Warrior

Chapters

Prologue: Monster
Where Did They Come From?
The Shadowman
The Starlight
Wendigo

Prologue: Monster

It has become a running routine that Velvet Petal has burned into her memory. She wakes up and cleans the castle an hour before Twilight wakes up, then she cleans the windows, then eat breakfast, and the rest is just a domino effect waiting to happen the next day.

And today she was in the middle of washing the dishes while Twilight, Starlight, Spike, and their friends were out and about doing Velvet knows what, she never knew because they never told.

But there was one part of her routine that she never quite remembers happening, and that was the unsettling feeling that she was being watched. Now, being a five year old means that she usually comes up with crazy ideas and stuff, and once thought Twilight was watching over her with some tracking spell, but this was not like Twilight’s peering. This was different, she knew it because it didn’t feel like her imagination was running wild again, it literally felt like another entity was in the room with her.

But she shrugged it off, knowing she really couldn’t go to anyone about this because they wouldn’t believe her and Twilight would beat her for believing in nonsense. So she pushed the feeling to the far back of her subconscious, telling herself that she was being delusional. But she knew deep down that she was being watched, that something else was in the room with her.

It was towards the end of her time washing the dishes and she was almost finished, just needed to dry up this last one. And once she was done, she glanced at her hardwork and a feeling a pride and joy filled her chest, she was happy, she was joyous, she was prideful, she is scared.

Velvet’s eyes were glued to the side of the plate where the clear outline of a figure stood, and she could swear that it was staring right at her. Staring straight into her eyes through the reflection.

And in a literal heartbeat, the adolescent Unicorn turns her head to the point where the reflection was being casted, and nothing was there. But that doesn’t stop her from keeping her eyes glued to the wall, expecting for the figure to pop out of the wall and grab her, but nothing happened.

She hesitantly turned her eyes towards the plate and saw that nothing was reflected. But now that she knew what she saw, she knew that something was watching her. But her underdeveloped brain told her that if it wanted to hurt her, it would have attacked in that brief heart-stopping moment they locked eyes in that reflection. But she was wrong. So, so wrong.

Once she was done the dishes, Velvet rushes to the throne room where she was supposed to clean, desperate to not be in the kitchen no longer, for her toddler brain convinced her that that monster was only relegated to stalking her within the confines of the kitchen, but she knew that monster wasn’t through with her.

Velvet was almost finished cleaning the throne room, accentuating her work by wiping down the Friendship Map, when her eyes averted to the part of the map that showcased Canterlot, and her eyes locked with the pearl white eyes of the monster she saw in the kitchen. This time though, her reaction was to equip her bow and arrow and point it to the monster on the ceiling, but as with before, it was gone.

But her gaze on the ceiling didn’t falter even after a minute of gazing upon it. If anything, her resolve only strengthened as her mind was filled with strange voices, barely above whispers, sounding demonic and destructive. Her grip on her bow becomes tighter as she pulls the bow even farther, ready to release it in a moments notice.

She was so focused on the ceiling that she didn’t hear the doors open, followed by a slew of female voices conversing about the day that had just transpired.

Twilight and her friends expected to enter into the throne room to see Velvet standing obediently saluting them, but instead they were met with the sight of Velvet pointing her bow at the ceiling, her eyes glued to it. Not even wavering a bit.

“Velvet, what are you doing?” Twilight ask, but receives no reply whatsoever.

The girls approach the filly with caution, “Sugarcube, what’re you looking at?” Applejack finally breaks the ice, but just like Twilight, received only silence in return, not even a blink.

The girls were curious to know what had Velvet so glued to the ceiling and follows her gaze, only to see nothing just as the filly.

Twilight sighs in irritation and nudges Velvet, “C’mon Velvet, stop lollygagging and get back to work.” Little did she know, that would explode in a series of unfortunate events.

Twilight’s nudge caused Velvet to violently pull back and point her bow straight at Twilight’s chest.

Twilight and friends were shocked of course, but Twilight keeps a calm demeanour, “Velvet, that is a dangerous stance you are taking. Put that bow down and go to bed.” She demands.

But what came out as an elegant regal demand from Twilight’s mouth, it only increased the demonic whispering to a point that forced Velvet’s mouth to form three words.

“Who are you?”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow in curiosity, “What do you mean Velvet? It’s me Twilight.” Twilight tries to confirm.

Velvet shakes her head, “I know what Miss Twilight looks like, and you look nothing like her.” She says.

Now the other girls were much more confused, Velvet was staring straight at Twilight, yet here she is saying Twilight looks nothing like Twilight.

But what the girls perceived as Velvet looking Twilight in the eye, Velvet’s mind doesn’t see Twilight, she sees the monster that’s been stalking her from the moment she woke up.

Starlight makes the first move by tapping Velvet on the shoulder, “C’mon honey, you’re just tired, why not me and you go make some cookies in the kitchen.” She suggest.

That tap caused Velvet to snap towards Starlight, pulling her bow farther, so hard in fact that the girls can hear the bowstring almost about to tear from Velvet’s force.

Velvet takes a deep breath, “Go away.” She demands.

But out of all the ponies that didn’t move, Pinkie Pie made the mistake by harshly grabbing Velvet’s shoulder’s, “C’mon Velvet, why don’t you chill!” She says.

Instead of receiving the reaction she was hoping for, Velvet turns to her and releases her bow, the arrow grazing Pinkie’s face.

But before anyone can respond to this action, Velvet jumps on the table and ricochets onto Pinkie Pie.

*WHACK*

Pinkie’s face made contact with Velvet’s fist hard enough to draw a little bit of blood, and this got Rainbow Dash to react.

“You don’t hit my friend!” She shouts, ready to throw a punch at the poor filly.

