Blood, Guts and Redemptionby CombatProductionsChaptersPrologueRebirthFreedomReturn To The EverfreeA Strolle Through The ForestAn Unexpected GiftConfrontationA Meal for TwoThe HospitalNot As PlannedInterludePrologueThe flash of a camera filled the room, the smell of blood had filled the air due to the events that had transpired. Ponies with cameras took pictures of the bloodied scene in front of them. A mare and a stallion, both ripped to pieces and positioned in to some kind of ritualistic circle. "So, do we have their identities?" An orange Pegasus asked. As he looked down at the two bodies. "Yes, we were able to find their IDs. A Mrs. Cotton Ball and a Mr. Sweet Tooth." Said one of the ponies working at the scene. "Was their anything else found?" The orange Pegasus asked. "We found their daughter, she's alive but appears to be in a state of shock. She hasn't answered any of our questions." "What's her name?" "Cotton Candy, sir." The orange stallion thanks the other pony and makes his way towards the exit, he looked down one of the hallways and saw a massive hole in the wall at the end, leading to the forest outside. He continued to make his way through the cottage, ducking under the yellow tape as he exited the building. He looked to his right to see the small filly, Cotton Candy, sitting on a wall with a blanket tucked around her. The poor filly's pink coat had been stained red, presumably it was her parent's blood due to the amount. A young mare sat next to the filly, gently rubbing her back and making sure she was ok. The stallion looked down the dirt road to his left and towards a small carriage coming up it. He stood there and waited for it to stop, knowing fine well who was in it. The carriage stopped in front of the orange Pegasus and the side door opened. A brown stallion Earth pony with a grey mane stepped out of the carriage and greeted the Pegasus. "It's good to see you again Autumn." The brown stallion said. "I could say the same to you Note Taker, if it wasn't for the situation." Autumn said. The two stallions slowly made their way over to the cottage as Autumn gave Note Taker a rundown of the situation. Note Taker's eyes locked on to the small filly as they passed them, he ran multiple scenarios through his head to what could have truly happened. "Before you go in I must warn you it's not a pretty sight." Autumn warned. Not Taker simply nodded his head and entered the building. The smell of blood immediately hit his nose. He looked at the walls and saw massive claw marks across them and a bloodied trail on the floor. He continued his journey through the cottage and made it to the blood filled room. In all his time investigating crime scenes he could safely say he had never seen anything like the scene in front of him. Autumn watched as Note Taker exited the cottage, the look on his face said it all. "So... any ideas." Autumn asked. "In all honesty, I don't know what to think," Note Taker admitted. "But there is one person here who knows what happened." He began to make his way towards the young filly who sat by herself now. The filly looked up at Note Taker, she looked so scared. No foal should have to go through what she experienced. Note Taker crouched down to be on eye level with her. "Hello, my name is Note Taker. I am aware you know what happened here and I need you to tell me what happened." Note Taker said in a calming tone. The filly stayed silent, not making a sound. Note Taker observed her behavior and concluded what ever she saw has but her in so much shock she couldn't even speak. This would be troublesome for Note Taker. Then he had an idea, he signaled a mare to bring him a pad of paper and a pencil. The mare quickly gave both items to Note Taker. "Are you able to draw me what you saw?" Note Taker asked. The small filly very slowly nodded her head as she gently took the pad and pencil from him. Then she began to draw something. The filly didn't even look at the page but it was clear that a full imagine was being made and not just random scribbles. In no time at all the filly gave Note Taker the paper, he looked down on it in slight horror and disgust. "Send a letter to the Princess, and send this to her with the letter." Said Note Taker, as he gave the drawing to Autumn. Autumn looked down at the drawing for a moment then nodded before trotting off to send the letter. Unbeknownst to the ponies dark figures watched them from the trees, studying who they were as individuals. "...And that was how my friends and I were able to defeat Discord before he changed for the better." Twilight said to her student. She sat in her personnel quarters at her desk looking over recent letters and documents she had to manage. "Wow, that was quite the story Princess." Luster Dawn admired. She had been studying in the same room as Twilight. She had become invested in the stories that her teacher told her and all her adventures when Twilight was younger. "I will say Luster, it was quite an experience. But