrashing against its bonds and spewing twinkling frost with each roar; it seemed like it had swallowed Rarity’s psyche whole. Nevertheless, she tried. Twilight and the others had brought her back to her old self when Discord had corrupted her, so maybe if she kept talking now, the sound of her voice could guide Rarity back to reality, even for a moment.
“Rarity? If… If you can hear me, I… I just want to let you know that I’m so sorry that I didn’t notice anything sooner. Like… I just figured it was you just being your usual self when you kept complaining about the cold. I never thought that…”
Suddenly, a thought came to her.
“You… Did something happen when we lost you in the ice wasteland around the Crystal Empire? Because that’s, like… the only thing that comes to mind when I look at you now and… and…”
Rainbow Dash trailed off as the monster stopped thrashing and twisted its head to look at her with savage hunger. Rivulets of drool steamed as they dripped down the monster’s jaw.
“Ah, Faust, I dunno…” Rainbow Dash pressed her good hoof against her forehead and shook her head in dismay. “I’m not good with this magic stuff. Where the hell are the others?!”
Warmth trickled down her forehead and she took her hoof away. She was bleeding from a nasty gash there. Actually, now that she took the time to look, she realized the blood she was losing wasn’t a small amount. Her coat was slick and wet with her own life fluid. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been this bloody.
The monster snorted and huffed as it struggled to reach her, tongue flopping out like a dead fish, hungrily tasting the blood-scented air.
“… I’m just gonna see if I can’t find any of Fluttershy’s medical stuff, okay?” Rainbow Dash offered a waning smile as she stood, stumbled, and stood again. “She’s treated me more times than I can count whenever one of my stunts goes wrong. Uh, not that they wrong often! It’s just, um… you know, there’s usually a bird or something in the way and I veer to the side so I don’t hit them because… J-just don’t go anywhere, okay? I’ll be back in a flash.”
Rainbow Dash entered Fluttershy’s kitchen and started searching through the cupboards. She remembered Fluttershy mentioning how she kept a few medical supplies down here in case of an emergency. Problem was that Rainbow Dash didn’t know where.
“Come on, come on…” Rainbow Dash hissed as the pain of her wounds flared up. It was bad, but she’d take it over the numbness of cold any day. Her limp foreleg was starting to regain feeling and it hurt so good. “Where is it? Plates, plates, plates – why can’t it have a label or someth- ah! Yeah, here we go…”
The supplies were in plain sight on top of the fridge; Rainbow Dash felt silly for missing such an obvious thing as she took them down and opened a first aid kit. To her delight, there were a few sedatives in addition to bandages and disinfectants.
The kind tailored to calming down injured and frightened beasts.
Right now, though, Rainbow Dash needed to stop bleeding all over Fluttershy’s cottage.
‘Blood attracts ants, right? Or is that sugar? Twilight said blood has sugar in it, I think. I could really go for some pancakes.’
Rainbow Dash shook her head lightly and chuckled. “Yeesh, hope I’m not getting disoriented,” Her hoof was shaking as she wrapped some gauze around her belly. “Ah, damn it. Come on, RD – it’s not hard.”
It wasn’t like she was scared or anything, but…
Nah.
Nah, she was pretty fucking scared.
She managed to take care of her wounds the best she could and zipped up the kit before taking it into the living room with her mouth.
The monster was still there, watching her intently and growling from deep within its chest.
Rainbow Dash spat the kit out on the floor and laughed awkwardly. “Sorry it took so long,” She sat down and unzipped the kit again. “Right in front of me, but I must have went past it six times. You, uh, ever had that, Rares? Probably not – you’re such a clean freak that you can spot a speck of dirt from, like… a mile away or something, huh?”
The monster exhaled a cloud of frost. “Cold… s-so cold…”
“So, uh, there’s something in here… I don’t know if it’ll work, but if it does, then you’ll fall asleep, and then when you wake up… hopefully you’ll be back to your old self again.”
“C-cold-d…”
“But it’s in a needle…” Rainbow Dash picked a sedative up and took off the plastic cap. The thin long metal of the needle instilled an unpleasant chill that went down her spine. Faust, she hated needles. “It’s really… It sucks, let’s be honest. Needles suck. You hate needles, Rares?”
“Just… a taste… a l-little bit…”
“Well, I’m sure you don’t like them at least. But this will help, I promise. I think… I…” Rainbow Dash hesitated as she looked at the needle in her hoof. “I… Shit, I just… I just realized I don’t know how to, uh, use it, you know? I don’t how much or where to put it in,” She shook her head, laughing again. “Damn, I wasn’t thinking clearly on that, huh?”
