Come Dawn or Darkness

The festival was already in full swing when they arrived. Stalls and stands had been set up all around the town square, lanterns hanging from each to fill the entire gathering with flickering orange light. Costumes, pastries, cider, and all manner of seasonal trinkets were being sold throughout the streets of the town, all under the luminous glow of a nearly full moon. After a few moments of searching the crowds he finally spotted his student at one of the food stalls. As he moved closer he realized that the mare behind the counter was one of her friends, the little apple rancher who had been so reluctant to have anything to do with him.

"Torrent! You made it!" Twilight had spotted him as he made his way through the crowded street. Luna had moved promptly to her sister's side in front of the town hall, leaving him to work out for himself where their little group of champions had ended up. Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were all there, but the other three were nowhere to be seen. He went over to join them, looking over some of the treats on display as they spoke about the day's happenings.

"Oh, before I forget, you haven't seen Spike around lately, have you? I was sure he'd show up to this part of the festival, this is two nights in a row now..." Twilight had been too preoccupied with her training to keep tabs on Spike's routine over the last few days. If she had, she'd certainly have a few more questions for you, don't you think? Hahahahaha! The voice vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but that made it no less annoying... nor any less right.

"I'm afraid I have not." It was not a lie, he truly hadn't seen the little dragon for well over 24 hours. "Is he with Rarity, by any chance? I can't help but notice that she is missing once again... Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, as well; where is everyone?"

"Well, Pinkie and Fluttershy volunteered to take care of a bunch of the town's foals for the next couple nights. They're going to be bringing them around the festival for a little while each night and then bring them all to the schoolhouse until their parents come to pick them up... Rarity though... huh, you know I guess it has been a couple days since she's met up with us..." Twilight's gaze fell upon the boutique down the street.

"Eh, she's probably just busy fixing up costumes and stuff. She did say this was one of her busiest times of the year, didn't she? /i'm sure she'll show up tomorrow." Rainbow Dash had been less than enthusiastic about being around Rarity ever since she had run off during the first night of the festival. Her attitude was not shared by the others, though none of them were entirely sure what to make of the unicorn's absence. "Anyway, Spike's probably just keeping her company or something."

He was about to say something, to agree with her, most likely, but just then something happened that would prevent their conversation from ever actually finishing. A scream, singular at first, and not an uncommon sound for this time of the season. Then another, and another, and another, more voices joining in as the lone cry of fright quickly erupted into an uproarious cacophony. It spread from the outskirts of the town, silencing the chatter going on throughout the rest of the square.

Rainbow Dash was the first to head off toward the epicenter of the commotion, taking off and speeding to the edge of town. The other three followed on the ground, Applejack taking the lead as they sped through the oncoming crowd. It took a few moments to wind their way between all of the frightened guests, but they arrived just in time to see Rainbow Dash tackling a shadowy silhouette off of some terrified mare.

A sudden jolt of terror cut through him as he watched her struggle to keep the creature pinned to the ground. No, no it can't be. That seal could not have been broken from their side. Perhaps this is just some monster from this world... They rushed forward to assist Rainbow, Applejack diving on top of the shadow as it began to squirm free and Twilight binding it to the ground with a spell once they had it immobilized.

"T-T-Torrent? Is... is this thing what I think it is?" Twilight had moved up just close enough to get a good look at the creature's face before suddenly backing away and looking to her teacher instead.

"I.... I'm afraid it is... Rainbow Dash, Applejack, get away from it! I'm doubt this thing is as helpless as its making itself appear." As if to confirm his fears a slender metal spine shot forth from the ground not an inch from where Applejack had been standing only a second prior. He thrust his arm out in a lightning quick motion, two fingers glowing dark green as they pointed at the spike-like tail it had burrowed into the ground when Rainbow Dash speared him off of his prey. Try as it might, the monster could not retract its tail while Torrent's magic held it in place. Still pointing at the creature, he began to move toward it, the crowd simultaneously taking a few steps backwards as the large emerald sword phased into existence in his free hand.

"Raske! Raske te gls ghoeirh!" The creature screeched as the hooded man approached. "Raske meoud rjlh filshileo!?" It continued its pleading hiss as it saw the executioner draw closer, sword in hand. Its head shook violently from side to side as it looked for some escape from the encroaching doom walking slowly towards it, droplets of blood flying from its long, protruding teeth with each shake.

"I'm afraid not. You are a long way from home, yet you still treat this as your hunting grounds." He grasped the sword with both hands and raised it above the creature. "Mesqa Lam Ench Aeh..."

"STOP!"

Kill it! Reap it! Take its soul!!! What is she going to do to stop you? The horses have no use of such prey, the kill is yours! SOULS!!! He had to concentrate harder than usual to drown out the voice this time, staying his hand and keeping the sword at its present height. He did not bother turning to face her, not trusting himself to be able to keep his glaring to a minimum. "Forgive me, my lady, but this creature must be destroyed... and quickly..."