nothing compared to my brothers wedding," Twilight said as she thought back on that day. "But that's a story for another time." Luster, let out a sigh of disappointment that she wouldn't hear the story now. But she knew Twilight was right, she couldn't waste all of her stories. The time ticked by and everything fell in to peaceful silence. The silence lasted about fifteen minutes before three knocks were heard on the door. "Come in!" Twilight called. A royal guard opened the door and trotted in holding an envelope in his magical grasp. "Princess this is an urgent letter that just came in for you." The guard said in a monotone voice. "Thank please put it on my desk and I will look at it in a moment." The guard did as he was told before leaving the room, gently closing the door behind them. Twilight picked up the envelope and read who it was from. "Huh, It's from Detective Autumn. Probably about some kind of break in that happened in the castle that I don't know about yet." Twilight assumed to herself. She curiously opened the envelope and pulled out the fist piece of paper. "Your Highness Princess Twilight." "It is with great concern that I write you this letter. As of last night there has been a double homicide in the Everfree Forest Experience Holiday Home. Two ponies have been brutally murdered and dismembered in the home. We have no idea who or what did it, but from their injuries it looks like an animal attack. But when we discovered the bodies they had been arranged in to some kind of circle." "We don't know why they were positioned like this, so we can only assume the attacker or someone else put them in place. There is one witness, the two ponies daughter. She couldn't tell us what she saw, but we could get her to draw it. I have no idea what it is, so if you can aid us in anyway please do so." "Sincerely Detective Autumn." Twilight with a concerned look on her face put the paper down and reached in to the envelope again with her magic and pulled oy the second piece of paper. She quickly unfolded it to see what the drawing could be. When her eyes laid upon the drawing her blood ran cold and her eyes turned to pin pricks. She shot up from her desk and rushed out of her room. "Wait! Princess where are you going?" Luster called out to her teacher, but she was to late, Twilight, was already out of ear shot. Luster, looked back to her teachers desk and saw the last piece of paper Twilight, had looked at had fallen to the floor. She got up and made her way over to it. She slowly picked it up and looked at it. It was a crude childish drawing of a tall thin creature, with a large skull for a head with a mouth full of teeth and two large antlers protruding from it's skull. The picture showed this creature ripping in to two ponies. Author's Note It feels great to continue this story. RebirthFirst things first, it is extremely boring being locked in a small cell for countless years. It wouldn't be as bad if I wasn't stuck as a fucking disembodied skull. So yeah, that's my situation. Twilight, stopped visiting about... three to four years ago. She said "that there was nothing more she could say to me." Which I completely understand. But it's been lonely. I don't feel much anymore, well physically I don't feel much, mentally I feel lots of thing. I've forgotten what the breeze of the wind feels like, I've forgotten what moving my fingers feels like, and I've forgotten what it's like to feel pain. You could call this true peace, a curss or even Hell. To the ones I hurt, they would call this justice... and they would be right. The sound of thumping hooves across the stone floor caught my attention. Someone running, here? It has been a while since I've heard that. I continued to listen to the thumping as it grew louder and louder. Eventually the door to the room I am kept in crashed open and in stepped none other that Twlight Sparkle. I watched as her eyes laid to rest on me. She let out a sigh if relief and slowly approached me. "Good, your still here." She said to herself reassuringly. "Of course I was going to be here, I don't really have the option to leave now do I?" I watched as her breathing slowed down and she composed herself. She still wasn't aware that I was still technically alive, but that didn't matter. She slowly backed out of the room and closed the door behind herself without even saying good bye. As I've said before, I can't blame her. She doesn't need to know I'm still thinking, still questioning my life. But questions plagued my mind. Why did she come here? And why was she so panicked? I couldn't make heads or tails of it. As if on que I felt my non-existent brain begin to shut down, guiding me in to a gentle sleep. All this thinking and talking to myself in my head had made me tired, to tired to ponder what Twilight was dealing with. My vision slowly faded as I drifted off. Fire, burt wood, blood, and burning books filled was all that I saw, accompanied by the sound of wood crackling as it burned