“Cold…”
“Maybe I should just wait until Fluttershy and the others get here, eh? I was hoping to maybe calm you down a little, but that’s way too risky.”
“Cold, cold, cold…”
“Normally, I like risks, you know? B-but not if it’s gonna hurt my friends or anything. Yeah, I-I’ll just wait for the oth-”
“COLD!!”
The monster’s veins ruptured and its blood hardened like ice and formed conical spikes that pierced through flesh and skin, and ripped the curtains binding its limbs to shreds.
Rainbow Dash gasped and spread her wings to try and fly away, but the monster lunged after her, the flesh near its right forehoof splitting apart so a spray of blood could solidify and form a crescent-shaped hook.
The tip dug deep in Rainbow Dash’s thigh, and a quick yank pulled her back to the ground.
“EYAAGH!!” The pain was deep, potent, and world-consuming, but Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and kept enough sense to aim the needle up as the monster fell on her.
To her shock, the needle jabbed one of Rarity's pronounced ribs and broke like it was glass, and then the monster’s teeth were on her neck. Rainbow Dash’s jaw fell as she felt her body heat plummet.
“Glk! Ack!”
The pain was second to the numbness that spread throughout her body; it was a deep chill like a chasm at the bottom of the ocean, and Rainbow Dash felt her strength, her warmth, and her life leaving her body as the monster gnawed on her neck.
‘No! No, this can’t be how it…’
She tried to inhale and muster the strength to push her attacker off, but her airway was clogged with blood. She choked and spluttered as her mouth was filled with the metallic-tasting fluid.
Yeah, she wasn’t the best on medical stuff, but that wasn’t a very good sign. Nope.
‘Fuck… I’m gonna die, aren’t I?’
Maybe it was shock, but she wasn’t very scared of the notion; mostly she just felt annoyed that she had let her guard down so easily, and concerned for her friends when they arrived. Hopefully, nopony else would get hurt.
‘Th-they know me; they’ll make sure my funeral’s awesome, not mopey and depressing. Heh...’
Rainbow Dash bared her bloodstained teeth in a weak grin as her eyelids lowered. The monster snorted into the wound it had made and a few specks of blood landed on her open eyes. It stung, but only a little…
‘Guess I’ll see ya soon, mom…’
“RAINBOW DASH!!”
‘Oh… there you guys are…’
11:26 pm
The horrific creature hunched over Rainbow Dash turned its attention to them and- oh Faust, Fluttershy was right, those were Rarity’s eyes.
“Rainbow Dash!!” Fluttershy shrieked again, and Pinkie had to physically hold her back because she was all set to rush in. “Rainbow Dash!”
Not-Rarity screeched in an ear-rending tone and came after them, shuffling and lurching like a multi-jointed marionette. Applejack broke out of her terrified trance and stepped in front of Fluttershy, trembling but determined to protect her friends.
Not-Rarity slammed into a purple wall of hard light that rippled with her thrashes.
Twilight shook violently, and watched with saucer-wide eyes as Not-Rarity yowled and gnashed at the barrier, placing hair-line cracks in the surface that grew wider and longer with each passing second.
“Twi’, snap out of it!” Applejack cried, already searching for a weapon, even as a part of her protested any notion of hurting her friend. The rational part of her knew better. “Ya’ll are th’ smartest pony I know; use a spell! Any spell!”
Her words seemed to get through; Twilight looked at her in terror once before turning back to Not-Rarity and channelling a spell that made a circular ring of purple light appear beneath her feet.
Not-Rarity’s movements slowed, but only for a moment, and then she broke out of whatever restraint the ring of light had on her with a grating howl and jumped backwards, landing several metres away and twisting around to dash for the window.
“No!” Twilight yelled and snagged Not-Rarity’s right hindleg, dropping her barrier in the process. “N-no, don’t-!”
Not-Rarity stumbled, kicked her captured leg free, and leapt through the window face-first, blowing the glass pane apart and letting rain and wind filter in.
Applejack listened to the fading yowls for a brief moment before awkwardly staggering towards her pegasus friend. She was trembling all over, like how she was when Mayor Mare knocked on the door all those years ago with a solemn expression and told her that there had been an accident and ma and pa were…
‘No, no – not again! Not again!’
