There’s Something Lurking in the Forest.
“Are the hayburgers ready?” Asked Fresh Wheat, balancing a pile of plates on her back.
“They still need some time honey,” Responded her husband, Olive Oil, using his magic to check the status of the slowly cooking food.
“Then can we play a little? We will come back before the food is ready. I promise.” Pleaded their little colt, Olive Seed, being followed closely by the little horde of foals of their friends and neighbors.
“Fine, but if all of you are not in the table in 20 minutes, you all will help with the cleaning.”
The fillies screamed in celebration and took off into the nearby forest.
“They must really miss each other,” Ground Corn commented while helping Fresh Wheat with putting the plates on the table.
“it’s not every day that they can be all together.”
And it was true. Harvesting season had finally came, and the various families of the rural region close to Canterlot had a little tradition of reuniting in one of their houses to celebrate with a big party.
A dozen families were gathered, chatting and telling tales of the events during their time apart.
And of course, while the adults were busy talking, the foals took the opportunity to play games.
“What should we play?” Asked one of the fillies.
“How about hide and seek? Proposed another, and most of the group gave their approval.
“Okay, Corn Field, you count to one hundred, and the rest will hide,” declared Olive seed.
“What? Why me? Why do you get to decide that?”
“Because my house is the closest, so you are technically my guest’s, so get to counting.”
Before the discussion could continue, the fillies started running through the forest. Leaving Cron Field alone so he could start counting against a tree.
“one… two… three… four…”
One by one, the fillies found their hiding spots, and kept quiet so they didn’t reveal their positions.
By the time Corn Field reached fifty, the only sound in the forest was his loud counting.
“Fifty-one… fifty-two… fifty-three…”
He continued counting, ignoring the world around him, but even if he were alert, he wouldn’t been able to hear it.
Despite its size, it moved towards him with soft steps, precise and calculated, the march of a predator ready to pounce on its prey.
“Sixty-one… sixty-two… sixty-three…”
A large shadow loomed over the little colt, but with his eyes closed, he didn’t notice.
“Seventy-two… seventy-three… seven- “
A loud, sickening crunch interrupted his counting, and he could feel a warm liquid coating his back.
“shueti-viv… shoty-di… “
He tried to keep counting, despite having a chunk of his head missing from the bite of the predator.
Another bite finally silenced him, and his body fell to the ground like a ragdoll.
“The hayburgers are almost ready!” Declared Olive Oil, and all the ponies gathered at the table.
“The kids are coming back,” Said Fresh Wheat, seeing the little horde approaching at top speed.
But as they got closer, she saw their panicked faces, and new something was wrong.
The rest of the adults started to notice too, and each of them went with their foals.
“What happened?” Asked Olive Oil, seeing that the fillies where crying.
“We were -“ Olive Seed sobbed “playing hide and seek… and… and…”
“Where´s Corn Field?” Asked the father of the colt, noticing the absence of his son.
Olive Seed started crying.
Immediately, all the stallions ran to the forest, the mares consoling the fillies so they could explain the situation.
The ponies formed a line, intending to sweep the forest in search of the missing colt.
The beast saw them first, considered its chances, and slowly returned to the deep part of the forest, as stealthy as it had appeared.
Olive Oil walked between the trees with Summer Harvest at his side, looking around for any kind of clue, but the hoof-steps of the many fillies that were playing before made it impossible.
Suddenly, he heard Summer Harvest vomiting, leaning against a tree.
Ignoring his partner, he looked behind the tree, and felt a shiver run along his body.
It was a pool of blood, with some picked clean bones and pieces of fur and mane strewn about the ground.
Hearing the sounds of Summer Harvest’s reaction at the gruesome scene, the rest of the stallions started to come to them, each of them horrified at the sight, some followed Summer Harvest’s reaction.
But the worst was the father of the colt.
He screamed in horror.
“No, no no no! Why?!”
He fell to the ground and started to gather the remains of his son to try giving it a desperate hug, crying inconsolably.
Some friends tried to calm the poor stallion, while others started wondering just what could have done this.
“Did a bear attack him?”
“There are no bears here. The forest has been a safe place since my grandparent’s time. I wouldn’t let them play here if it was dangerous!” Olive Oil screamed, a little defensive.
“Maybe it migrated from another part of the forest.”
“Regardless of its origins, we need to call the authorities to take it down. Maybe they could send some royal guards.”
“We can hunt it ourselves.”
“Good luck with that, I don’t want be his next meal.”
“Enough!” Olive Oil screamed. “We need to leave the forest and let professionals deal with it. Let´s go home. And… get something to… give the colt a funeral.”
After giving the news, they put what was left of Corn Field in a plastic bag, and all the families went home with grim eyes, knowing that the next reunion would be a sad one.
“Do you think we are in danger? We are the closest to the forest,” Asked Fresh Wheat, clear worry in her voice.
“We should be safe, but I’ll stay up at night just in case.” Was the response of her husband.
“What are you going to do if it appears?”
“Whatever i have to.”
He took his woodchopping axe with his magic.