Velvet dodges the punch and sweeps Rainbow Dash, and mounts the Pegasus before two quick punches landed on the mare’s face.

Applejack picks Velvet off of Rainbow who started to thrash wildly, trying her best to break out and beat Rainbow’s head to her stomach.

“Damn girl, I’ve never seen a filly act like this over anything!” Applejack sighs.

Twilight nods and walks up to Velvet and neels down, “Velvet, you need to calm down. What you’re doing is unacceptable in every way possible.” She says, “If you stop and explain what’s going on tonight, I’ll be lenient with the punishment.” She promises.

Velvet stops struggling in Applejack’s grasp and starts to cry.

Twilight never liked it when Velvet cried for anything, in fact, she beat her for it, especially since it was mostly when she was pissed because of something. But her crying right now was different from stress or pain, it was pure unadulterated fear.

And Twilight could tell that she was afraid because Velvet tried to form words, but she just kept on choking on her sobs.

Twilight, acting on her memories of how her mother treated her, reached out to Applejack who nods and hands Velvet over to the Princess of Friendship. Once Velvet was in Twilight’s grasp, the young Alicorn sat down on the table and held the crying filly like a baby.

Twilight runs her hand through Velvet’s lush, beautiful silver white mane affectionately, “Shhh, it’s okay Velvet, just calm down and take your time.” She whispers, “I won’t punish you, just tell me what’s going on.” She assures.

Velvet relishes in Twilight’s affection, something she’s never been subjected to, and calms down with in a reasonable amount of time, about 3 minutes before she starts explaining, “A monster was watching me ever since I woke up, it only got worse when you left with Miss Starlight and Mister Spike.” She explains.

Twilight sighs, “I told you Velvet; monsters aren’t real. You’re just young.” She reassures.

Velvet snaps her attention to Twilight and looks her in the eye, “No Miss Twilight! I wasn’t imagining things, it felt like something else was watching me the whole morning. And in the kitchen I saw it on a plate.” She says.

Twilight shakes her head, “You were just-”

“I was not imagining things Miss Twilight!” Velvet snaps, breaking into Twilight’s response, but not giving the Alicorn a chance to chastise her, “It was tall, really tall, as tall as the doorway, it had long fingernails, big bat wings, and white eyes!” She describes the monster.

Twilight and friends gasped for they did not expect Velvet describe this monster with such detail. Velvet took this opportunity to continue, “I saw it again on the ceiling before you guys came in, and it whispered in my ears, I couldn’t tell what it was saying, but it sounded evil and wrong in every way.” She explains further before burying her face in Twilight’s shirt, “Please Miss Twilight, you got to believe me. Please believe me. I’m begging you Miss Twilight. Believe me.” She pleads with her mistress.

Twilight nods and caresses Velvet, “Go to sleep Velvet, you are relieved of your duties today. Just get some rest.” She says as she continued to caress her crying slave.

After 5 minutes of crying, Velvet wheeped herself to sleep. Once Twilight was sure she was slumbering peacefully, she stood up and began walking her to a guest room, completely omitting the idea of placing Velvet in the basement.

Once Twilight tucked Velvet in bed, she leaned over and kisses Velvet on the cheek, “Rest now Velvet, everything will be alright.” She whispers before leaving her slave.

Where Did They Come From?

Twilight had returned to the throne room to see all her friends seated, Pinkie’s cheek already being tended to.

“You okay Pinkie?” Twilight questions.

Pinkie massaged her cheek, “Yeah I’m fine, just burns a little bit.” She groans.

Twilight nods, “Do any of you know what Velvet was talking about?” She ask.

They all shook their heads, “But it’s clear that whatever she was talking about is real.” Applejack establishes, “I’ve never seen a filly act like that over anything in my life.” She repeats.

Starlight nods, “And I know she’s a child, but me and Twilight know better than anyone that she wouldn’t go this far talking about monsters.” She points out.

Twilight nods, “But the way she speaks of this is like it’s the first time, without any prior knowledge of this monster, then we have no idea how to help her.” She says.

Everyone nods solemnly except for Spike, who Twilight noted was surprisingly silent during the whole debacle that had occured.

“Have anything to share with us Spike?” Twilight questions.

Spike hesitantly nods, “This isn’t the first time Velvet had said anything about this monster.” He starts, “I remember I woke up once because I heard her screaming…”

(Flashback, 2 years ago)

It startled me because I’ve never heard her scream like this, and ran down the stairs to see what was happening, scared that some freak pedophile serial killer was in the room with her. But all I saw was nothing but her cowering under the blanket.

Spike was very pissed off right now, he was woken up from his wet dream involving a certain alabaster Unicorn because Velvet was scared of the dark.

“Mister Spike, I think there’s a monster in here.” She says.

Spike growls in annoyance, “You dumbfuck! How could you wake me up like that?!” He shouts, “And didn’t Twilight told you not to believe in monsters anymore?!” He adds.

Velvet shakes her head, “Mister Spike, I’m telling you, something else is here.” She replies, “I heard something tapping on the stone, I heard whispers, I saw white eyes, I swear to you that there’s something here!” She pleads for Spike to believe her.

I would’ve just left her and told you in the morning, but just one glance into her eyes told me that she was serious, that something was in this room with her before I came back.

And I won’t lie, I felt like something was watching us. Watching me, waiting for me to leave so it can do whatever it was planning to do with Velvet. But try as I might, I couldn’t see it at all.

It didn’t take much time for me to know what I had to do.

After some contemplating what to do, Spike decided what to do, “Do you want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?” He offers.

Velvet waste no time nodding like a madman.

And there it was, the deal was sealed. No further confirmation needed.