and the building falling down around me. I was here again in the library, no I couldn't be here, I shouldn't be here. "Please don't make me relive this!" I felt my skin boil and blister against the scorching hot flames. Blood oozed from the wound on my head and the fire continued to consume me. I looked out the closest window and saw the ponies all looking on at me as I burned. "Please I just want to leave this place, I just want my old life back!" My begging only increased the intestine of the flames as they swirled around me. A voice called out berating me with my sins. "Do you remember the mare you butchered? Do you remember her friend who looked on as you ripped in to her flesh? Her name was Bon Bon. Do you remember now?" With one final scream of pain I was thrown out of the burning library and back in to the stone prison I was kept in. That dream was the same one I faced every time I tried to sleep. It forced me to relive my final moments before my untimely demise, and forced me to remember those I have slaughtered. I'm a monster, and there isn't much that can change that. There was a sudden click and the door to my room opened. Three ponies trotted in to the room in front of me and kneeled down. Was this still part of the dream? Cause it felt very real. They each pulled out a small jar filled with a red liquid and a paint brush. They opened their jars and dunked their brushes in to them before they began to pain strange symbols on the floor. This was all so... confusing. I didn't understand who they were and why they were here. After some time they put their brushes and jars to the side and bowed before me. The three of them began to chant something and for the first time I felt something. I clenched my eyes shut and welcomed this strange new sensation. I felt cold, so very cold, but yet I felt so alive. I opened my eyes and found myself standing upright. Upright? I looked down and had to take a double take when I saw my body. Granted I wasn't human any more, but rather still the monster I had become. I looked towards the three ponies and saw them all bowed down in front of me. Then one of them spoke up. "Oh great one, teach us how to be like you. Teach us how to join you in this form." The pony said. I was complete and utterly dumbfounded that they would make such a request. Be like me? Why in God's green Earth would they want to be like me? I stood there in complete silence for what seemed like forever. Then I felt something. Something crawling under my skin like a parasite. The hunger, I had forgotten about my hunger. I felt my stomach gurgle as it demanded to be fed. I continued to look at the ponies. I could feel their little hearts beat in the air, I could already taste the blood. I knew what I had to do. I lunged at the pony in the middle and threw them against the wall. There was a sickening crack as they hit it. The other two ponies shot up and looked at me in horror. I quickly spun to my left and rammed my clawed fingers in to their side before peeling them open. I heard rushing hoof steps on my right. As I quickly turned around I snagged the last pony by the tail and pulled them back. I shoved them to the floor and opened my jaws wide. The pony was begging and trying to bargain with me. But my hunger was to strong, I had to feed. I slid the back of their head in to my mouth and slowly began to apply pressure to the back of their skull. They screamed and thrashed about but I held them still. With a sudden crack and bloody crunch, their skull suddenly caved in to the pressure of my jaws. It tasted amazing. The sweet blood trickled down my throat as I ripped in to the dead their bodies and had my first meal in years. There was a sudden sharp pain on my head that brought me out of my hunger induced rage. I reached up to feel what it could be. My broken antler. It still hurt like Hell, even after all these years. I can still remember how I got it. I slammed in to a wall while charging at Twilight. I looked at the bodies around me then at the still open door. I crouched down and stepped out of my room. When I stepped out I almost tripped over something. I looked down and saw a guard with their throat slit. Whoever had brought me back to life did it for a reason. I suspect they need me for something. Author's Note He's back! FreedomThe feeling of the stone floor under my feet felt so good. It had been years since I had walked on literally anything. I picked the last remnants of crushed bones and flesh from my teeth with one of my long claws, once they were out, I flicked them off to the side of the hall. As I walked through the stone halls of the dungeon, I found more and more deceased guards. Most of them had their necks slashed, other had multiple stab wounds in vital places. The ponies who brought me back from the dead clearly wanted me for something. They asked to be taught how to be like me, so maybe they wanted to be cannibalistic freaks? I don't know, but right now they don't matter. I continued