Author's Note
Happy Nightmare Night! This contains OCs introduced in my previous stories. Descriptions are here
Equestrian Decomposition
Spike and Thorax sit around a stone table in the Changeling Kingdom as a changeling places a bowl of gems in front of Spike. He lays back in his seat. "Aw come on guys, it was nothing. This was all you Thorax".
Thorax shakes his head "No, you befriending me and helping me befriend ponies is the greatest thing that has happened. The Changeling kingdom would have still been stealing love from others if it wasn't for you".
"Well, they don't call me Spike the brave and glorious for nothing". A Changeling places a bowl of dead leaves on the table. "Oh... no thanks".
Thorax shakes his head "Those aren't for you, it's for a creature from outside of Equestria came here yesterday, and I need your help".
Spike chuckles "If I can help a Changeling I'm sure I can help... whatever it is".
Thorax makes a worried smile and nods as a large horned shadow approaches.
Spike bursts into Twilight's reading room, where some of the Mane 6 are finding costumes from books "Hey! I'm home!"
"Welcome back Spike! How was your visit to Thorax?"
"Great as always, Thorax introduced me to his new friend Dark Bark who needs help moving into Equestria. The Changeling Kingdom isn't an appropriate place for a rot wolf". Twilight and her friends look worried.
"Come on Twilight, it's Nightmare Night, everypony will be wearing costumes so nopony will suspect a thing".
Rarity asks "What's a rot wolf? They sound dangerous!"
Spike shrugs "I dunno, but Dark Bark is quite friendly". Twilight takes out a book of creatures and starts flipping through the pages.
"Here it is" Twilight stops at a page, everypony else gathers around. "Rot Wolves fought for Equestria during Discord's rule, after the land was secured by unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies Rot Wolves settled outside of Equestria, just north of the Changeling Kingdom. They are known to abuse any form of kindness they receive and are extremely greedy". The Mane 6 turn to Spike suspicious.
"Really? It says the same thing about Changelings, Dark Bark is the Rot Wolf version of Thorax".
"I hope you're right Spike. But I'm mostly worried about what it says here". Twilight points to the bottom right corner of the page "Rot Wolves are known to eat any organic waste they find and use dark magic".
Spike still looks content "He didn't use it against me or Thorax".
Applejack reads the next part "Dark magic used by Rot Wolves include life stealing magic and bringing inanimate objects to life. During the war they created Timber Wolves from sticks to fight for them, which are still found in Equestria today". She nudges Spike "I don't know everypony, they sound dangerous".
Spike pouts "I said Dark Bark is good! Hes completely different from the other Rot Wolves, that's the whole reason he left his kingdom!"
Twilight sighs "Alright, I suppose we can make an exception". She tries to be optimistic "I mean I could learn a lot from an foreign species, but he better not use any dark magic, that stuff is hard to reverse".
As the sky becomes dark, a few fillies and colts in costumes walk up to Twilight's castle. "Trick or treat!". Starlight answers the door without a costume. She puts a lollipop in each of their bags. A colt asks.
"What are you supposed to be?"
Starlight laughs "Oh this is the most frightening costume of all time. Myself!"
A filly sighs "Boring".
"Do you know what horrors the spooky Starlight Glimmer has got for you? Hah!" She starts tearing the cutie mark off the filly who screams in horror. Starlight puts it back on as the fillies and colts all run away. Pinkie Pie approaches worried after seeing the kids run away.
"Uh... you maybe over doing it with the whole spooky thing". Starlight backs away.
"No... that's over doing it!". Starlight points behind Pinkie Pie who turns around and finds a large grey and brown wolf with two horns, Pinkie runs away as Starlight fires a magical projectile at it to no avail. The wolf raises his horns as sticks start circling around him, then summons a Timber Wolf that attacks Starlight. She shoots the Timber Wolf, destroying it in one hit.
Starlight runs away while Spike answers the door in a Grundle costume. "Oh hey Dark Bark, welcome to Ponyville".
"Hi Spike".
Starlight leads Twilight to the castle, which only has a stack of twigs remaining. "It was right here. I blasted it then it summoned a Timber Wolf!"
"That was probably Dark Bark, we'll need to teach him not to summon Timber Wolves". Twilight looks around "Now where did he go".
Various ponies look scared as Spike leads Dark Bark to town hall. "Don't worry everypony, it's just a costume". Mayor Mare steps out of townhall in a clown outfit.
"Mayor Mare, this pony here would like to move into Ponyville, can we reserve a house?"
Dark Bark reaches his paw out "Hello, I'm Dark Bark. I was a trash cleaner".
