The Fall of Cloud

The train ride felt boring to me, Shoeshine had stayed in Canterlot out of fear of NightShade, which I still don't understand why she's scared of her. The train came to a stop "now arriving at Ponyville" came through the speaker "I hope this isn't a wild goose chase" I said to Snow Piercer as we walked off. "Hiya!" A pink earth pony yelled bouncing up to me "uhh h-hello?"  I said "are you Cloud" she asked, I hope this isn't the student Celestia spoke of. "Yeah, are you-" she stopped me "Pinkamena Diane Pie, but most ponies just call me Pinkie Pie" she said shaking my hoof vigorously. "What's that smell?" She asked as I sniffed the air "I don't smell anything." I said "it's you" she screamed "you smell like cupcakes" she said sniffing me "okay crazy" I said pushing her away "do you know where we can find Zecora?" Snow Piercer said "oh hi how are you I'm Pin-" she was interrupted "yeah yeah I got the introduction I was standing right here" Snow Piercer said. "And I can assure you that he does not smell like cupcakes he smells like sex... constantly" she said pushing a hoof into Pinkies breast. "Maybe cupcakes smell like sex then" Pinkie said snickering "can you please help us find Zecora?" I spoke up. "Oh she lives in the EverFree forest, follow me" the pink mare said bouncing through the streets. "All the ponies are very nice here" pinkie said "what is that?" I asked pointing a hoof toward a crystal building that towered over all the rest. "That's Twilights house" she said as a small purple dragon with green spikes came running out of it "Pinkie Pie, you're needed for a friendship mission" he said panting. "Awe, but I have to take these ponies to Zecoras" pinkie said "well you'll have to do it some other time." He said "I guess we should be going" I said turning toward the forest "no you can't" the dragon yelled, I turned around "why the hell not" I snapped at him. "Because there's timberwolves and all sorts of dangerous creatures in there" he replied "kid you're looking at one of the most dangerous creatures" I said floating my gun out and pointing it toward the little dragon. I started  walking toward the woods "Cloud, maybe we should've listened to that dragon" Snow Piercer whispered. "I don't need to listen to anypony about anything" I huffed. "You're gonna die one of these days, or get one of us killed" she said walking back to the dragon. I stopped at the edge of the forest "it's only some trees Cloud, get a grip" I whispered to myself as I walked into the brush. I felt like I was being constantly watched, my gun floated out in front of me. I swore I saw a tree move but when I looked back it was the same way as before. Night time fell quickly, I saw glowing emerald eyes all around me, something or someone was watching me. I saw light not far from where I was, the air felt thick as I floated my pistol out of my bag. Something jumped on me, it was big it growled at me, my gun flew from my grasp, I couldn't find it. The jaws of the creature were trying to bite off my muzzle, I was holding it back with my forehooves. It's eyes were glowing green, I forced the bottom jaw off the creature, it wasn't that hard. My horn glowed, I was trying to see the big black creature that tried to kill me. It was a giant wolf made of wood, probably a timberwolf. It clawed at me, my chest burned and felt wet. More of them came out of the darkness, I didn't know what to do, I turned and started running. "Shit, shit, shit" I yelled as one of them cut the back of my back leg, how could they be as fast as me? I'm supposed to be the best of anything in all of equestria. I felt something I never thought anypony could ever feel, my ass felt like it was bleeding, my tail was gone. I felt the blood rushing out of the wound, I turned almost falling over I turned my horn toward the wolves and impaled one of them. It burst into wood chips that went everywhere, the one who's jaw was missing jumped on me again my stomach ached as the wolf pressed its claws into it. It got drool on my muzzle, I hit it with my forehoof as hard as I could, knocking it's head clean off. It's claws were still in my gut, I managed to get it off me without hurting too much. The others must've ran off, the light was closer than before now. I limped to the giant tree, there were bottles dangling from the branches, there were giant masks out front of it, above the door hung a mask. The door opened "hello, you must be Cloud" it was a zebra she had gold covering her neck and left foreleg as well as gold hanging from her ears. "Welcome to my home" she said waving a hoof at me to enter "you know I'm very close to death" I said coughing some blood on her tree. "I can see that" she