my journey through the endless maze of stone walls. Slowly but surely I entered in to a new area that I had very much never seen before, still with the plain stone walls of course. After what felt like half an hour I found a clean wooden door. Upon opening I looked on at a small staircase that led upwards. So, I decided to slowly climb up them. The celling was to low for me to stand upright, so I was forest to walk on all fours, which was surprisingly effective. My long arms helped with it a lot. As I made it to the top of the stairs I was greeted by yet another door. I slowly opened it and peeked out of the stairwell. I saw a clean marble floor with a beautiful red carpet running down the middle of it. The walls where the same shiny marble as the floor. I had to say, I would kill for a place like this back in my world. I crept out of the stairwell and out in to the large corridor. I looked left, then I looked right. Both ways looked the exact same so really I just had to pick one and go with it. I chose to go left down the corridor. The red carpet felt wonderful, it was soft and comfy I could have just laid down on it and took a nap. But I knew better and decided to keep moving. This place was wonderful and so very bright. I wish I could have stayed but if Twilight, found that I was gone, she would have the entire castle swept just to find me. I would uncountably be caught. I heard the sound of hooves gently walking along a split in the hall. My mind began to panic and I looked around for an escape. There, a small door. I rushed over to the door, sung it open and entered. It was a tight fitting cupboard, filled with janitorial equipment. I hid behind some large sheets that where also in the cupboard, just so I could conceal myself more. The hoof grew closer and slowly sped up. They were coming in my direction and as they grew closer, I heard the sound of a mare giggling. "Where should we do it." I heard the mare say just beyond from the door. "Well I was thinking in there, no one would find us." I heard a stallion say. I peeked out of the sheets for a moment and saw the cupboard door slowly open. I watched as a maid entered the cupboard, she was the followed by a stallion in guards amour. The maid twirled around to meet the guard with a kiss. "Oh, shit!" I thought to myself. I carefully watched as the stallion shut the door behind him with his hind leg as he returned the kiss. "Fucking, couples." The kiss grew and grew, until they were forcibly undressing each other. There were three ways this could go. I could let do their business the leave, let my presence be known, or they could spot me. The guard practically picked the mare of the ground with his forelegs then spun her around so her back was against the door. She had her forelegs wrapped around his neck. "For the love of God, please don't do this to me." "Do you smell that?" The mare said suddenly, as she stopped kissing her partner. "What do you mean?" He responded. The stallion sniffed the air. "Oh, oh my! What is that smell?" I had forgotten that I probably gave off the smell of a corpse. I silently cursed myself for smelling so bad. My eyes locked on to the mare as I saw her squinting at me in the dark, as if she wasn't sure if I was there. I slowly, very slowly began to move my head back behind the sheets. The mare let out a scream, the stallion turned around and locked eyes with me. He screamed as well and they both tumbled out of the door. They scrambled to their hooves as I walked out. I towered over both of them and they looked at me in horror. Before I could do anything, they where halfway down the hall already. I watched the couple as they turned a corner and left my line of site. That was one of the most unconfutable two minutes of my life. I looked back in to the cupboard and shivered at the thought on what I could have seen. I decided to grab one of the sheets I hid behind and threw it around myself like some kind of cloak. Was it practical? No, But at least I would be somewhat obscured from the outside world. I continued my march to find an exit to the castle. I had never been here before so it was a little tricky to navigate the endless amount of halls and rooms. Eventually I stumbled upon a window. I looked out of it, finally able to see the outside world. It was night and there was a massive thunderstorm going on. I shuddered, remembering this was the same weather as my first night in this world. The three fillies in the tree house and how I scared them. How I beat Applejack to a pulp in the middle of the road. I shook my head clear of my thoughts. My only concern should be to get out of here. If I couldn't find the exit, I could always make one. I looked at the window and brought my fist up. I slammed it against the glass and it immediately shattered instantly. Finally... Freedom. Return To The EverfreeThe streets where dowsed in rain, the sheet I had taken was soaking wet and I was colder than ever. The streets of Canterlot were nothing