Spike got in bed with Velvet who hugged the drake for dear life. Spike was taken aback by Velvet’s sudden show of affection, especially considered their rocky relationship, but he returned the embrace.

She fell asleep shortly afterwards, but even after she fell asleep, I didn’t leave because I felt like that whatever was watching her was still there and eventually, I fell asleep.

(Present Time)

“When I woke up, both me and Velvet were okay, surprisingly, but that monster that was watching Velvet and me was still in the castle.” Spike finishes his story.

The girls were all stunned by Spike’s tale, expressing their shock in grimacing faces and widened eyes.

Twilight remained a calm composure, “Did you ever see this monster?” She inquires.

Spike shook his head, “No, I’ve never seen it, but I can say one thing…” Spike starts, “Whatever it is, it’s after Velvet, I have no idea why, but it is.” He says.

Twilight nods, “I would like to help Velvet, but without knowing what we’re looking for, and it is after Velvet alone, I doubt it’d attack any of us.” She deduces.

Fluttershy winces, “So what will we do?” She questions.

Twilight sighs in solemn sadness, “We can’t do much, but just hope that it moves on and goes away.” She hopes.

The rest of the girls nods and the meeting is dismissed, all of them struggling to continue their day knowing what Velvet had to deal with.

Meanwhile, Velvet was having a strange dream…

(DREAM REALM)

Velvet felt strange. Very strange. She felt as if she was awake but her mind was still trapped in the subconsciousness that was the dream realm. What made her feel even stranger is the place she “woke up” was completely unfamiliar, yet familiar, at the same time.

She could have sworn that she saw this place somewhere, but her mind refused to open the locked doors that would provide her with the answers she sought.

Realising that she wouldn’t be getting any answers by just laying all day, Velvet removed the blankets from overtop of her and sat up.

She rubbed her eyes and surveyed her surroundings and saw that she was in a bedroom… obviously. This set off a red flag because she’s never had a dream where she was in a bedroom. And she means never.

Velvet continued to survey the bedroom and found these things: a ceiling fan, a single light, a picture of a pony with no face, a door in the wa-wait, what?! A pony with no face?! That wasn’t right at all.

Velvet returned her gaze to the picture and sure enough, there was a pony there, a Unicorn mare to be exact, and she had no face.

Intrigued, Velvet got out of the bed and began examining the picture. Even though the mare had no face, it was clear to Velvet that she was wearing a blank expression, but that was about it.

The picture of this faceless pony was both familiar and unfamiliar to Velvet, but just like with the room, her mind refused to give her the keys to those memories.

Sighing in frustration, the filly places picture back, but because she positioned it wrong, it fell and the glass broke into many pieces.

“Oooh, I’m so sorry, I’ll clean it up.” She panics and says to no one, saying it out of habit rather than anything else, and bends down to start picking it up when something happened that really made her freak out: the picture, broken frame and all, got up and returned to its perch on the nightstand, frame completely fixed. As if it did some kind of reverse or something.

Velvet wanted to scream, but the sight, along with everything else that had happened, denied her brain any response to the verbal freak out. She backtracked, eyes glued to the nightstand, to the picture, to the faceless pony, thinking something is going to jump out and grab her throat.

*BUMP*

Velvet yelped at the sudden block force and turned around to see the door embedded in the wall she saw before. Wanting out of this room, she tugged at the door handle, but for some reason, the door would not budge, not one bit.

After many failed attempts, Velvet turns back around and falls on her flanks, buries her head in her knees, sobbing, wanting out of this strange nightmarish dream.

*DING DONG*

Velvet’s head jerked up at the sound of the… clock? Where was it coming from? It sounded so loud like it was close, but she saw no clock at all in the room. But what she did see was a white paper. Right where the picture fell.

Velvet got up and approached the nightstand and picked the paper up, all that was written on it was two words: “Break It”.

Velvet cocked an eyebrow, wondering where this thing came from, and why such an anonymous message. What did it mean by “Break It”? What did it want her to break?

Then her mind made a breakthrough: it meant the picture. She had no idea why, but if it meant she can get out of this place, she would do it anyways.

She violently punches the picture, not only breaking the frame, but this time, destroying the actual paper and the wooden stand as well. And just like before, the picture played reverse and fixed itself.

Having already seen the sight, Velvet paid it no mind when it was finished and her attention was pulled to the white paper, and as she expected, a new message was written on it.

The message read: “A door can only be opened with the mind”.

What?

What the hell is this?

Velvet was never one to opt to using that word, even in her mind, but this situation warranted such language.

What the hell did it mean by “A door can only be opened with the mind”? It was so puzzling and riddling that Velvet was about to just stay here until she woke up. But her mind circulating a million miles per hour allowed for another breakthrough.

Velvet crushed the paper in determination, knowing what she had to do. The Unicorn turns to the door and opens her palm, closes her eyes, and concentrating three words: Open the door.

While chanting this mantra, Velvet heard a strange sound accompanying the still ringing clock, it sounded as if something was being traced with a pencil on fire.

She opened her eyes to see that the door had not opened, which was a shame since that was the only door in the room.

Or so she thought...

When her eyes surveyed the room again, they came across the sight of a door literally forming itself. Doorknob and all, everything was there in a matter of seconds.

Velvet, knowing that this was the door the message was referring too, approached the door and opened it.

Velvet’s face turns into a smile, she succeeded, the door opened. And the clock’s ringing got louder, coming from the right of the hallway.

Finally able to get some answers, Velvet sprinted towards the sound, and just as she expected, he ringing got louder.

While Velvet was chasing the sound, the walls and other features of the place formed themselves, they looked familiar but she didn't dwell on them.