“RD!” Applejack fell to her knees and lifted her spluttering friend, one hoof behind the matted rainbow mane and the other pressed against the splurting wound. “Aw, shit! Shit!” Rainbow Dash stared up at her in a daze and spasmed, spreading blood. “Nah, don’t…! Yer gonna be fine, okay? Y-yer gonna be jes’ fine…”
Fluttershy sped past and snatched up the discarded medical kit, her chest convulsing with ugly sobs and half-coherent mumbles of 'you promised, you promised', but she still made an attempt to staunch the rush of hot fluid that drenched Applejack’s hoof and coat.
Pinkie collapsed somewhere next to Applejack, her hooves covering her eyes as she cried and cried.
Twilight was crying, too, but shuffled around the cottage, mumbling at them and the shattered window while her wings were spread open and twitching at random intervals.
“Wh-what could have…? Drastic… drastic changes… Magic could have done it, but what magic, what sort magic could she have been exposed to? Nothing’s happened lately… Princess Celestia would know, she knows a lot of things… she can fix this, just have to… just have to wait until she gets here. Sh-should have kept R-Rarity here, should have… I should go after her, or the princesses can’t help, but I-I don’t know where to-”
“Twi’, quit yer pacin’ an’ help!” Applejack shrieked, looking up because Rainbow Dash’s unfocused gaze was just too much to bear. “Use magic! Use something!”
“I… There’s too much blood loss…” Twilight stopped and approached, still murmuring and weeping but lighting up her horn nonetheless. “No spell that can promote such rapid cell regeneration without consumption of mass and… and that could be deadly. Can’t just… Um, could you…? Applejack, could you move your hoof? A-and you, too, Fluttershy? For just a moment?”
Applejack hesitantly obeyed. Fluttershy did so as well, and hugged the medical kit to herself as Twilight’s magic settled on Rainbow Dash’s mangled neck.
Torn muscle started growing back, managed to cut off the flow of blood. Skin started coming back as well, but it was all happening so slow, and Rainbow Dash’s eyes fluttered before closing. Applejack’s heart fell out through her belly, but she reassured herself that her friend was still alive because her chest was rising, weak and sporadic as the rhythm was.
…
Applejack’s ears pricked at the sound of wings flapping and she knew who it was without turning around. She couldn’t. As crazy as it sounded, there was this awful feeling in her stomach that if she turned, if she looked away for an instant then Rainbow Dash would be gone like her parents.
The wing beats stopped and there was a horrified gasp from the doorway. It was immediately followed by hurried footsteps.
A large shadow fell over Applejack.
“Twilight, you’ve done well, but you can stop. It’s okay, I’m here. I’ll take care of her.”
The purple glow around the unconscious pegasus’ neck ceased and was replaced by a gentle gold light. This one mended the flesh at a faster rate, though it was still too slow for Applejack’s liking.
“What happened?”
…
Fluttershy sniffled and rubbed at her bloodshot eyes. “Rarity… Sh-she came over and… and she was covered in blood. I tried to help, but then… but then she ch-changed. It was so horrible…”
“How did she change? I know it must be hard, but please… any bit of information can help.”
Fluttershy broke down again, so Applejack answered for her.
“She… Th-there were these pieces of ice in her mouth an’… an’ she was all gangly and skeletal-like. She kept screamin’ somethin’ fierce; never heard anything like it.”
“What else?”
“She was cold,” Twilight muttered, and Celestia turned to her. Twilight wet her lips before continuing. “I grabbed her with my magic and tried to hold on, but she broke free, and I felt this… this chill. It was like when you eat ice cream too fast.”
“…” Celestia lowered her head and sighed through her nostrils. “Where is Discord?”
“He comes and goes…” Fluttershy said softly. “I tried calling out for him, but I don’t think… I don’t think it works like that.”
“We don’t have the Elements anymore,” Twilight added. “We can’t just cast that spell to summon him.”
“I know,” Celestia looked back up and at the shattered window. A flash of lightning lit up the room, briefly casting her face in shadow. “Luna stayed behind to take a meeting with the Royal Court in my place, but this is more severe than I ever imagined. I’ll send a message to her straight away.”
Applejack cradled Rainbow Dash as the magic worked on her wound. “Wh-what about RD?”
“Once she’s stabilized we’ll get her to the hospital,” Without stopping her healing, Celestia summoned a roll of parchment and a quill to start writing. “If Discord’s not back by then, then my sister and I will bring him here. Twilight, is Spike well?”