It was the best weapon that they had, and like most of the ponies, Olive Oil wasn’t a violent pony, but if his family was in the line, he would kill if it came to that.
“Do you think Olive Seed will let you sleep with him tonight?” He asked his wife.
“I doubt he would sleep otherwise.” She looked at the little colt sitting in their sofa. “I’m really worried for him.”
It had taken a lot to calm his son, at least to the point that he would stop crying.
He was there when his grandparent`s passed away, he knew what death was like, but to see it like this? With one of his close friends? The memory would never leave him.
“I’ll go to Canterlot to see if we can get some therapist to come here.”
“I don’t think we can pay something like that.”
“We will manage. If not… maybe, we should sell the house and move to the city. I think he needs to be far from the forest.”
“Leaving the rest of his friends would tear him apart,” Fresh Wheat said with tears in her eyes. The situation seemed more and more desperate to her.
Olive Oil hugged her, brushing her mane to calm her nerves a little.
“We will find a solution. Don’t worry.”
After a few seconds, Fresh Wheat released his husband and dried her tears.
“You are right, we need to look strong for him. I will cook him something to spoil him a bit,” She said with a little more confidence.
“Okay, I will rest in the sofa for now, so I don’t fall asleep at night. Don’t leave the house, and scream if you see or hear anything, no matter what it is.”
“Okay,” she kissed him and gave him another hug. “Stay strong,” she said more to herself, and walked towards her son.
“Hey sweetie, do you want to help me make some caramel cookies?”
“R-really?”
“Yeah, with extra filling. And I will let you lick the spoon three times.”
“Can it be five?”
“Four.”
“Okay!” He said with a little smile.
They went to the kitchen, and Olive Oil set himself in the sofa, trying to take the sight of the foals blood out of his head so he could sleep.
The night eventually came.
Fresh Wheat made a round over the house, locking every window and closing the curtains before taking Olive Seed to her bedroom.
Meanwhile Olive Oil locked the front and back doors and turned up their oil lamp.
He cursed not having electricity to light the whole house, but the power lines were too far to make the installation possible.
“At least it won’t draw attention to the house,” he said, not truly believing his own words.
He sat on the couch, with his axe and the lamp at the ready, and simply waited.
An hour passed, and nothing had interrupted the night.
Olive Oil walked around the house, checking the entrances and peering through the windows for any sing of movement.
When he passed besides the door to his bedroom, he peeked inside.
Fresh Wheat and Olive Seed were both snuggled between the blankets, the mare hugging the colt like she was worried he would leave her if she didn’t.
Olive Oil saw her wife open an eye to look at him, and he gave her a reassuring smile.
He left them there and continued his round, until he looked through a window that showed him the forgotten guest table.
With all the chaos of the morning, they had leaved all the food there, letting it attract any wild animal in look for food.
He cursed under his breath and prayed that the horrible miscalculation had possibly pleased whatever monster was near and it left.
But then, he heard something that chilled his blood.
Someone was knocking on their front door.
Olive Oil slowly walked towards the door, his axe and lantern close in his magic grip.
They never had any visitors, especially at night.
Maybe one of the neighbors wanted to check on them?
*knock knock knock knock*
Olive Oil swallowed a lump in his throat, he didn’t know is he should respond or wait until whoever it was left on its own.
*knock knock knock knock*
He was already in front of the door, but didn’t move a muscle, just waited, with his axe hovering high above his head.
*knock knock knock knock*
He tried to look through the lock in the door, but it was so dark outside that he couldn’t even distinguish what was outside, but he could see that it was there.
*knock knock knock knock*
“…”
*knock knock knock knock*
“… who?”
*knock knock knock knock*
“Who’s there?!” He screamed nervously, and the knocking stopped.
The seconds passed, and no response came from the other side of the door.
Olive Oil lowered his head to look through the lock again, but then the knocking started again.
*knock knock knock knock*
“Whoever’s out there, go away!”
*knock knock knock knock*
“I have an axe! I will use it!”
*knock knock knock knock*
“Leave us alone. Please?”
*knock knock knock knock*
“…”
*knock knock knock knock*
“…”
*knock knock knock knock*
“…”
The knocking stopped, again, and Olive Oil looked through the lock, not seeing any shape at the other side of the door.
He gave a sigh of relief, and peered through the window, trying to catch a glance of whatever was outside.
He almost fell to the floor, his heartrate rising, as two bright green eyes looked back at him through the darkness.
Once he regained his composure, he looked again, but the eyes were gone.
“Maybe I imagined it?” He hoped, but then he heard something moving above the celling of their house.
“The windows!”
He ran upstairs, and as he reached the second floor, he heard glass breaking to his right.
Olive Oil started running, diving into a corridor where the sound was coming from, hitting the lamp into the wall by accident and leaving it behind.
As he reached the end of the corridor, he could see something entering through the window, and when it was fully in, he stopped dead in his tracks.
The figure was still hiding in the darkness of the night, but he could see that it was twice as tall as him, and it’s piercing green eyes filled him with dread.
Arming himself with valor, he stood his ground and took a swing with his axe towards the eyes of the creature with as much strength as his magic could give him.