like I expected, I was expecting something more like Ponyville. Wooden houses, with thatch roofs, not giant buildings that look like they are made of marble. If I could have, I probably would have stolen a block of marble to sell and pay of my student loans back home. Home... I haven't thought of home in a long, long time. Back when I was normal, back before I was cursed. But with what I have done, there is no going back to that life. I looked down at my hands and remembered all those I have killed and hurt. It didn't matter now, what's done is done and more people where going to die as long as I lived. So best course of action, return to the forest next to Ponyville. It was the safest place I could think of, well safe for me at least, the ponies, not so much. It was the perfect place to hide. Uncountably Twilight, will send the whole royal guard after me once she notices I'm gone. I continued through the streets, trying to find a quicker way to Ponyville. I could have been walking in circles, all the streets looked the same. When I was going to give up and hide somewhere, I found a set of train tracks. Where there were tracks, there were trains. I slowly followed them them, hoping they would lead me somewhere useful. As luck would have it, they did indeed lead somewhere useful, Canterlot Train Station to be precise. Well at least that's what I believed it to be. I slowly crept closer to the station, being carful not to walk out in to the open. As I got closer I heard the sounds of three distinct voices. Two stallions, one much younger than the other and a mare. "How many crates do we have left?" One of the stallions said. "Only four more sir." The mare responded. "Alright let's get them loaded up quickly, we want them at Ponyville tonight." Ponyville. This was my ticket out of this city. I crept closer and closer to the voices and peaked around a corner. There they were, the three ponies. They were lifting crates up on to a train. It looked like a cargo train, which made it perfect for me. I crept around the ponies, being carful not to walk in to their line of sight. I made my way to the rear of the train before climbing on board. I hid myself between two crates and hoped no one would get on board with me. Thankfully that didn't happen. I heard the ponies yell to the driver that all the crates where on board. Not a minute after that, the train began to move. The train let out a whistle as it began to pick up speed. For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt free. I felt like an unstoppable force. But whith these feelings, came thoughts. Who where the ponies who brought me back from the dead and more importantly why? They claimed they wanted to be like me. I assumed that they wanted to be monsters, just like me. The questions crawled through my head, demanding answers. But non came, just the questions over and over. I hadn't even realised we had arrived at Ponyville until I heard a stallion yell. I toom that as my cue to get off the train and find a place to hide. The town looked different from when I last saw it. It still had the same basic structure of houses but there where more of them with some enhancements. I could say I was impressed at the progress the ponies had made, but who am I kidding, they still don't have the internet. God I miss the internet. I began to make my way through the town and towards the forest. Even after all these years I could still remember where it was. Memories flooded back in to my head, memories of stealing food and sneaking around in the night. I continued to walk before I came across a pretty over the top sight. Where the tree house library used to be stood a tall crystal tree house? Honestly I didn't like it. Didn't fit with the rest of the town. With a grown and a bad memory I marched on towards the forest, swiping a loaf of bred from a passing food stall. Even after all these years they still don't put their food away. After a while I saw it, I found it. The Everfree Forest. A wave of nostalgia hit me like a truck... and it felt amazing. I took a bite from the loaf of bred and marched in to the forest. The forest hadn't changed much. Ian why would it. It was a forest after all. But it had indeed changed. The ponies had made roads in to it and set up a few houses. I made sure to stay clear of them. Didn't want to attract any unwanted attention. I had one target in mind... my cave, the place I could home. I walked deeper in to the forest. The dirt, rocks and sticks under my feet felt amazing. Never in my life did I think I would be happy to walk barefoot in a forest. I quickened my pace, exited to return to my home away from home. I don't know what was in the air but it felt like the forest welcomed my return, as if it was happy I was back. I slowed down as I saw it come in to view. My cave it looked identical to how I left it. Atleast from the outside. I began to take the sheet I was using as a cloak off. I would've smiled if I psychically could've. But I