“Y-yeah…” Twilight nodded numbly. “He knows the castle better than I do. I told him to lock up, and it’s strong, too. I tested it myself. He’ll… he’ll be alright.”
…
“Celestia… will Rarity be okay?”
“We’ll do everything in our power to find out how to fix what’s wrong with her,” Celestia smiled reassuringly, though it seemed forced. “It’ll be okay, Twilight. I promise.”
12:11 am
Nurse Redheart trotted back into the waiting room, a slight sheen of sweat marking her brow that she readily swiped away with the back of one hoof.
She couldn’t get one word out before she was swamped by a mass of bodies.
“Is she okay?”
“Is RD alright? Please tell me she’s fine!”
“Dashie’s gonna be okay, right? Right?”
Redheart took a step back, a little overwhelmed by the suddenness of getting mobbed. But she had experienced similar situations with concerned family members, friends, and lovers, and patiently raised her hoof for silence while speaking firmly.
“Miss Dash is stabilized, but she’s lost a great deal of blood and suffered severe damage to her throat.”
“B-but she’s going to make it?” Twilight pressed anxiously.
“She’ll live.”
Twilight let out a shuddering exhale of relief. Pinkie exclaimed happily and, with tears streaming down her face, embraced an equally elated and weepy Fluttershy. Applejack sighed as well, and moved closer to a nearby chair to support herself lest she collapse.
Princess Celestia watched the four mares sniffle and embrace from further back in the waiting room. She was just as glad upon hearing the news, but there were still matters that needed her attention.
Silently, she turned away and faced the other two stone-faced figures near her.
“We must find her before she brings further harm.”
“The spirit will be drawn to the Everfree Forest,” Luna said softly, cautious that she wasn’t overheard. There were only two other ponies in the waiting room, but gossip spread like wildfire and this was not the time for panic. “But it will only remain for so long – it has tasted Rainbow Dash’s blood and will be back for more.”
Celestia nodded solemnly and turned to her second compatriot, who had been oddly reserved so far. “Discord, what do you think?”
Discord stretched to his full height, one antler almost scraping the ceiling, and stroked his beard. “There’s a good deal of chaos magic in that forest. There’ll be interference.”
“But you can track her?”
“I can. And I know what you’re thinking, my dear Celestia…” He stared evenly at her and folded his arms. “Can I separate the wendigo from her? Divide grey into black and white again?”
“…”
“Honestly? I’m not sure. Chaos magic is, as you might guess, rather unpredictable. Best case scenario: I yank the thing out of her gullet and she doesn’t go into cardiac arrest.”
“And worst case scenario?”
Discord gave a humourless smile and said nothing. He didn’t need to.
Celestia swore and rubbed her forehead. “Luna?”
“I will accompany him,” The younger sibling nodded. “You stay here and watch over Ponyville,” Puffing out her dark wings, Luna made for the exit, where rain drummed against and sluiced down the glass doors. “Be safe, sister.”
“You too,” Celestia watched her go and then Discord. “… Discord?”
“Hm?”
“… Do not blame yourself. You are not omnipotent.”
He chuckled dryly and continued on his way. “I’m close to it, am I not, my dear?”
Celestia pressed her lips together as she watched him slither off into the night.
12:21 am
The Everfree Forest…
Even entering the thick woods sent a chill down Luna’s spine, and if her hooves could talk, they would be vocalizing their revulsion at having to touch its muddy soil.
There was magic here – unnatural and volatile.
The night did little to ease her, though the moonlight filtering in through the thick canopy above was a welcome relief.
Luna narrowed her eyes as she peered through the shadows until everything appeared as if it were daylight. “Discord?”
“The closer we get, the more I’ll be able to sense her.”
“You know what to feel for?”
Discord gave a wry chuckle as he coiled around the trunk of a tree. His eyes gave off an eerie glow as he looked at her. “Wendigos have an unmistakeable air to them that lingers on anything they touch. I picked it up off of dear Fluttershy when you and your sister summoned me. Fret not about my tracking expertise, Lu-Lu…”
One of Luna’s eyebrows arched as the draconequus’ long body slithered up the trunk and into the branches. He might have shrunk or cast off his limbs or melted into a shadow to move more easily, but Luna had learned a long time ago not to trust her eyes and take everything at face value when Discord was altering reality.
Drenched to the bone in rain and with lightning clashing over her head, Luna travelled along a path that might have always been there to begin with, or just recently been created.
“And keep an eye out for our confused friend, hm?”
His voice came from all directions, but Luna kept her eyes on the winding path. “How much do you know?”