Velvet continued to pursue the sound and eventually came to a stop as a bright light made itself apparent. Velvet squinted and covered her eyes, not expecting this flash of light. It took her eyes about 15 seconds before they adjusted, and when she removed her hand, she was greeted by the back of a mare. She couldn't tell any features about this mare other than she was tall, very tall. Everything else was black because of the bright light.

“Who are you?” The filly inquires.

But the mare doesn’t respond, doesn’t turn around, it just stands there, docile and not moving.

Velvet reaches out to the mare, “Hey, can you hear me?” She questions.

But like before, no response.

Velvet’s hand reached the mare’s back, but when she touches it, the mare mysteriously moves about 3 feet away from the Unicorn.

Velvet, feeling very perplexed, reaches out for the mare once again, but this time, instead of waiting for Velvet to touch her, it moves 3 feet up again.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Velvet ask, starting to walk towards the mare who kept on moving away.

It got to the point where Velvet was sprinting towards the mare that still would not stop moving.

And the strangest thing was that, despite moving, the mare wasn’t actually moving, like it wasn’t walking, wasn’t running, wasn’t even flying. It looked like it was a picture that was constantly moving away.

The clock’s ringing also got louder and louder with each step, but didn’t even hinder her ability to hear.

Velvet continued to chase the mare, but the result seemed all the same, every step she took, the mare was 7 more ahead. It felt like this was going to stay like this for an eternity.

That was until Velvet unexpectedly bumped into the mare that had now stopped moving. The young Unicorn massaged her nose before gazing upon the mare who was in a sitting position, but still managed to tower over Velvet.

Another thing Velvet noticed was that the clock stopped ringing.

Velvet, ready for answers, reaches out to the mare, “Mind answering a few questions?” She questions.

But before Velvet could even touch the mare, she turns around completely, but before Velvet could get a good look at the mare’s face, the light becomes unbearably bright, forcing Velvet to cover her eyes.

Velvet could hear the bell get much, much, much, louder and feel the place around her disintegrate into ash.

Velvet opened her eyes to see that the world around her was indeed being reduced to ash. She jerks her head towards the mare in fear, but the light obscured any details the mare may have, refusing to yield anything to Velvet.

“Wait! I haven’t gotten any answers!” Velvet called out, reaching for the mare, but as her hand made contact with the mare, it phased right through like the mare wasn’t even there to begin with.

Velvet gritted her teeth in anger, “Who are you?! Where am I?! What’s going on?!” Velvet questions.

But instead of answers, the world around her burst into ash and was blown away by the non-existent dream wind, leaving Velvet in a completely white void.

And if the light couldn’t get any brighter, it became ten times brighter, completely hiding the mare.

But before Velvet was thrusted into awaken world, she heard the mare speak for once.

“Time to wake up, he is waiting.”

(In the real world)

Velvet shot awake in a ice cold sweat, her mind rapidly putting together what she just witnessed. But before she can comprehend everything, she felt a cold feeling crawl up her spine.

He was here...

Author's Note

Sorry for the late chapter, hope you like it.

The Shadowman

Velvet’s short temper at the very end of every day always boggled Twilight. At the peak of every day, when it was time for everyone in the castle to lay down for a restful night, Velvet always seemed to change emotions at the drop of a feather. It kind of worried Twilight. But the course of events today had forced Twilight to wear Velvet’s proverbial shoes, and now she knows why.

Being forced to do so many tiring task back-to-back with no intervention or break in between. Twilight was getting pretty irritated herself. And that’s not even counting the number of advantages Twilight has against Velvet.

Twilight’s mind was clouded by her anger and frustration, she couldn’t think straight… She couldn’t even feel the other presence in the room.

The Shadowman cautiously creeped up behind Twilight, every step he made as quiet as a sheep’s wool rolling down a hill made of carpet. Every step he made, he raised his beyond razor sharp claws, readying himself for a mighty meal.

With several carefully placed steps, The Shadowman was positioned right behind his unknowing prey, his claws held high.

His presence didn’t go unnoticed as Twilight viewed his reflection in a plate she was drying and turned around, but it was too late.

The Shadowman brought his claws down on the Princess…

*SLASH*

The Shadowman shouted a shriek of pain as an unknown pain traced itself across his back. But before he could do anything else in response, the same pain pushed itself through his stomach with relative ease and speed.

The demon looked down at the pain and discovered a sword protruding through his stomach, covered in his own blood.

The Shadowman was surprised as his body was lifted off the floor and thrown across the kitchen, tearing the table in half and engraving himself in the wall.

Twilight looked on in surprise at her savior, for it was not Starlight, nor Spike, it was Velvet.

“Velvet, what are you…” But beforer Twilight could finish her sentence, Velvet charged at The Shadowman.

In three steps and a mighty hop, Velvet brings down her sword upon the demon, but what would be a fatal gash, became nothing but a scratch on the wall as The Shadowman disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Velvet turned around just in time to block a stab from the demon. The Unicorn parried the claws and swung her sword horizontally at The Shadowman, but he dodged out the way to avoid the injury.

And in precious seconds, the two beings engaged in ferocious battle.

The clashing of metal and pounding of the ground was the only thing that sounded the kitchen. Twilight gazed on in surprise as Velvet traded blows with The Shadowman almost effortlessly, despite the obvious size advantage the demon had on the filly. It was almost as if Velvet was born for this.

The two beings cease their bought for a short second, Velvet kneeling down, struggling to stay standing.

The Shadowman laughs, “You are formidable child, alas, you cannot defeat me.” He taunts, “Although, I have to say, your magic is very enticing. I originally came here to feast on Twilight’s soul, but when I found you, I decided to set my hunger on you.” He says, stalking towards Velvet, “Your magic is special child, while you are nowhere as strong as Twilight or Starlight, you are certainly much stronger than any normal fillies, even if you haven’t encountered Magic Fever, you even succeed some adults.” He explains.