didn't need to. I approached the mouth of the cave and threw the sheet to the side. I sighed in relief that I had made it back. But that relief was short lived. There was an loud growl from deeper in the cave. I looked in to the darkness and watched as a bear ran out of the darkness at me. I moved to one side and let the bear pass me. It turned and looked at me with a fierce gaze. I looked back with a gaze more powerful. This animal had taken refuge in my cave, my home while I was absent! No I couldn't have that. With all the power in body I let out a roar and sprinted at the bear. It tried to run but I was already on top of it. I bit in to it's neck and held of tightly. Despite it's efforts it couldn't shake me off. My hand came up to it's face and I grasped it's head. My other arm slashed at the bears body. I felt the bear begin to lose strength. My jaws let go for just a moment before clamping back down and thrashing the bear neck. It stopped moving after a while and I let it drop to the floor. Blood pooled out of the bears mouth. I moved down to the bears side and slashed it open with my claws. I ripped in to it with my jaws and I savoured every bite. I was back and nothing, no one could stop me. A Strolle Through The ForestI spent my first night back at the cave feasting on the bear I had found in my home. Honestly, it tasted great. I never thought bears would be so damn tasty. It took me roughly two and a half hours to pick the bones clean of any flesh. And for the rest of the night, I slept. I wanted to have the energy to go out in to the sun once again. When I woke up, I grabbed the sheet I had used the previous night as a cloak and tossed it around myself yet again. I was excited to see the sun again after who knows how many years. I would've have smiled, but alas I couldn't. I made my way to the entrance of the cave and stepped my foot out in to the sun. I could feel it's heat and it was wonderful. I stepped further out until my entire body was bathed in the warm light. The trees broke apart perfectly so that the sun could shine down on this one spot. I tilted my head to the sky and relished in the feeling. My moment was interrupted by a small needing in my stomach and the back of my head. I was hungry again, even after eating an entire bear in one night. I sighed and began to walk through the forest in a random direction. I listened to the sound of animals all around me. I heard the birds above me, squirrels scampering up and down the trees. It was lovely. The forest was alive, just like me. The sound of running water came from in front of me. I quickened my pace towards the sound. After just a few seconds I saw it. The river I was all to familiar with. It had been a long time since I had seen a body of water like this. Without a second thought I ran to the rivers edge and stuck my mouth in to the water. I took in one gulp of water, then another and another. I only felt better than ever. The river brought back so much nostalgia. Not all of it good. I shook those thoughts away and looked at my reflection in the water. My skull face had been stained red with the blood of the bear. With a quick chuckle I crawled in to a shallow area of the river and began to bathe myself. I felt so much better after that little bath. My face was its usual off colour of white again and I felt at peace. Well accept for my hunger which demanded to be satisfied. I continued my strole through the forest until I came across a peculiar sight. Two ponies where having a picnic in a sunny clearing. To was rather odd to me as ponies used to never enter rhe forest, yet here was this couple eating sandwiches and kissing. My stomach growled, yearning to be fed. I crept closer to the clearing and crouched low to the ground. All the sounds of the forest had stopped, as if the animals knew what was coming. The points took note of the sudden lack of sound as well and had started to look around. Thankfully both their backs were turned to me. This only made what I was about to do much easier. I began to move out of the bushes and in to the clearing, trying to make as little noise as possible. There was a small crack then a sudden snap from under my foot. I looked down to see I had stood on a branch. My eyes darted to look at the ponies. They were now looking at me in wide eyed horror. As soon as the rest of my head came up to look at them they both let out a scream and sprinted away from me. I let out a sigh and stood up straight. I walked to where the couple had been eating and began to search the basket they had brought. A few sandwiches, a couple apples, some grapes and two chocolate bars. But no meat. Not that it surprised me of course. I took the white and red blanket that they had been sitting on and stuffed it in to the basket before picking it up and walking back the way I came. When I entered the trees all the sounds of the forest came back. I was slightly disappointed that I couldn't catch a meal that would satisfy my hunger, but