The axe froze midway through the swing, a sickly green magical aura engulfing it.
The beast had a horn, it had magic, and Olive Oil could feel it was easily overpowering him.
The intruder forced the axe against his head, making him sprawl in the floor by the hard hit.
Olive Oil tried to recompose himself and stand up, but he saw the creature lifting the axe with murderous intent.
He jumped to the side, trying to doge the weapon, but he felt a sharp, heavy pain in his left hindleg.
He screamed as loud as he could, hearing the creature slowly separating his limb from the rest of his body.
He started to crawl over the floor, away from the beast that he could hear was eating his leg in big chunks.
He managed to reach the end of the corridor and saw Fresh Wheat and their colt looking at him in panic.
“What happened?!” Asked his wife, trying to cover Olive Seed’s eyes from the grim sight.
“Run! Get out of the house now!” he screamed, but her wife took a step towards him, trying to save him.
“Leave before- “
A wet thwack interrupted him, making him taste blood in his mouth. He could feel the blade of the axe dislodge from his back, and another swing of it threw him into darkness.
Fresh Wheat screamed in horror, seeing a tall creature chopping her husband into pieces to then tear off to eat in a grotesque show that made her stomach churn.
“DAD!” Screamed Olive Seed, and with the reminder that she still had to save her colt, Fresh Wheat grabbed him and ran downstairs.
She slammed herself against the entrance door, sending both sprawling into the ground.
“What? Why doesn’t it open?!” she screamed in panic, taking her a few seconds to remember that it was locked, precious seconds that they didn’t have.
She desperately looked for the keys, and when she found them, Olive seed screamed.
She instinctually ducked her head, and the bloodied axe missed her, embedding itself against the door.
The beast was coming for them.
Fresh Wheat fumbled with the keys in her mouth until she finally unlocked the door and picked up her colt to run.
They started to leave the house behind, but then she saw a magical green aura in the corner of her eye, and Olive Seed flew away from her, speeding towards the front door.
“MOMMY!” Was the last thing the little colt managed to say before the beast teared off his neck with her jaws.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO”
Fresh Wheat screamed; eyes covered in tears.
She collapsed on the ground, screaming uncontrollably.
“Why didn’t you take me?! Why?! Why him?!”
The beast ignored her; it was busy consuming the colt to pay mind to more prey.
Fresh Wheat continued to cry and scream until her throat felt sore.
She lost everything. Her husband. Her little Olive.
There was nothing left of her happiness in the world.
She looked up, and saw the beast standing in front of her.
It´s muzzle was covered in fresh blood, pieces of mane and fur stuck between its teeth, and her green eyes looked at her with the desire of a predator.
“Just do it,” Said Fresh Wheat, accepting her fate as the creature's next victim.
The beast opened its mouth, but instead of lunging for the kill, a ball of green goo emerged form the back of its throat.
Fresh Wheat was hit directly in the face, and the goo quickly glued itself to her skin.
She twisted herself in desperation, while the beast continued covering her with more of the goo, but then she realized that she could breathe through it.
Her little relief at the prospect of not being asphyxiated to death was crushed as she realized the implications of the beast’s actions.
She tried to scream and resist, but it was too late, her body had been completely encapsulated by the beast’s goo, and once it finished, it took her with it’s magic, and started to walk towards the forest.
Detective Noir was standing outside the house, steeling himself for what was to come.
He was usually called to investigate little crimes and theft, but murder? There hasn’t been a report of murder even before the police station had been founded.
And this?
This was much, much worse.
They didn’t believe it at first. The colt mauled by a forest animal was something that may happen, but something attacking a house and killing its inhabitants with an axe?
“Detective?” Called out one of the forensics, so Noir pulled himself together and walked inside.
“How does it look?”
“Like a horror film made by someone in Tartarus,” The forensic responded, without any joking tone in his voice.
“We identified them by… what was left. The color of the fur and mane matches, and the blood test confirmed it. Olive Oil and Olive Seed were murdered last night, and Fresh Wheat is considered missing.”
Noir looked around, noticing one of the forensics inspecting a bloodied axe.
“It’s that the murder weapon?” He Asked.
“For one of them.”
“One?”
“The blood on the axe belongs to the father. The colt… I guess the other farmers were right about an animal eating fillies in the forest.”
“An animal, that uses an axe. Does such a thing exist?”
“Maybe, in someone’s nightmares.”
“Can we rule out that it wasn’t some crazy pony?”
“Ponies teeth are strong, but they can’t tear flesh and bone apart like a knife. We would have more remains if that was the case.”
“This is a nightmare.”
“I wish it was.”
Noir left the house and looked to the forest in the distance.
Fresh wheat was as good as dead, risking the men at the police station with a search expedition was pointless if not suicidal.
He would call Canterlot militia and ask for a task force to hunt down whatever monster was hiding in the forest.
They should be capable of killing that thing…
…right?
Author's Note
So, I also do horror. My first stories were of scary murderers, tell me what you think of this.
This may have a sequel someday, so if you liked it, stay tuned.
And as always, I will be watching you.
