Darkness Falls

The sky above the woods on the outskirts of Ponyville was a strange contrast to the perceptibly corrupted ground below. It was free and clear and visceral, with the almost impossibly bright moon shining down upon all of Equestria. From up here, I was able to see that Luna's incredible magic had boosted the light of her moon in the absence of Celestia's blazing sun, which was why we everypony was able to see so well in the almost eternal darkness. I felt so very grateful to our princess of the night for all that she had done in Celestia's place.

Flying high and fast above the moonlit terrain and feeling the familiar cool air assault my body, I scanned the path below for any sign of my other three friends – surely the couldn't have made it to the centre of Ponyville already?

Sure enough, I eventually spied the glow of Twilight and Rarity's combined magic as they hefted the traumatised yellow pegasus back to their home. Excited to see them again, I quickly decreased my height until I was just above the ground, slowed my flight speed to that of a brisk trot, and ceased to beat my wings entirely. Dropping out of the air and onto the ground, my legs absorbed the shock of the fall while I began working them into a frenzy so I could bleed off the rest of my residual speed.

“HEY GUYS, HEY!” I yelled, desperate to make them aware of the horrors that were potentially following us.

Both unicorns turned around, probably surprised at the sight of a prismatic blur heading toward them. In the desperate haste to warn my friends, I had forgotten to bleed off my excess flight speed and found that I could not stop.

“Rainb-oof!” Twilight managed before I crashed into her at a comparatively low speed. The force of colliding with my friend briefly dazed me, so when I opened my eyes and regained my composure, I found myself sprawled on top of Twi's body, by muzzle resting on hers. Twilight opened her eyes as well, briefly confused with the situation.

Remembering why I had expended most of my energy reserves in a mad dash toward Ponyville, I stood up and towered above her before stepping of my friend and helping her up off the floor of the trail.

“Rainbow Dash, you simply must be more careful!” scolded Rarity, her azure blue eyes blazing in the relative darkness. Not in the mood for arguing with her, I simply accepted the blame and moved on.

“Alright Rarity, I know I was going too fast, but I had a good reason. Is Flutters asleep?” I motioned to the resting heap of yellow being levitated by a glowing magical field emanating from Rarity's horn, “Because it'd be better if she didn't hear what I've got to say.”

Twilight perked up, finally out of her dazed stupor: “Yes Dash, she dozed off a few minutes after we left the house. Why, what's up?”

“Twilight, Rarity, listen. We have a problem, and I think it's bigger than we can handle on our own.” Continuing on with the story, I lowered my voice almost to a whisper so I could avoid waking 'shy with the knowledge of the horrors we faced. “Me and AJ were scouting out Fluttershy's house like you told us to Twilight, and we found Angel!”

Rarity interrupted with an unfortunate exclamation: “Oh, darling! Fluttershy will be ever so pleased. I believe she thought him lost...” she trailed off as they both saw my solemn and disturbed expression.

“No, guys, she won't be. Angel is dead. We had to mercy kill him.”

“You WHAT?!” Rarity almost screamed her whisper. Twilight's jaw was agape, and both their eyes had opened fully in shock.

“When I found him, he was just this lump in the slime, and I fell in, and it got in my nose, and I was spluttering, and I-”

Twilight cut me off. I had started crying in mid-sentence, and my breathing had become ragged as my eyes burned. The emotion my brain had stored from the house came crashing out into my mind.

“Rainbow Dash! Please, sit down, and calm yourself.”

I did so, and both mares put their front legs around my neck in a comforting gesture. When I had calmed down enough, tears still streaming down my face, I continued.

“He...he had no skin, and his eyes were gone, and something had cut out his tongue...and he was crawling around in agony!” I managed between sobs of grief. “He put himself right under AJ's raised hoof, and he begged us to do it in with those eyeless cavities...”

“Rarity, would you go check on Flutters for a second?” Said Twilight, as I cried myself half to death.

Rarity nodded and moved away toward the still sleeping yellow pegasus pony. Twilight sat down next to me, and hugged me tightly, enveloping me in her comforting embrace. I felt my spirit lift as we both sat together, draining the fear, grief, anxiety and sadness from my mind together. Noticing her own tears welling up and dripping down her face, mixing with my own, I almost felt like we were consoling each other, before realising we were – Angel was not part of our circle of friends, but he was a close friend to one of ours, and his loss hurt us deeply.

“Thanks Twilight. But there's more to the story than just that.” I told her about the monster at the top of Fluttershy's stairs, how it moved, and how it howled after we left the house.

“That's...that's terrifying,” said Twilight, visibly shaken, “what could that possibly be?”

“I don't know, but it gets worse-”

Rarity interjected again: “I do hope you're not continuing the story in my absence, darlings.”

“I'm sorry Rarity, we got carried away after the hug. We should have called you back over.”

“There was a hug?” Rarity looked genuinely dejected, and appeared to be fighting back tears. In a split-second, we both jumped her, and gave her the most warm, enormous embrace we could manage. We three friends, embracing each other and bawling our eyes out in the gloom of the night cast by the shadows of trees all around us and the baying of...

“...the baying of what?” I spoke aloud.

“What?” both my friends spoke in unison.

“That's it! I forgot to tell you the last part!”

Fluttershy gave a groan behind us, then continued in her rested snoozing.

I dropped to a whisper, and pulled the others close for good measure.