Velvet stands and holds her sword at The Shadowman, “You can ramble on as much as you want.” She says, crouching down, “But I could care less.”

The Shadowman taunts the little filly, “Show me what-ACK!”

The demon was cut mid sentence as Velvet disappeared and reappeared in a blink of an eye and brings her sword across his abdomen.

Velvet leaves no room for error and started assaulting the demon from all angles, disappearing and reappearing in mere blinks, gaining all types of injuries on the demon.

And in an final attempt to end the fight, Velvet appeared in front of The Shadowman, ready to cut him in half.

But…

*STAB*

Velvet was hosted in the air as The Shadowman’s claws stabbed through her stomach.

The demon laughed, “A valiant effort, to be sure, but ultimately futile.” He taunts before throwing the filly at the wall so hard, she flew through the wall and hits the next, still creating a crater.

Velvet fell on the, struggling to stand up, blood dripping down her . She leaned on her sword and touches her abdomen and looks at her blood soaked hand.

She inhales deeply and stands up straight.

But before the fight could go on, Starlight and Spike arrived on the scene.

“What the hell is going on?!” Starlight questions, only to be frozen in surprise at the fight in front of her.

The Shadowman steps out of the hole in the kitchen, “Seems like we got quite the audience.” He observes the new occupants, “Why don’t we finish this?” He inquires.

Velvet nods, “I’ll send you 6 feet under.” She threatens.

The Shadowman crouches, claws ready for the last strike, “Let us see you try.” He taunts one last time before dashing towards the filly.

But his swipe was grossly miscalculated as Velvet ducked under his arm and in one fatal slash, The Shadowman’s arms flew off.

He shrieks in pain and steps back, whatever left of his arms bleeding profusely.

Velvet held her sword high and rushed her opponent/

The Shadowman smirks, “I overestimated my capabilities.” He breathes his last breath.

“Eliminate!” And in one last slash, The Shadowman’s head flew off his neck, which spurted blood like a fountain.

*PLOP*

The Shadowman’s limp body fell on the floor.

Velvet stabbed the sword in the ground before collapsing herself, falling on her back.

Starlight, being the only one to break out of her stupor, runs to Velvet’s aid, “Velvet! Are you okay?! Speak to me!” She shouts hysterically, placing her ear on Velvet’s chest, hearing a faint heartbeat.

She immediately sets to work by hovering her hand over Velvet’s stomach, using her magic to begin healing the wound while sobbing hysterically.

“What’re you guys doing?! Help me!” She questions Twilight and Spike’s lack of action, both of them still surprised by the turn of events. Starlight turns to Velvet, “Please Velvet, you have to survive. I know you can…”

To be continued…

The Starlight

(DREAM REALM)

Velvet felt the world around her form itself in her dream realm, she could hear wood and glass and crystals form themselves like little puzzle pieces putting themselves together.

Velvet slowly creaks her eyes open to see the last pieces of the roof form itself into a beautiful looking chandelier.

“Goodness gracious, you’re okay.”

Velvet turns to the voice and sees the mare from her dream yesterday. The Unicorn was beautiful with a mane and tail and a smooth looking face. Velvet couldn’t tell the colors because everything was a beige color.

“Who are you?” The tired Unicorn questions.

The Unicorn smiles and reaches to touch Velvet’s face. Velvet would have retracted her face due to her sour experiences with a certain Princess, but not only was she tired, but this Unicorn radiated a warm homey feeling… Almost motherly.

The Unicorn’s hand touched Velvet’s cheek, “My identity is unimportant.” She replies, “But somepony is waiting for you to wake up.” She adds before leaning down and kissing Velvet on the forehead.

And after the Unicorn’s lips met with Velvet’s forehead, a light engulfed the both of them and Velvet was sent into the waking world.

(REAL WORLD)

Velvet peeled her eyes open to see that she was in a bedroom… again.

She looks around the bedroom and the first other living being she sees is Starlight Glimmer, who was sleeping very peacefully.

Velvet contemplated on getting out of bed, but she was too tired to even move her head, she felt as if every atom of energy in her body was sucked away after that fight.

That fight. Despite not showing any signs of surprise during her bout with The Shadowman, she was freaking out inside at the time.

She was scared, she thought she might die. She thought that her life was going to end that night. She had no idea what she was doing. She’s never used a sword before in her life, but when she was in battle, it felt like everything she needed to know about the blade was made clear to her.

And what he said too. What did he mean by “Magic Fever”? What was it? Why haven’t Starlight and Twilight told her? Will it hurt?

Velvet had a few fevers and headaches before, they were nasty and made her feel like she wanted to throw up. She saw blinking lights, heard voices, and her entire perception of time and the world around her was amplified. She remembered how vividly she observed a fly fly, it felt like he was going a centimeter an attosecond. But her perception of fear was also amplified, it got so bad that she thought Twilight would kill her just by locking eyes with each other. But that didn’t stop Twilight from pushing her past her limits.

So with all her memories of fevers and headaches and illnesses beforehand, she dreaded the thought of “Magic Fever”.

It still didn’t answer her question though: What was Magic Fever?

And what did The Shadowman mean when he said he was going to feast on her soul? Where did he come from? Who was he? And how did she know his name?

All these questions and more were circulating through Velvet’s mind, but she was much too tired to think too hard.

*MHM*

Velvet turned back to Starlight to see her shift in her sleep comfortably.

Velvet’s gaze turned from Starlight’s face to her mane that sat atop her head. It was beautiful. Velvet always admired it. Starlight was able to keep it fresh and clean, and it always looked smooth. The filly would be lying if she said she wasn’t envious.