“About wendigos? A fair amount. They feed off hate, mistrust, disharmony – all that lovely good stuff. They feed off of it and bring a freezing blizzard wherever they may fly. Normally, that’s all they do…”
Luna ducked beneath a low-hanging branch and her hoof fell near a colourful snake that laid coiled up near the roots of the branch’s tree. She felt a sharp pain as it bit her twice before she crushed its head and a slight burn in her veins as the venom coursed through.
“Watch your step.”
“Indeed.” Luna continued walking as the venom futilely attacked her body from the inside out.
“Now, where was I? Ah, yes…” A shadow passed in front of Luna for a brief instant – it took the form of a tall creature that looked both ways in thought before deciding that straight ahead was correct, and then darted off into the branches again. “In very rare cases, a wendigo can inhabit the body of a pony. But you and your sister know this, hm?”
Luna nodded, her jaw clenching a little and her eyes turning dark. “Yes, we’ve seen it. A few stragglers after the three tribes united – they took roost near our home village in the mountains, and came down during winter, when food was low and homes were freezing. We were isolated – no outside help.”
A momentary blur of her vision signalled that the venom had run its course. That’s all the blur was – an effect of the venom.
“A stallion, starving, partook of his wife’s flesh. It drew the attention of one of the spirits.”
“Yes, it must be another pony, doesn’t it?” Discord moved ahead of her and the branches overhead creaked and snapped beneath his weight. “There’s a certain… ‘emphasis’ placed on the consumption of another’s flesh, isn’t there?”
“Do you know something about it?”
Discord chuckled lowly, and Luna’s trek was stopped by a pair of trees that moaned and creaked as they leaned in towards each other, cutting off the path.
“This way, Moon-butt.”
Luna saw that another path had been revealed. Or perhaps it had been created.
Whatever the reason, she took it.
“Now, what was it that you asked? Do I know something about the whole ‘pony eat pony, pony becomes monster’ shtick? Sadly no. I certainly had nothing to do with it in case you’re wondering. For one thing, that sort of thing was happening even before I came to Equestria. Secondly, where’s the fun in killing ponies? You know I wasn’t like that, even at my worst.”
“True.”
Luna paused mid-step as she saw a layer of twinkling frost covering a small bush. Not only that, but there were small patches where mud had frozen over into odd shapes and water droplets scattered on the ground like tiny, white marbles.
“Hmm – yes, she went through here.”
Discord’s voice sounded right next to her, but when Luna turned, there was nothing there.
Shaking her head, she replied, “We must prepare ourselves.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“That depends…” Luna started walking again, following the frozen foliage and mud. Her hooves made suction noises as she trekked in the mud, so she spread her wings and hovered instead. “How much can you influence the wendigo?”
“Well, I can’t zap its tail off and play ‘pin the tail’ like I could with you and Celestia, but I can mess around with the environment,” A branch dropped in front of Luna as something moved above again. “Although, the forest is a little, erm… ‘stubborn’, shall we say. Whatever I make it do, it might just decide to go another way altogether.”
“It fights you?”
“It’s chaos, Moon-butt. There are no ‘sides’ or ‘affiliations’; more like a ‘you let me be, I let you be’ situation.”
“…”
“But you have my word that I will try my best to capture Rarity, unharmed. The idea of failing dear Fluttershy twice in one night is not a… happy thought.”
“…” Luna said nothing and kept her gaze fixed ahead as she came up on a large bush.
She could hear something over the rain and thunder.
Something wet and slimy occasionally punctuated by wheezing breaths.
Discord’s voice whispered from all directions and directly at her side. “No sudden movements.”
Luna nodded and pushed her forehooves into the shrubbery – frozen leaves and twigs snapped off from her action – and parted it enough to give her a clear view.
-sobbed and hid behind her father as the gangly abomination crawled across the ceiling towards them, black tongue flopping out over its steaming teeth and mindless hunger clear in its sunken eyes.
Celestia was screaming somewhere beside her. She didn’t see where mother went.
Her father was crying, too, as he shouted, ‘Redwood Plum’ and ‘please don’t’ at the skittering creature, even as he hefted his pitchfork to-
Luna screwed her eyes shut and took a breath as she shoved the memories to the back of her head. She let it out slowly and stared out into the small clearing.
Rarity was there alright, and she was feasting.
A manticore – not a small one either – was stretched out on its side, half-lidded eyes staring out at nothing. It shook from time to time as Rarity pushed her head inside an ugly wound to get at the cooling innards.