“After me and AJ left the house, it disappeared,” their eyes opened wide in disbelief. Rarity was about to ask a question, but I cut her off: “It was completely gone, except for this big black pit in its place full of the same slime we saw at her house. Those things were climbing out of it and crawling into the tree line.”

“You mean there are more of these things?” Twilight shouted, despite herself and almost waking Fluttershy.

“At least five, maybe more.”

“And where is Applejack now?”

“AJ went to Sweet Apple Acres to check on her family. I tried to go with her, but she insisted I head  your way and give you a heads-up on the situation.”

“Yes, that was certainly a good decision.” Twilight sat down and clasped her head with her front hooves. “Now we have to get to Ponyville before those monsters do and warn everypony!”

She started to give me an order: “Rainbow Dash, you're the fastest out of all of us. You've got to get there ASAP and-” I cut her off before she could finish that sentence.

“I am NOT abandoning more of my friends tonight!” I yelled, “The only reason I left AJ do her thing was because she's stronger than and almost as fast as me. If anypony can deal with one of those things it's her – not two unicorns carrying an injured pegasus pony.” both mares were about to respond when I again cut them off: “I'm the Element of Loyalty for a reason, ya know. And right now I'm exercising my judgement and affinity for that element to stay with my friends and protect them from the horrors of the night!”

Twilight and Rarity were both shocked by my outburst, but Rarity managed to blurt something out to me: “Rainbow dear, I agree.”

“You...do?”

“Of course, darling! In such trying times, friends should indeed stick together. Now come on,” she picked up Fluttershy with magic, as Twilight supported Rarity with her more powerful abilities, “we have an important journey ahead of us, and a group of monsters behind. Follow me, girls!”

“Hey, girls, does Flutters' look a bit off-colour to you?”

Excerpt of an exploratory action carried out by elements of Luna's Elite Personal Guard.

Found in the Farmhouse at Sweet Apple Acres by a small contingent of the Nightmares:

Princes Celestia

Royal Palace (maybe)

Canterlot

Eqestria

Dear Princes Celestia,

i know you still out there. an even if my big sis and bruther dont know where ya are, i know you com back soon.

i know you must hav a good reson for goin away even if it did make things here bac in ponyvil harder for evrypony. the crops aint as big as they use to be and tha apples look sik on their tress. granny smith sed she fond a monster in the apple fields and that it attakd her! but she beat that meanie off with her walkin stick and it walkd off inter the fields.

thats tha other thing i wantd to ask ya about. granny smith ant lookin so good now. it was only a cuple ours ago that tha thing attakd her, but now shes lookn all grey ant scary. she dont look lik ma granny smith no more ant she dont talk lik her ol self.

my big sis appljak got bak a few mints ago and tol me an big mac that we gots to go to ponyvil now. i askd her how we was gonna move granny smith but she sait we cant take her! I sait she was sik, I tol my big sis she needd her family wit her to nurs her bak to helth, but big macintosh sait aj was right and that we hat to leve her here.

i wantd to put her up in her bed, but big mac said we hat to lok her in the basment! can you beleve that? i shouted at big mac somen ferce, I sait HOW CAN YOU EVN THNKA DOIN THAT TO GRANNY SMITH, SHE NEES LOVE AN CAR AN STUFF!!! and big mac an big sis bot looked at me an I tought the was gonna chew me out fer sure, but instead ar doin that , big mac start cryin ant appljak start cryin and they bot huggd me so tiht i tought i was gon burst. tey explaint to me tat tey wasnt wantin ter do ths ta granny smith, but tat monsta had mad her ill and that I hat ter say goobye ter her foreva.

i criet mah eys out, but i stil dont beleve ill never see her gain! ill see you soon granny smith!

granny smith, if you get this her message, i want you ta now that I love ya and are waitin for ya to com bak to us in ponyvil wen ya can. i love ya granny smith!

Sinserly, applebloom of tha apple family.

Note: The entire interior of the farmhouse was coated in the black sludge when this was found. Ominous sounds could be heard coming from the cellar, but the Nightmare Soldiers on duty exercised better judgement in exploration of the corrupted house.

Action Taken: Light Pyro-Unicorn ranged bombardment of the house.

Sweet Apple Acres status: Partially purified. Slime production halted, corrupted citizens neutralised.

From the files of the Equestrian Espionage Agency

Agent Bland Jam's communiqué:

A white stallion approaches a dark shape in the cavernous room. It speaks: “My Queen, I bring disturbing news from Equestria.”

A louder, feminine voice responds with: “Come closer, and speak, my child.”

Edging closer, acutely aware of her eyes upon him, the stallion moves closer to his queen.

“There are monsters surfacing in Equestria. I had a close encounter with one, and barely escaped its taint. I fear it is the...ancient enemy.”

Stepping out of the darkness into what little light there is, Queen Chrysalis, in all her terrible beauty and splendour, bends down and nuzzles the stallion.

She speaks directly to, what I assume is, the changeling behind the illusion of the stallion: “You have done well, my dear child. Fear not, for I shall not send you back to that charnel house. Instead I must leave to confront this threat to our homes.”

The light disappears from the room, and all that is visible is the Queen's eyes, shining green in the darkness.

Probable changeling incursion imminent.

Recommend immediate military preparation.

Also, “ancient enemy” - possible threat within Equestria itself.

For Celestia,

For Luna,

For Equestria,

Bland Jam out.