The adolescent Unicorn’s hands drifted from her side and fluttered through Starlight’s mane…. Oh God how it was soft. It felt like silk but a thousand times better. Her fingers flew through Starlight’s mane like a breeze. She wish she could keep her mane like that.

Speaking of Starlight, Velvet always found Starlight’s interactions with her to odd at best and questionable at worst. She’s the only pony in the world that has shown any type of emotion towards Velvet that wasn’t anger, like love, compassion, and concern. And whenever she did show anger in the Unicorn’s way, it was more of a parenting anger, like she was genuinely angry at Velvet’s bad decisions, not because she made a mistake, but because of her wellbeing.

Velvet asked many questions about Starlight’s relationship with her. The way Spike, Twilight, and everyone else treated her, she thought she was cursed to be forever hated and never loved. But Starlight was quick to prove her wrong… Or so she hoped.

Velvet’s hand came down from Starlight’s lustrous mane and onto Starlight’s face. Caressing it like Starlight caressed her when she was down. Starlight truly held up to her namesake, she was the shining starlight in Velvet’s life. The one driving thing that keeps her sane.

Velvet felt herself warm up, just by thinking about everything Starlight did for her. Truly worthy of praise.

“Thank you so much Miss Starlight. For everything.” She thanked the slumbering adult before returning to slumber herself

(The next day)

Velvet woke up the next day, the same time she usually woke up. She didn’t feel as tired as she did the next, in fact she felt much more energized than normal.

She got off the bed and stretched, ready and happy for a new day… Odly.

Velvet surveyed her surroundings and found a piece of paper and a book on the nightstand. She picked the piece of paper up.

So, by time you’re reading this, I’m probably at the Crystal Empire visiting my friend, I wanted to say ‘goodbye’ but you were sleep, so I left a note.

And the book is something I chose for you, you can read it when you’re done work or when you’re on break. No exceptions. The book is called “Supernatural Beings”, I thought you could use it since you were the one who killed that demon, and you deserved it. Don’t worry about Miss Twilight, I asked her and she agreed to let you have it. Anyways, you probably need to get to work, I’ll see you next Tuesday.

Love you.

Velvet thought it wasn’t possible, but she was even happier than she was. And today felt like a good day.

Author's Note

Sorry for the short chapter, just wanted to hint to a few things and establish Velvet and Starlight's relationship.

Wendigo

Solitude was something that Velvet cherished greatly. She never liked having another soul sitting in the same room with her. It really bothered her to no end. And that’s why her favorite time of the day was when Twilight and her friends were away. It gave her time to listen to the voices in her head.

And that is why when her break of the day came, it was the most excruciating time of the day. Not only is she not being productive, she is being forced to breath the same air with 6 other ponies who she could really care less about. She really wouldn’t mind just slitting all their throats and watch them choke on their own blood. The only other soul she enjoyed being within arm reach distance was Starlight Glimmer.

But today, she could ignore the presence of those 6 ponies and indulge herself in the book Starlight Glimmer was nice enough to plead to her master to allow her to read it. And she was having the time of her life. This book held so many stories of monsters and how to kill them, how to hunt them, looking for noticeable patterns, the whole shindig.

But one spike in conversation grabbed Velvet’s attention.

“Goodness Celestia, I can hardly get a decent shower nowadays.” Rarity complained, “My water is just being difficult.” She adds… that pretentious porcelain princess.

Pinkie perks up, “Me too, SugarCube’s pipes are all clogged up! We can’t even make delicious cupcakes anymore!!!” She screeches at the top of her lungs.

Twilight nods, “My pipes are clogged up too.” She adds into the conversation.

Applejack shrugs, “I don’t know why everyone’s having pipe problems when me and Carrot Top are doing just fine.” She says.

Now this bit of information had Velvet finally want to be in the presence of these other ponies without wanting to exact bloody revenge.

“Everybody’s having pipe problems? At the same time?” Velvet questions the group.

Rarity nods, “Well, not all at the same time, but it did happen rather rapidly.” She informs.

Applejack nods before taking out a bottle of a weird substance and passed it to Velvet, “Carrot Top found this in Berry Punch’s pipes.” She explains.

Velvet opens the bottle and pours a small substance onto her hand… it feels rough and viscoscious, like syrup and honey mixed together but without much stickiness. It also was also extremely cold, like really cold. Ice cold. But the strangest thing above it, as Velvet rubbed it in between her fingers, it began to melt and dissolve, almost as if the mere friction of her fingers rubbing against each other was too hot for it.

But the substance wasn’t the strangest part about this, it was the voices raging in Velvet’s subconscious, they were barely above a whisper but she could tell what it was.

“Cannibal…”

Velvet didn’t know what it meant, but she wasn’t about to let these deadbeat meatbags know what was battling it off. Instead, she put the returned whatever was left of the substance back into the bottle and handing it back to the apple farmer.

“Well, whatever it is, it’s probably under the castle too.” She says, “It’s about time I check the pipes under the castle, so whatever’s down there, I’ll tell you.” She offers.

The girls all nod in unison.

(A few hours later)

While Velvet was preparing herself to go into the cold depths that were the pipes under the castle, she pondered over the word the voice in her head said. Cannibal? What did it mean cannibal? Of course she held knowledge of the meaning of the world ‘cannibal’ but for the life of her, could not decipher what the strangely masculine sounding voice meant.

But before she could plunge into the depths of the castle’s underbelly, she had to get rid of an annoying presence in the room.

“You can stop hiding, I knew you were there since forever.” She called out.

And from behind the wall stepped the pretentious porcelain princess she hated the most out of every other soul. A worried expression was visible upon her features as clear as the sun sitting on its perch in the heavens.