said as I fell to the floor of her hut, I blacked out. "Just as I thought, you are plagued" she said as I slowly awoke, I must've looked like a ghost. I was in a pool of my own blood, my tail was a stub at the end of my body "what'd you say?" I asked staring up at the zebra "you're cursed, but in your case it's no curse" I felt dizzy "drink this" she said setting a bottle near my muzzle. I grabbed it with my hoof and threw it back down my throat. I couldn't taste anything, my body was dehydrated. I started to feel better, what ever was in that potion was working. I was finally able to stand, my leg still burned as well as my chest. My stomach felt numb, my whole body was covered in thick sticky crimson. "So I'm cursed?" I managed to weasel out of my mouth "you are, for you see you have many curses upon yourself" she said pouring some potions into a cauldron in the middle of the room. "W-what exactly are they?" I asked "you call them gifts, at least I assume you do, one of the big ones is your ability to regenerate." She said "you have too many for me to fix any of them, I can try but I can't guarantee anything." She said pouring more potions into the caldron in the middle of the room. "So what exactly are my curses!" I yelled trying to gain my balance "you have quite a few, at least from what I can see" she said "see? Damned voodoo bullshit." I whispered "your scent, your regeneration, your speed, your strength, your.... no that cannot be right." She said holding my face in her hooves "what are you doing?" I asked "what did you mean by scent?" I added "be quit for a moment" she said walking around my body, examining me. "What kind of pony are you?" She asked "I'm a uhhh... experiment" I said clearing my throat "I mean aside from being a bad assassin, are you a good pony?" She asked "I don't know how to answer that" I replied "you can bring down all of Equestria by yourself but you don't know if you are good or bad?" she said angrily "I believe I'm good?" I said "what did you mean by scent?" I asked as she lifted a bottle and set it before me "drink" she said "damn" she added as I drank the potion. "It only made it stronger" she was looking at me lustfully "g-go out of my hut for a moment, please" she said turning her head from me. "Are you ok?" I asked "yes just leave for a moment" she said as I darted out the door, I figured I could look for my gun, my saddlebag was torn open. "Shit" I noticed I didn't have anything in my bag, no files, no knives, no potions, nothing. I tried to rummage around in the dark, I found one file but the contents of it were gone. My pistol reflected my horns glow, the trigger was bent I needed to to find the other one, one vial of LSD was next to it. I never took any of them, I figured I needed some heightened senses so I drank it. My sides started burning, my eyes felt glowing in the darkness all of the world was so much clearer, the burning didn't hurt my body anymore. I was hyperventilating, my heart felt like it was in overdrive "what the fuck is this shit?" I found myself yelling, suddenly everything was calm it was almost as if I could see through the trees and see all the broken vials and torn papers strewn about the pathway. My horn levitated all of the objects into my bag, wait my horn... but I had my wings. I lifted a hoof to my horn, it was longer... "what am I?" I found myself saying. I set my bag by Zecoras hut, I felt like flying now that my tail was back and I stopped feeling sore. I soared into the sky, I was already fast when running, flying, and thinking but now it was all faster. I flew toward the edge of the forest but ran into something, it was a cloud "heh Cloud on cloud action" I burst out laughing standing on top of the cloud. "Cloud!" I heard Zecora yell, I flew back to her hut almost flying right over it. "Oh no" she said at the sight of me "what?" I asked "just come inside now" she said turning. "This should work" she put a chain around my neck, I started coughing, my head started aching from the inside. "Your connection with the mare you're connected to should be broken" she said with a smile "also as long as you wear that chain you won't have your scent" she said "you never explained that." I said "yes, well your body emits a kind of pheromone that makes you attract mares and stallions" she paused "I hope you aren't taking those vials every day." She added "no I'm not, why?" I asked "those change your bone structure constantly, you could become paralyzed even with your regenerative abilities." She said "I believe I should be leaving" I said trying to back out of the hut "I suppose you should" I held the hole in my bag shut with my magic as I started to fly back to ponyville.