"So you say, and I agree with your judgement on this matter. But first you will question it for me. I can not blame you for wanting to be rid of it, but I would be very interested in finding out exactly how it is that it got here to begin with." Celestia move closer, looking down on the thorny monstrosity before returning her attention to Torrent. "You will ask it how it came to be in this world and if there are others like it."

He hesitated a moment, suddenly realizing just how many eyes were upon him. "...As you say, my lady..." He stuck the point of the sword into the ground beside the creature's chest, crouching down to face the vermin from a closer distance. His voice took on a reverberating hiss, echoing his words three times over each time he spoke. "You will tell me how you entered this world. You will tell me if you came alone or with a group. You will tell me how many of you there are if you were with others."

The creature's expression turned from one of pleading terror to one of great amusement. "Kehus seish skeshsoe fosoe ofj kfsss... Mesq sha kdhifos kdief! Klesssesesseessesesesssesesesessseseesss." Its mocking laughter rattled on and on until, with one final hiss, it attempted to lunge at its interrogator. Twilight's spell, coupled with Torrent's own, held it in place, but did not stop its other three tails from thrusting forth from the ground around the cloaked man; one from his right, another from his left, the last driving straight for his face, all launching upward diagonally to impala him. He had just enough time to tilt his head into a bowing position, the hood falling fully over his face.

Twilight screamed terror, her spelled quickly tightening around the creature and crushing its plated shell. Her fears were revealed to be unfounded, however, as the spike ricochetted off of his hood and the others became trapped in the folds of his cloak. "I will say it again..." The three additional tails began to glow dark green as they were slowly uprooted from the ground. "You will tell how you entered this world." The glow spread across the creature's entire body. "You will tell me if you came alone or with a group." The shadowy vermin was lifted into the air in front of him, its limbs and tails stretched out to their limit. "You will tell me how many of you there are if you were with others."

There was no laughter this time, only a rapid stream confessions, please, and apologies in a near unintelligible language. Its eyes had grown massive, opening as wide as they possibly could as the terror of judgement sunk in; its gaze constantly shifting to Celestia as it spoke. Damn... We were so close, so very close to preventing all of this... "The seal remains unbroken, my lady, the portal has not be reopened... Which, I fear, means that there is a tear somewhere else nearby. This one entered Equestria with five others of its race, it claims they went to hunt in the forest while he went off on his own. He begs for your forgiveness, to be released back into the 'dark fields' as he calls it... back into the Void... I cannot advise you against that course of action enough, I trust Luna has spoken with you as to why already."

"Indeed, she has... Very well, do what you must, then go find those other four. Luna and I will gather our subjects and begin locking down the town. Twilight, you and your friends will accompany Sir Torrent; I think you've all proven to be more than capable in matter. Sir Torrent... I trust you will do everything in your power to keep any harm from coming to my student or her companions."

"No harm will come to them, I assure you."

"Good. Then hurry, time is of the essence. I will not have these abominations running about unchecked."

"Um, Princess Celestia. What... what do we do about the her?" Twilight motioned to a the disturbed grass that the creature had emerged from. The body was barely recognizable as being a pony, yet there was little doubt in any of their minds that it was anything else. Chewed, torn, and thoroughly ravaged by the creature's claws and tails, barely anything remained but bone, tendons, and strips of muscle. The mare Rainbow Dash had saved managed to walk away with only a few minor lacerations; but given another few minutes and she likely would have suffered the same grizzly fate as her companion.

"She-shen-she n-never even had a chance to-to cry out." Applejack and Rainbow Dash were doing their best to comfort the poor little brown pony, but it soon became more a matter of holding her back; she was doing everything she could to get away from them and run to her fallen sister. "It p-p-pulled her down w-while we were walking to the festival. It just, it just came out of nowhere, she never did anything to it!" The shock of her own brush with the creature began to fade as she tried to get a closer look at what remained of its first victim.

"Easy, sugar, ya don't wanna be goin' over there righ' now." Applejack was struggling to keep her back without hurting her.

"Daisy! Why? Why?!" Her words were barely intelligible between her sobs. "She-she was looking forward to tonight! The festival was all she could talk about all day! Oh, Daisy WHY?!?!"

A bright yellow glow fell over the little earth pony as her eyes suddenly began to flutter. Celestia raised her into the air and onto her own back, soothing her into a trance-like state with her magic. "...Stop the others, we'll see to it that the rest of the situation is taken care of..." She turned and carried her traumatized little charge back toward the center of town. The rest of the crowd had dispersed already, driven back by the royal guards into the relative safety of Ponyville's central streets.

"Very well, you three heard your Princess, we have vermin that need hunting... And this one is going to show us just where they're hiding..." The little monstrosity was still elevated several feet off the ground, eye-level with the wanderer as he turned to face it.