“What do you want?” Velvet questions, growing tired of this other presence in the room with her.

Rarity projected surprise and astonishment upon her face due to Velvet’s tone of voice, and hesitated to give a response, “I just wanted to say be careful down there.” She hopes, “I know something may be down there and just wanted to give you some good luck.” She adds.

Velvet’s appearance was one of bewilderment before turning into one of laughter as her wind was being knocked out of her.

Rarity was dismayed that Velvet would perceive her good will as something that was laughable, “Um… excuse me, but what’s so funny?” She inquires the chortling adolescent Unicorn, voicing her dissatisfaction with Velvet’s rejoinder to her good will.

Velvet found it exceedingly hard to stop her laughing, and when she found her self-control, her tone shifted back to the darkness it originally was, “I think its the fact that the moment my soul’s presence actually benefits you in any way, you start to care about my wellbeing.” She responds.

Rarity’s confusion was utterly clear on her face, “Whatever do you mean?” She questions, hungry for more information on Velvet’s opinion of her.

Velvet sighs in pure annoyance, “You think that after 3 years of supporting Miss Twilight’s behavior towards me, I’m just going to suddenly believe that you care about me. Especially when my life finally benefits you.” She explains, “I’m not buying it, even for a second.” She adds.

The pretentious porcelain princess was clearly visibly hurt by Velvet’s accusations of her only caring for the red Unicorn for her own benefits, “How do you know I don’t care about you?” She ask.

Velvet turns to Rarity and when the mare and filly locked eyes, Rarity caught a glimpse of just how much hatred Velvet harbored for her, it almost made her want to cry.

“Maybe because you seem to not care for me after I killed the Shadowman, saving your princess and boyfriend.” She starts, “In fact, who was the one who healed me when I was on the verge of death? Mrs. Starlight. Who was the one who I saw when I woke up? Mrs. Starlight. Who was the one who thought of rewarding me for risking my life for Princess Twilight? Mrs. Starlight. Who was the one who left a note for me because she wanted to say goodbye? Mrs. Starlight. Who didn’t ask me to see if I was okay after the Shadowman? All of you.” She listed, “For the 5 years of my life, the only one who I actually can consider someone I care about is Mrs. Starlight. Because she’s the only one in the world who makes me feel like I actually have self worth!”

“Because she is the only one who actually cares about me!” She raises her voice a little, “Which is surprising since you guys are the Elements of Harmony, the saviors of Equestria time and time again! Yet, I feel like I want to disappear just by having your presence in the same room as me!” She finally shouted, “Now if you’ll excuse me! I got a job to do!!” She shouted, clearly stating she wanted Rarity to disappear.

Velvet sees the hurt in Rarity’s soul as tears threatened her beautiful face, and she decided to keep whatever dignity she had by not releasing her displeasure and hurt in front of Velvet.

Now unlike a lot of people who would feel great guilt for upsetting such a nice soul like Rarity’s, and Velvet did feel a tinge of guilt. The voices in her head told her that what she did was right, she gave that Unicorn what she deserved. A crooked smile made its way up her face before she equipped her helmet and opened the trapdoor, descending into the large maze that was the castle’s underbelly.

Once Velvet’s boot soles kissed the cold floor, she turned to the direction of the main pipes, activating her flashlight, and began her journey down the main pathway.

During Velvet’s expedition, she shined the light of her torch onto the pipes as she tried to discover what could have been clogging it up, and her suspicions were right as the same substance that Applejack provided her covered the pipes, but it was spaced out and barely seeable. The only reason she was able to see it was because it shined as her light licked it, as if it were ice.

Aside from the crystalline shining viscous liquid, Velvet noticed something else that managed to have her skin crawl, and it was the whispers that tickled her ears, filling her head with words like ‘Cannibal’, ‘Monster’, ‘Spirit’, and ‘Burn’. She knew not what these words were trying to convey to her. But there was one word that stood out to her was one that didn’t seem to fit with the rest, ‘Above’ was the word. And it made her furrowed her eyebrows.

Velvet eventually made it to her destination, the water tank, and when she was in front of the steel giant, she saw that it was smothered in the crystalline ice-like substance, but instead of the ones on the pipe and inside the bottle, this one was so viscous that it was extremely hard to pull her hand out of it, she actually feared that her hand would be torn off.

But she could hardly focus on the liquid due to the voice in her head, now less like whispering and more akin to that of a shout saying: ‘ABOVE!’.

Velvet, listening to the voice for the first time today, looked above and nearly gasped: right above her was this absurd-looking pony like beast on the ceiling with very clear extremely sharp claws.

Velvet was frozen in fear for a brief moment before slowly backing away. She had hoped that the monster had not seen her yet, but she knew that it had. Her best bet was to try her best to back away without upsetting the beast. But to ensure her own safety, Velvet began unsheathing the small sword she had with her very slowly, preparing for an unexpected attack. But...

*ROAR*

Claws met blade as the albino beast lunged at the filly. Velvet grunted as she pushed the beast backward before lunging at it herself. The beast was too quick though as it disappeared from her sight and reappeared above her. With a vile slash of its claw countered by a close dodge, the beast’s claws narrowly missed Velvet’s cranium.

With a grunt and the kissing of boot to skin, the beast was thrown to the floor before Velvet stood up and leaped towards her opponent. When she landed upon the beast, she plunged her blade into its chest. Skin broke and red blood splattered everywhere, decorating the floor and Velvet.

The beast released a horrifying shriek of pain as Velvet pushed the blade deeper before turning it horizontally, and with a powerful yell, drags the across the beast’s chest, earning a louder shriek of pain from the beast.

