Tales of A Broken Pony

As soon as I'd arrived at the quaint little town, I narrowed my eyes and looked at the streets. They were filled with ponies celebrating some sort of holiday. There were banners and balloons and booths set up along the main street. Lighting my horn, I prepared to bombard the festival with laserfire, but... I stopped.

"What? What are you waiting for Winter? Blow them all to hell!"

I shook my head and spoke back to the voice inside me.

"There are children down there. I... I can't kill innocent little ones."

Snickering, my demon laughed.

"Really? And how is that any different than killing those other ponies?" It asked.

I looked back down at the ponies talking and playing games along the boulevard. I unlit my horn and folded my ears back.

"Another time.. when it's right."

The demon raged at me.

"Another time!? They let your wife DIE! What happened to the vengeful Winter that nearly beat the fuck out of an old mare for information!?"

I struggled to find an answer. Indeed, I was filled with rage and hate, and I really wanted to cut them all down like dogs for what they did. Yet... there was that hesitation. That inkling of a moment where something else inside me told me this was wrong.

"The time will come, then they will pay for what they did. Cowards."

Turning away from Maretime Bay, I flew down to a wooded section of land outside of town and landed under a tree. All of these feelings were so familiar, yet.. I couldn't recall what had made me bury my demon deep and never let him out.

"Oh? You don't remember what you did before you met Luna?? Let me remind you Winter."

A sharp pain struck me in the head as I collapsed to the ground and cried out in agony. Images and memories flooded my brain as my demon showed me the terror I once was. Fleeting images of burning villages, explosions and raging battles.

"You were a proud warrior of Satan! Destroying villages, bringing terror to the Equestria of old. You survived with me. All you are and ever will be is because of me Winter. You are a demon! You kill, you rape, you pillage!"

"NO!"

I slammed my head into the tree and saw stars in my vision. Stumbling back a few steps, I fell over again and gripped my head.

"I've never killed! I've never raped! You lie to me demon!"

The demon laughed.

"Oh I lie huh? Where are all your friends Winter? Where is your wife?? Where is the life you used to know??? GONE. It's all gone because of what they did to you. They took Luna from you! You cannot deny reality!"

As much as I hated to admit it.. he was right. The life I knew was gone. My friends were gone, my wife was gone... I had no one but my demon.

"All you have is me Winter," he whispered softly. "And you and me is all you need now. We're on our own. The moment those ponies down there figured out the real you," the demon pointed my hoof in the direction of town, "they'd all run away. Just like they did before you knew Luna. Sweet, beautiful, kind Luna. Who took you in and loved you no matter what."

Looking up at the trees through tear filled eyes, I breathed heavily from rage. I wanted to kill them all and hang their corpses on display yet... there it was again. That hesitation.

"I have no one!" I yelled.

"No one but me Winter. Trust in me, I will guide you."

Fighting back more tears, I bucked the tree closest to me, knocking it over.

"Where! Where will we go?" I cried out.

"Don't worry about that. I have everything well in hoof my sweet demonic host."