"Vesq karin hlshgtji! Mjhhht jhki lgiu!" It's babbling had grown to be too much for him. For just a moment, he felt his control begin to wane as the other voice suddenly pounced upon his conciousness.

"The time for that is past... Besides, I said 'show us' not 'tell us.' ...And you don't need to be alive in order show us anything..."

The sword was overkill, to say the least, yet somehow the creature survived the initial thrust. "R-R-R-Rasssssssskkkkke? Rrraaaassssskke..." It's breathing became labored, the pain in its voice undeniable.

"Mercy? Ah, yes, of course... Like you showed that defenseless little horse, and like you were showing her companion... He drew the sword out a few inches, only to then thrust it in a second time in a sick, twisting motion. This time, a visible stream of gold and white mist began to leak from the creature's wound; slowly absorbing into the bright green blade of the sword. "Yes, I'd be more than happy to show you that kind of mercy. PERHAPS YOU'D LIKE AN ETERNITY'S WORTH OF IT!!! He twisted the blade again, eviscerating flesh, bone, and shell alike.

"Torrent that's enough!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash had back away a few steps, but Twilight stood her ground clearly appalled by what she was seeing.

With every last bit of concentration he could muster he slowly forced the voice back into the recesses of his mind. Fear grasped him, just as it always did whenever that one got the better of him. After everything I've had to face to get here, how is it that you are still the most terrifying thing I have to live with? Why does my greatest fear have to be one thats so close at all times?! This side of him had been the last thing he had wanted Twilight to see, much less her friends. How can I hope to protect her when I can't even trust my own thoughts? I'm not fit to be teaching anyone when I can't stay focused long enough to keep that beast contained.

He let go of the hilt, the blade remaining suspended in the nearly-empty corpse of the souleater. As the last bit of life drained out of it, the sword began to fade. When its shape finally disappeared, a slight distortion filled the air around where it had just been. The air was suddenly sucked inward as reality rushed back in to fill the void left by the sword's exit from this plane, crushing the creature's useless body in its vacuum and disposing of it without a trace. "I'm... I'm sorry you all had to see that. I have never much cared for these creatures, but when one does something like this I sometimes... Well I sometimes lose my composure a bit. I've lost great number of friends to such abominations over the years..."

"It... It's no big deal. That thing was evil, it had to be dealt with... Just... From now on, could you try to take a little less pleasure in it? I can't say as I really care for the things any more than you do, but they still don't deserve to be tortured like that."

"Actually... That bit was necessary. That last twist me parted the creature's memories to me... It's activated by pain. Don't look at me like that, I know how horrible that sounded... but it's just how that form of magic works. As I said, I'm sorry you all had to see it. It won't happen again." He saw no reason to go into the details of how he had learned such a terrible spell, already reading far more uncertainty on her face than he would have preferred already.

"So, uh... Did you find out anything from it?" Rainbow seemed far less effected what had just transpired than any of the others, Torrent included. Reluctantly he allowed the creature's thoughts to fill his head, its dominant soul acting as the catalyst while he worked to decipher what he was seeing.

Suddenly his vision shifted, the world around him becoming red and distorted. Yet there was something else, a new sense which seemed to combine sight and smell into a far sharper means of viewing the world around him. All around him he became aware of trails of smoke floating through the air, each a slightly different shade of white; sharply contrasted by the crimson setting he was now standing in. Four of them, each diverging off into the woods, and one more heading back the way it came... It must be them.

"Torrent? Are you ok?" Twilight's voice was distant and distorted, but with a little effort he could make out the words. He looked back at them, each of his three companions now highlighted and surrounded by thick clouds of blue smoke, with Twilight's taking on a far lighter shade than the others. Touched by the Void.... Perhaps that's what drew this one so close. Though honestly, it could just as easily have been the noise and lights from the festival.

He let the vermin's consciousness slip a bit, reverting one of his eyes back to normal. The smoke trails were still visible, but the redness faded from the world around him, making things a slightly less dizzying. "I'm fine. I can see where they went now, they left trails behind that we should be able to follow. Just don't expect them to make this easy on us. They don't know this world very well yet so they're bound to be moving through it very cautiously. With any luck, they haven't realized that their mortal here, which should give us an advantage over them."

He started to move toward one of the smoke trails, but paused a moment as a thought occurred to him. Their going to need to learn one way or another, otherwise they'll be next to useless when the bigger ones break through... Now's as good a time as any, I suppose. He slipped a black bone dagger out of its place beneath the folds of his robes. Twilight's eyes fixed in upon it immediately; he was pleased to see she recognized it so quickly. I suppose its hard to forget the first weapon you've ever used to end another creature's life... His own had been been a revolver, the last thing his hand had latched onto when he had so unwillingly departed his own world.

"Before we set out though, there's something I need to give you. All of you... Because whether or not you actually end up needing them tonight, I can assure you that you'll be glad you have them in the days to come..." Days coming far quicker than I would like...