Once the blade made it to the left of the beast’s chest, Velvet opens the chest open and digs for the heart, but when she dug into the beast, a realization hit he: the blood was cold. Ice cold! Much colder than anything she’s felt, and the heart itself was stringy and extremely tough. But, she knew her time wasn’t ample enough to allow her to investigate, so she swings the blade at the stretched heartstrings. But the blade did naught as the strings failed to cut, but instead just stretched as if it were constructed of rubber, and due to how much force she put into the single strike, the heartstrings pushed the blade out of her hand.

Velvet instinctively leaps off the beast to retrieves her sword. The beast hoisted itself from its position and stood on its feet to reveal another mind blowing secret to Velvet in the form of its skin healing back at an incredible rate.

“A healing factor, huh?” She questions, “No worries, just need to outpace it.” She declares just as an unnatural warmth engulfed her shoulders.

“I apologize for this being so abrupt, but I need full control of your body.” Spoke a familiar voice.

But before Velvet could react, her body underwent a complete freeze and wouldn’t obey her command.

“Sleep.” And just like that, Velvet was out like a light and fell to the floor unconscious.

Curious as to why its advisory fell as she did, the beast approached the fallen Unicorn to inspect the body, only to be served quite the hard kick to the jaw.

The beast stumbled back and roared in pain as Velvet stood back up, however, when she opened her eyes, they were glazed over with a bright white light.

Velvet crouched down and picked her sword up, ready for combat. And with an ethereal battle cry, Velvet lunged at the beast, but her stab failed to make contact as the beast dodged, only to lunge its own attack at the Unicorn.

Blocking the attack, Velvet drags the sword across the beast’s arm, making sure the blade dug into the skin, blood spilling everywhere in fantastic fashion. Biting into the beast’s chest, the blade claimed its prey, making a deep and long slash.

Sparing no time for the beast to regenerate, Velvet plunges her hand deep into the chest, taking its heart hostage. Engulfing her horn was a bright red fluorescent hue as her hand begins to heat up. The increased heat resulted in a great shriek to rip the beast asunder as its body consumed by the heat.

Due to the increased heat produced by Velvet’s magic, the thick bonds binding the beast’s heart began to melt away, allowing for the heart to be pulled much easier than before. Accompanying a victorious battle cry, Velvet’s magic increased in deadly potential, incinerating the beast to nothing but ash.

With her job done, the being possessing Velvet released the Unicorn from the grip she had on her soul, causing her to wake up with a chill, immediately noticing that the beast was not there anymore, in its place were a pile of ashes.

Putting two and two together, Velvet realized that whoever possessed her today had burned the monster. It took her a moment to put two and two together: the voices in her mind, the cold environment, the viscous liquid which got stickier the colder it was and melted the hotter it was, and the pile of ash all pointed to one thing: Wendigos. She had to tell Princess Twilight.

(Later that day)

“Windigos? You’re lying. Windigos are way too huge to fit at the bottom of the castle.” Rainbow said, voicing the doubt that was no doubt racing inside their head once they heard Velvet’s story.

An audible groan reaches Velvet’s lips, but she manages to suppress it in fear of receiving whiplash from the Princess standing in front of her.

“Wendigo, not windigo.” She corrects, “While a windigo is born from the hatred of ponies around it, a wendigo is a beast born from the soul of a cannibal.” She explained, “It’s very easy to get mixed up between the two because wendigos can’t survive in extreme heat, that’s why they’re found near cold places, like say a place where windigos are prevalent since they create the cold.” She continues, “In fact, some ponies of the older days thought that wendigos were the physical tangible bodies of the windigos.”

“If I may ask, where’d you learn all this?” Twilight questions.

“From the book Miss Starlight gave me.” She explained, “It was written by a pony named Ink Dash, he’s commonly overlooked by ponies like Starswirl the Bearded, even though his contributions to the supernatural world was more than anybody ever could imagine.” She adds.

“But what was it doing under Ponyville? And what do we do about the slime?” AppleJack inquired.

Velvet shrugged, “Don’t know, some cannibal probably died under the castle.” She replies, “As for the slime, it was there to keep the eggs of the wendigo cold for the hatching, just burn it and both the slime and the eggs will be destroyed.” She informed.

Twilight nods, “You’ve done a good job Velvet, continue on with your day.” She praised.

With no more vocabulary needing exchange between the adolescent Unicorn and her elders, Velvet rose from her seat and left for her next agenda on the list she memorized, which was ironically, washing the bathrooms.

Once she was sure of her absence of the other mares in the household, she sighed deeply: “I know you’re there.” She turns around to see the same mare that was in her dreams now step from behind a pillar, although she still retained the colors she adorned in Velvet’s dreams, “Alright, it’s time for you to speak up: who are you and why’re helping me?” She inquires.

A smile stays on the mare’s face as she approaches the Unicorn, “Like I said before: my identity is of no concern to you.” She repeated, “Or at least, not yet.”

Velvet’s eyebrows furrowed as she began to get a bit defensive, “Don’t pull that stuff with me.” She demands in a harsh tone, “I just fought a wendigo and you possessed my body, I used fire magic! I still feel the burning on my hands! Your name is the least you can give me!” She shouted lightly.

A sigh escapes her lips as if she was about to speak, but was abruptly interrupted by a country-like voice.

“Velvet, who ya talkin’ ta?!”

Velvet almost suffered a heart attack when she saw the mare disappear into thin air, instinctively looking around to see any sign of the ethereal being even standing there.

Able to take a sigh of relief with the knowledge that AppleJack didn’t see her… a breath of relief short-lived though, before she was gripped by the shoulders tightly.

“Who the hay were ya talkin’ to?!” She question.

This isn’t going to end well…