Mayor Mare inspects the rot wolf. "This is a grand costume! It looks so real, how did you do it?"
Starlight zips up to the Mayor "THATS BECAUSE IT IS REAL! IT SUMMONED A TIMBER WOLF".
Dark Bark asks "So what?" Everypony runs away. "You attacked me first!"
Spike faceclaws "Really Starlight?"
Twilight asks "Did you really hit him first?"
Starlight nods "I was scared. What in Equestria even is that thing?"
Spike pats Dark Bark "It's not a thing, hes my friend. Just like Thorax!"
A colt walks up to Dark Bark "Are you real? Did you really summon a Timber Wolf?"
Dark Bark summons another Timber Wolf which simply stands still. Everypony runs away except for Starlight and Twilight. "There's some... rules about ponyville you kind of have to learn". Dark Bark nods. "LIKE NOT SUMMONING TIMBER WOLVES".
Some ponies return to Dark Bark. "Y.... you're not going to eat us are you?"
Dark Bark shakes his head "Of course not! The rot wolves in my home kingdom might... I never liked them". As more ponies approach Dark Bark exclaims "Happy Nightmare Night everypony!"
Rainbow Dash flies down in a shadow bolt costume "This thing looks totally wicked!"
Mayor Mare whispers to Twilight "I don't think we can keep that thing in Ponyville".
Spike responds "But he'd be so useful! Check it out! Hes taking the trash out right now!"
Dark Bark takes a trash can and dumps the contents in his mouth, mostly candy wrappers. Ponies start to become afraid again.
Rainbow Dash looks at it disgusted "It eats... garbage?"
"It's so full of flavor!" Dark Bark magically picks up another trash can and eats the contents. Rainbow Dash chokes then vomits a candy apple. "Are you going to eat that?". Dark Bark eats Rainbow Dash's barf as well.
Maud who is wearing a rock costume stares at Dark Bark emotionless. "Have you ever tried rock candy".
Rainbow Dash pants heavily "It's a good thing I didn't eat anything else" she trots up to Twilight. "THAT THING IS EATING ALL THE TRASH IN PONYVILLE, YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?"
Two ponies in trash can costumes pulling empty carts drop them. "We've lost our garbage collecting jobs. Thanks a lot".
Dark Bark swallows a mouthful of candy wrappers "You're welcome". The ponies growl at Dark Bark who runs to Twilight's castle.
The Mane 6 watch as Twilight looks confident "He'll learn". Applejack turns to Twilight with a sinister expression.
"Just my honest opinion. We can't keep that thing around! It's going to keep eating and eating with not a single contribution to society".
Rarity nods "It's so unpleasant as well".
"You darn tootin you're right!"
Twilight shakes her head "It's first rot wolf I've ever seen! We could learn so much about rot wolf culture from him".
Rainbow Dash shakes her head "Yeah. Let's just be eggheads about this".
In the morning, Twilight finds Spike sleeping ontop of Dark Bark and wakes them up. Spike cracks open an egg and feeds the shell to Dark Bark, then fries eggs.
Spike, Twilight, and Starlight finish their breakfast. "That was a good meal..."
Dark Bark looks unsatisfied "I'm still really hungry though".
Spike scratches his chin "Well you've already eaten all trash in Ponyville, maybe there's something else".
"Where did you get those egg shells?"
"Sweet Apple Acres, you could probably eat the sticks off the ground". Dark Bark runs out the door "Thanks Spike!"
Twilight looks worried "That thing eats more than a dozen Parasprites".
Starlight is annoyed "If you keep letting it eat whatever it can find, it will eat Ponyville next. We have to get rid of it".
Spike shrugs "Maybe he just hasn't eaten for a while, he did travel from the rot wolf lands to the Changeling Kingdom on his own".
"I hope that's the case Spike. We should make sure he doesn't cause any trouble".
At Sweet Apple Acres, Big Mac bucks an apple tree and collects apples in a bucket. He tosses several rotten ones out "Nope". Dark Bark quickly eats them.
Applejack and Apple Bloom water an apple tree sapling. "Aww we have to do this everyday? Why can't you grow any faster?"
Applebloom looks up at Applejack pats her head "Give it time sugar cube". Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo arrive. "While we wait, we agreed to have an competition which pair of sisters could pick up the most sticks from the farm".
"Really?"
"Yup" Scootaloo nods. "Ready? Go!"
Everypony looks around for sticks, then spots Dark Bark eating them off the ground. "HEY! WE WERE USING THOSE!"
Apple Bloom asks "What was that?"