“What do you need in order to try and separate the spirit from her?”
“Time,” Discord sounded by her side again, but when she looked this time, he really was there. His physical presence was comforting, surprisingly. “Not too long. Several seconds at the most, but considering how fast these guys can move… And they’re quite vicious to boot.”
“I can hold her…” Luna watched as Rarity fed. “An Immobilization Ward should do the trick.”
“If I’m not mistaken, Twilight tried that already.”
“Twilight was shaking when I spoke to her; it’s likely the sight of her friend threw her off and she wasn’t fully concentrating on that spell, and I am significantly more experienced with using that spell on non-equine creatures,” She turned to face him. “When I have her trapped, do what you must.”
“I’ll give it my best…” Discord blinked and he slowly started to fade out of existence. His eyes were the last to go and Luna, for the first time ever, saw worry and doubt in them. “But as I told Celestia… it’s not a guarantee that this will work… or that Rarity will be… well.”
Luna nodded sadly and turned away, sighing.
“That you are even trying is commendable, Discord. Whatever may happen… know that we will not blame you.”
Swallowing, mentally and physically preparing herself, Luna silently stepped out from the bush-
”Be careful, Luna.”
-and approached the misshapen figure.
Rarity had stopped feasting and was swaying to and fro, spitting and snarling. Mist rolled off her body and the ground beneath her was caked in frost. She let out a low, haunting moan and pawed at the earth, head swaying and swaying…
“Cold… Hungry… Rain… bow… Wh-where you?”
Luna moved closer as Rarity turned her gaze to the sky and moaned again. Streaks of liquid ran down her face, froze over, and dropped to the earth.
“G-girls… s-so sorry… so… so s-sorry… P-please…”
“… Rarity.”
“…” Rarity twisted her neck to face Luna and her body followed after a few seconds. The snap and crack of her bones resonated in Luna’s mind. “… Agh… Y-you…”
“It is I, Rarity – Princess Luna,” Phantom screams echoed for an instant before they were pushed back. “Do you remember me? You designed those tapestries for me when I came to Ponyville last Nightmare Night.”
“…”
“Do you remember?”
“… H-hurts… P-please…”
Some semblance of clarity entered Rarity’s blue eyes. She stumbled forwards with a whine, more tears escaping and freezing.
“Please… p-please help… please…”
“Shh – I will be more than happy to help you,” Luna smiled gently and took another step forwards. “You are dear to me, Rarity. You and the others – you saved me from myself once. Do you remember that?”
“S-save… me…”
“Yes. It is only fair that I help return the favour. Be still, Rarity. I promise we’ll help you.”
…
Whether it was because Luna lit up her horn, or maybe Rarity sensed something else was there with them, or simply because the wendigo had taken back control… Rarity screamed and charged.
Luna’s eyes widened as the mangled face briefly melted into a face she no longer wished to remember before she cast her spell and teeth made of ice snapped together inches from her muzzle.
Every fibre of her being screamed and recoiled as her magic ensnared her and Luna actually felt nauseous because she had to touch this sort of unnatural magic and out of the corner of her eye…
Discord floated forth on thin air like some apparition, face set with an uncharacteristic determination as he stretched out his hand and it twisted and curled and burst into black and white flames as he grabbed Rarity’s chest and squeezed until she was howling in agony…
Luna felt her thrash and strengthened her hold as Discord yelled that he needed more time to grab what he was searching for until a blinding light burst from Rarity’s chest and blinded Luna until all she could hear was rain and thunder and two different voices screaming from the same throat-
A late-night storm had given way to a bright and sunny day.
A search party found Harry the Bear down the stream near Fluttershy’s cottage. He had died a while ago from blood loss and shock.
The same search party later found Angel lying in some reeds near the stream’s edge. Miraculously, he had managed to survive the entire night despite missing a forelimb, and gestured wildly until he was brought to Fluttershy, where he then collapsed into her mane and instantly fell asleep.
Opalescence was found in the Canterlot Boutique. After a successful surgery, she was later picked up by Rarity's parents. Despite no longer being as mobile as she once was, she still managed to claw at Magnum's collection of moustache combs.
Rainbow Dash woke the following day. Her vocal chords had been severely damaged and it is unlikely she will ever regain full motor control over her injured foreleg. She was given reprieve from Wonderbolt duty until she fully recovered.
Rarity…
Author's Note
Note 1: Takes place after the Season 4 finale.