Standing up, I covered my head with my wings and ambled deeper into the woods.

~~~~~

"Sunny are you sure this is safe?" Hitch asked, looking at the massive canon he was currently laying in.

"Of course! Quit worrying about it, I made all of the calculations myself." The earth pony smiled and ruffled his mane before turning and grabbing a microphone from the onstage stand.

"Hello everypony! And welcome to Maretime Bays first ever unified, Nightmare Night festival!"

The crowd cheered and stomped.

"For the first act of entertainment this evening, our own Sheriff Hitch, has volunteered to be the pony cannonball for the festival kickoff!"

The crowd cheered again, cat calls and whistling could be heard amongst the ponies. Hitch was a very popular pony, especially amongst the mares.

"Alright! Let's start the countdown! 5! 4! 3!"

The crowd counted with her as a stage pony lit the fuse and Hitch nervously disappeared into the canon.

"One!!" BAM!!!

There was a loud explosion and Hitch was suddenly ejected from the metal tube he had been laying in.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!" He screamed, flying through the air.

A team of pegasi lay in wait to catch him before he hit the ground. And just as he was about to become a splatter on the concrete, the pegasi (including Zipp) caught him and carried him down safely.

The crowd roared with excitement as Zipp and the other ponies set the very shook up Hitch back down on the stage. Smiling, Sunny once again took to the microphone.

"Let the festival begin!"

Putting the mic back in its holder, Sunny turned to Hitch and straightened some of his mane that had become disheveled from being shot out of the canon.

"Excellent work Hitch, I've never seen Maretime Bay so excited for the festival before."

The sheriff rubbed his face and shook his head a few times.

"Yeah, I can agree with you there. I don't think I've ever seen them so excited. That was crazy though. I don't even remember how you talked me into that in the first place."

Smirking, Sunny handed Hitch a piece of paper.

"Here you go, free smoothies for one year." She smiled.

The sheriff took the paper and smiled.

"Ohhhh that's right." He chuckled. "I said I'd do anything for free smoothies and you made me the offer."

Sunny laughed with Hitch as Zipp and Pipp landed next to them.

"Hey, has anyone seen Izzy? I didn't see her at the kickoff," said Zipp.

"Maybe she's just enjoying the cotton candy booth and got carried away. Come on, lets go find out," Pipp said, taking a quick selfie with the disheveled Hitch for her Hoofbook account, before taking off into the air.

The others followed and looked around the festival grounds.

"Wow, Izzy really went all out with the decor," Hitch said.

"Yeah, she called it spooky unicycling. Made a bunch of fake spiders, cobwebs, ghosts, skeletons and whatnot." Said Zipp.

Indeed, the town main street looked absolutely spooky. Everywhere around them, ponies from all three settlements were dressed up and having fun. However, there still was no sign of Izzy. Sunny walked up to the cotton candy booth and looked behind the counter.

"No Izzy here, you don't think she-"

"GUYYYYYYYYYS!!!!"

The group turned to see ponies being pushed aside violently as somepony made their way through the crowd. As Izzy popped out from behind a mother and her foal, Sunny was relieved to see her. That was until she saw the look on the unicorns face.

"Izzy? What's wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Said Zipp.

Panting, Izzy took a few moments to catch her breath before she spoke.

"No ghost, big scary fireball, flaming eyes! Evil!!!"

Hitch walked forward and patted the disturbed unicorn softly on the back.

"Hey hey hey, take it easy now. Fireball? Flaming eyes? What exactly did you see Izzy?" The sheriff asked.

By now a small crowd had gathered around the unfolding scene. Some taking out their phones to record the unicorn freaking out, because they were petty enough to do it instead of help calm her down.

"I... I don't know! It looked like.. like.. a pony on fire!"

Sunny scrunched up her muzzle and raised an eyebrow.

"A flaming pony? Come on Izzy, there's no way that's even scientifically possible without magic. And there aren't any unicorns who can perform that type of magic."

Izzy shook her head rapidly.

"No... no no no. It had wings. It was flying Sunny!"

The earth pony looked at Hitch who looked back at her.

"Should we check this out?" She asked. Hitch nodded.

"Absolutely, if it was terrifying enough to scare Izzy, then we need to do something about it. Come on."

Sunny and her friends walked through the now murmuring crowd and made their way to the forest with Izzy in the lead.

~~~~~

"I've never seen anything like this." Said Hitch.

The group had entered the forest where Izzy had said she'd spotted the creature. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until they discovered the knocked over tree.

"Who in the world could knock over a tree of this size?"

Pipp walked around the fallen tree and took a video to post to her social media page, while Zipp examined the area on the tree where it seemed to be damaged by something else.

"Hey guys check this out," said the white pegasus.

The rest of the group joined her and looked at the damage.

"This looks like.. hoof marks?" Hitch wondered aloud.

"Yeah. Whatever knocked this tree down must've been strong. Everyone remain vigilant. It could still be around here." Said Sunny.

From the shadows some yards away, a pair of glowing red eyes watched the scene unfolding before him.

"They grow suspicious of our presence Winter. We must fall back to the mountain and begin construction on the castle."

"Indeed..." I replied back, disappearing into the darkness.