Applejack sighs "Some monster Twilight agreed to let into ponyville for research purposes. I guess we could see which sisters can pick up the most rotten apples".
Big Mac turns around and finds Dark Bark eating fallen rotten apples. He runs into to the barn yelling "NOPE NOPE NOPE". Granny Smith walks out of the barn angrily waving a stick "GET OFF MY FARM YOU FOWL BEAST! OR I'll..." Dark Bark eats the stick out of Smith's hoof. "Never mind".
Applejack grumbles and looks at Rainbow Dash. They return to Twilight's castle.
Scootaloo and Applebloom watch Dark Bark take Big Mac's bucket then magically drag all the apples into the bucket. He takes the rotten ones out and eats them.
"He ain't seem so bad... a bit of a strange diet don't you think?".
Scootaloo nods "A bit disgusting how he ate all of ponyville's garbage yesterday". Sweetie Belle approaches.
"Rarity doesn't want to come out today while that rot wolf is still around".
"Applejack wants it gone" says Applebloom "But we can't just get rid of him, he lived through hard ships in his old place".
Scootaloo sighs "We may help ponies with cutie marks, but we did help a griffin find a special purpose. Maybe Dark Bark has one too and everypony just doesn't see it?"
The Mane 6 talk with the mayor. "TWILIGHT I NEED THAT THING OUT NOW". The rest of the Mane 6 nod, Twilight looks uncertain.
Fluttershy begs "Please, he ate all the bird seeds"
Applejack says "He ate all the bad apples for the pigs!"
Rainbow Dash yells "There's no jobs for garbage ponies!"
Rarity weeps "Such vile acts I have seen from a wild beast".
Pinkie Pie exclaims "HE DIDN'T TRY MY ROCK CANDY".
Twilight nods slowly "I really don't want to do this but it seems rot wolves simply cannot get along with ponies. I guess I'll have to banish him".
The CMCs and Dark Bark sit in the castle library and pick up a book left behind. "The Encyclopedia of Creatures in Equestria. Well that was easy to find".
Sweetie Belle picks it up "It's even on the page about rot wolves".
"Well go on! Read it to us!"
"It says here rot wolves are evil creatures that caused war in Equestria". Dark Bark looks worried.
"I didn't do any of it".
Scootaloo pats him "You don't seem evil".
Dark Bark sighs "Rot wolves are evil from birth, I was mentally defective. It made me much nicer than the rest and I just could never fit in".
Applebloom points to him "See? We can't send him back".
Sweetie Belle reads the bottom "They possess dark magic, such as life stealing... you don't steal life from ponies do you?"
Dark Bark shakes his head "No, it doesn't work that way. Our magic absorbs the life from everything we eat. We return the life through re-animation".
"Can you do anything useful that might impress our sisters with it?"
Dark Bark thinks "I could summon zombie ponies, that outta impress Twilight".
"Nothing spooky".
Sweetie Belle flips the page and smiles "I don't think our sisters read this part".
"Let's go crusaders! To the dump!" The CMCs run out of the castle followed by Dark Bark. As they run through the village the Mane 6 stops them.
"Is something wrong?"
"We've had enough of you Dark Bark. All you do is scare ponies and eat everything you see". Dark Bark looks at them then nods.
"I can move somewhere else! Uh Canterlot, Manehattan, Griffinstone"
Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes "Then you scare ponies and eat everything there too".
Pinkie Pie yells "MY SISTER ASKED YOU A TOTALLY REASONABLE QUESTION!"
"We're sending you back to where you came from!" Applejack yells. Applebloom grabs Applejack's hoof.
"No you can't! You don't understand!"
"No. I completely understand".
The CMCs run off and grab a cart. "Try to talk them out of it!"
Dark Bark backs away "They're hurt me so much. I could never return". He steps out of ponyville and towards Sweet Apple Acres.
"Well that sucks doesn't it" Applejack responds "You've hurt us".
Twilight asserts herself "If you don't leave now we'll do it by force". Fluttershy gets worried and flies away.
Dark Bark looks at them angry "No, you won't make me!" He howls, then rumbling is heard. An pack of Timber Wolves leave the forest and charge at the Mane 6. Spike sits back and eats popcorn with a video recorder.
As Dark Bark tries to draw dirt from the earth and magically throw it at the Mane 6, who have little trouble breaking through the Timber Wolves. Rainbow Dash easily flies through them, smashing them to twigs "Is that all you got?"
The CMC fill a cart with rotten food from the dump "This should be enough. Let's get out of here, it smells horrible". They leave the dump pulling a cart together.
