Chapter One
The Everfree Forest... A natural haven of chaos magic where the planes of reality are hence very weak. A certain zebra had no horn to focus magic, but even she could sense the impending aura of death and doom pouring out of the forest.
The Forest seems off a bit tonight...
I think i'll lock up my home real tight.
Zecora tried her best to ignore the pressure mounting, but it was getting really unbearable; the amount of black magic that was nearly enveloping her hut left her so shaken up by it that she dropped all that she was doing and stared at her door, muscles tense. Something told her that death was gonna knock on that door, and she was going to answer it, so the Zebra did something that was perfectly rational; she fled.
Zecora galloped madly away from her hut, leaving it all behind and glancing back at times to try and see Zecora galloped madly away from her hut, leaving it all behind and glancing back at times to try and see the gloom racing after her like an invisible fog. She could still feel it creeping up on her... humoring her to think she could actually escape its clutches.
"S-stay back!" She yelled, the fear making her lose focus and trip on a root, spraining her right foreleg's ankle.
Ignoring the pain, Zecora continued limping away with only escape on her mind. At a point, she could hear whimpers coming from the various creatures in the Everfree as they scampered, flew, bounded and generally just tried to escape the black magic that was trying to envelop them.
Zecora kept limping while trying her best to ignore the swelling around her ankle; she could see the dim evening light that was just outside the forest and the safety beyond.
Fluttershy's Cottage.
The timid Pegasus would certainly not turn down a pony in need, would she? Zecora shivered as she felt something move up her spine from the base of her tail to the crown of her head.
"Just a little more... In my safety i'll be sure..." She groaned to her aching right forehoof.
Just as she saw the end, she stopped as she saw a pony in front of her. She knew that there was no pony there a second ago, and part of her wanted to dismiss the coal black filly with a wild grey mane and similarly dishevelled tail in front of her as a figment of her imagination.
All such thoughts were without a doubt dispelled when the filly cocked her head to the side sweetly before smiling with a mouth full of... Razor-sharp canines? Come to think of it, the filly had scars all over her body...
... Including a ring of scar tissue around her neck that could only belong to one decapitated.
"Wh-what the BUCK are you?! Fluttershy!!! Anypony!!!" Zecora screamed as the 'filly' smiled even larger; her mouth actually unhinging by the jaw to let it actually reach a gape large enough to fully reveal a black chasm of a mouth with a serpent of a tongue.
Said Pegasus was already curled up under her bedcovers with Angel and a few smaller critters; hey were all well and truly scared. Her ears perked up at the voice she heard and slowly raised her head to look at her window, which she had barred shut.
"Z-Z-Zec-cora?" She asked the window pane with her usual timidity that was replaced by complete and utter fear, which was also a usual thing.
She knew that something bad was gonna happen to the Zebra, but her muscles were locked, screaming at her that kindness was to take a back seat to self-preservation. Fluttershy was not surprised at how fast she agreed with them.
On Zecora's side, the Zebra was backing up back into the forest; anything waiting for her in there was better than the abomination standing before her.
"Aww~" The 'filly' said in a sweet voice, still staring at Zecora with her crimson red eyes, "I seem to be lost and the very first pony that I meet is a meanie... Can't we play?"
"N-no, we can't play..." Zecora strained, feeling her adrenaline starting to wear off and her pain coming in waves; she wan't built for such exertion without a moment's notice.
"Too bad... I thought little fillies played with their food..."
A blood-curdling scream cured Fluttershy of her paralysis as she darted out of bed before bucking open her door and staring at the sight before her.
There was a thin black... Creature with four awkwardly bent legs and a small body that was nearly entirely shrouded by the mass of black tentacles that were writhing around from the upper half of the creature; each smooth three feet long tentacle tipped with razor sharp teeth. The creature had a grasp on Zecora, who was wrapped in tentacles and was writhing in fear and pain as the teeth dug into her flesh.
"Zecora!!!" Fluttershy screamed, fear and reason giving way to the chaos within her; The Stare.
The Stare made the creature flinch, giving Zecora the opening needed to buck her captor's tentacles away and make a break for it, limping and bleeding.
Instantly, the Stare subsided and Fluttershy took off towards her cottage alongside Zecora, who she supported. There was no way in all of Equus that she was going to keep living in her cottage now. When the impending feeling of doom started, a majority of her animal friends took off running, flying or whatever means of locomotion they had. The fishes hid deep down in the river. Fluttershy was going to go straight to Ponyville; she wasn't sure that any pony would take her and Zecora in at this ungodly time of night, but she was willing to do anything to get away from the... Thing that had tried to rip Zecora to shreds.
An especially loud grunt from Zecora, who was leaning on the Element of Kindness, reminded her of what she was now burdened with, and this thought made her glance back.
The thing had reverted back into what looked like a filly. What was holding her back was what looked like a muscular, black Earth Pony Stallion with red eyes. There was a look on the stallion that was pretty intriguing when she looked up at him.
He looked needy. No... He looked worse than that...
He was longing.
Author's Note
Well, the saga has begun! Tell me what you think in comments and PM's. Remember, Reviewing makes the world go round!