As the Mane 6 destroy the last Timber Wolf, Dark Bark fires dark magic at the ground, which is now exposing rock under the thrown earth. A rock golem the size of town hall rises from the ground to the Mane 6's dismay. It starts throwing rocks at the Mane 6.
Spike starts eating popcorn faster "A boss fight? Sweetness!"
"Now things get interesting" Rainbow Dash exclaims "This is totally fun, can we do this more often?" She flies and kicks the golem but is unable to do anything against it's rock structure. The Mane 6 attack the golem with everything they can but to no avail.
Pinkie Pie hugs a thrown rock and yells at it "HEEELLLP!"
The CMC run through the village with the cart of rotten food. "Hey check out that giant rock creature".
"It's not too late, is it?"
The Mane 6 stop to catch their breath. Pinkie stays content. "My Pinkie senses has detected help on the way! Secret weapon deploying... now!"
Maud jumps off a building at the golem and rapidly punches it into a pile of rocks. Pinkie Pie claps "Wow Maud! Did you get my message?"
Maud picks up the rock Pinkie Pie was hugging "No, this rock told me a monster threw him on the ground". She walks up to the pile of rock golem pieces and tells them "Don't you ever do that again please".
Dark Bark sighs "I guess you're right, I can't live in Equestria. I am useless to ponies. You win Twilight". He starts to walk away, but the CMCs call him.
"Wait! Don't go!"
Applebloom shows Dark Bark the cart of rotten food and the creature book "A rot wolf like you can be useful to us ponies!"
Dark Bark looks at the book and nods, then proceeds to eat the cart of rotten food.
Applejack exhausted says "Like that, he's a parasite. A rot wolf does nothing but eat and give nothing at all."
Applebloom points to Dark Bark approach the apple tree sapling "You forgot to read this part of the book". Dark Bark channels green magical energy from within himself and onto the sapling. It instantly grows into an apple tree.
"Am my eyes playing tricks on me or did that baby apple tree just..."
Applebloom exclaims "Yup! It's fully grown!"
Twilight takes the book "We've focused on everything that's bad about rot wolves, and ignored the bad. It gave us a very negative impression on you, we're sorry". Spike writes this in the friendship journal.
She reads the book "It says here that rot wolves absorb life from everything they eat, then can return through their magic. Dark Bark just gave it all to this tree".
Dark Bark smiles and nods "It takes a full cart of rotten food to fully grow a tree in an instant".
Applejack walks up to him "I'm sorry about the things I said about you, we thought you were a freeloader for a second. But I'm afraid this ain't a good place for ya if you eat so much all the dang time".
Sweetie Belle explains "We found a perfect place for him to live".
Rainbow Dash looks confused "You did? Where?"
The CMCs lead the Mane 6 and Dark Bark to the dump. "There's an abandoned cabin you can stay in over there, and all the garbage you can eat! Just don't do it when there are ponies around. Please."
Dark Bark looks at the rotting collapsing cabin. Twilight sighs "I'd never ask somepony to live in a place like this". He turns around "Are you kidding? I've only seen a place like this in my dreams! Rot wolves always fight over waste, but here there's a massive surplus".
Twilight asks "About the other rot wolves, can I ask you about them?"
"Of course! Just leave a letter in the mailbox. Not now though, I'm starving". Dark Bark jumps into the heaps of garbage, while the Mane 6 and the CMCs leave.
Rarity swats the air with flies "I'm glad I won't have to see that rotten wolf again, and any of the foulness that comes with it".
Twilight walks while magically holding a paper and pen "I can't believe it! A species that hasn't been in Equestria for a thousand years! And I can ask him all I want!"
Rainbow Dash smiles "I wish he would summon more Timber Wolves, kicking those is awesome".
Applebloom says "I wish all the rot wolves were mentally defective".
Twilight looks surprised "WHAT?! Why would you want that?"
"Dark Bark said it's his mental defect that makes him nice. The other rot wolves are really mean".
Rarity shrugs "Well I guess it's a positive then. Right?"
As the Mane 6 return to Ponyville and the sunsets, the twigs left by the Timber Wolves return to life. Rainbow Dash exclaims "SWEET! ROUND 2 VERSE THE TIMBER WOLVES! Here we go!".
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo charge at them, Applejack and Applebloom follow "Hold up, we have to return those sticks to everfree forest before they re-animate. Betcha can't pick up as many as us!"
The other ponies watch as Spike walks to Twilight with the recorded film "Check it out, I call it Attack of the Rock Wrecker".
Pinkie Pie asks "Are you talking about the giant rock monster thing or Maud?"