I was grateful I didn't have to kill anyone. I began to walk back to my cave my mouth drooling at the thought of eating chocolate again. While walking back to the cave I decided to take a slightly longer route. I wanted to make up as much time as I could. I made sure to sniff every new flower I saw and brush my hands across the trees. My nice walk came to a sudden but surprising stop when I saw something most strange. A wooden cabin, or was ot a cottage? It doesn't matter, what matters is that it was just out in the middle of the forest. My curiosity got the better of my and I approached it. As I got closer I noticed that the front door was sealed of by yellow police tape. I extended my free hand towards the tape before retracting it. But once again curiosity won. I ripped the tape away and entered the wooden building. Thank god for that broken antler or my head wouldn't have fit through the damn door. I took in my surroundings and noted that everything was rather messy, but not in the traditional sense. The wall looked as if they had been ripped apart by something and there was an ominous brown streak across the floor. I slowly followed the streak in to a nice open room. At the end of the streak was a massive brown stain. I slowly backed out the room, realising I had just tampered with a rather serious looking murder scene. I made my way out the cottage and decided to go straight back to my cave. I didn't want to poke around that place anymore than I already did. The journey back to the cave was rather uneventful. As I got closer a familiar smell caught my attention. The all to recognizable smell of blood was in the air and it was coming in the direction of my cave. I quickened my pace to a light jog. Once I arrived I found what was making the smell. There was a rather fresh looking dear carcass at the entrance to the cave. It didn't look like it had been eaten but rather just had it's throat slit and it's stomach sliced open. I noticed all its legs were tied together with a rope that was also formed in to a bow. It was like somekind of sick and twisted present. Despite my hunger craving meat, the carcass didn't take my fancy. I stepped right over it and in to the cave. I would deal with it later, but at that moment, I was fixated on the picnic basket. An Unexpected GiftI awoke to the sounds of a struggle come from the entrance of my cave. My vision was blurry and the darkness didn't help at all. The sounds only intensified as my body began to fully take hold of its surroundings. I looked to the entrance of cave and saw the strangest thing. There were ponies. At first I thought there was only two of them, but there was three. Two of them were standing up and the third one was on the ground. It was so strange. The pony of the ground squirmed and thrashed about, as if they were trying to escape. The other two held them down with their forelegs. I could feel my hunger grow and scream in my head as I watched the scene unfold. I slowly got up and moved towards the ponies, I could soon here them speaking the two ponies standing up where both male and one on the ground was gagged, but their muffled whines and screams made me believe it was a mare. "Just hold still and it will all be over soon." One of the stallions said. The mare of course did not calm down but rather thrashed about more. "The great one is hungry and we must appease his appetite." Was this the cult who revived me? Did they want to give this mare as a sacrifice? I crept closer and closer. I noticed the other stallion had a large dear skull mask placed over his head as if he was trying to imitate my own face. He hadn't spoken alot but rather just stared at the mare. At this point the mare had stopped trying to scream and had just begun crying. I decided to make my move. With a screeching roar I ran towards the ponies. Both the stallions looked towards me the one without a mask was grinning madly. His grin immediately faded when I came straight towards him. I knocked him to the ground with my antlers before biting in to his chest and stomach. He screamed and tried to scramble away. I thrashed him around in the dirt as my jaws tightened. I released for but a moment before biting down on his neck. I slowly stood up with his neck in my jaws, he gasped and squirmed to no avail. With all the strength in my neck I thrashed his body down to the ground. There was a sickening snap as the stallions head was almost severed from his body. I released his neck and turned to the masked stallion, but he was not there. He must of ran of as soon as I grabbed his friend. Bellow me I could hear sharp breathing, I looked down and saw the mare staring up at me in absolute horror. Her legs where hog-tied together by a rope and a rope gagged in her mouth. Something about this mare seemed so... familiar, but I couldn't quite figure it out. I picked her up and threw her over one of my shoulders. She struggled against me and I could hear her muffled protests. I held her in place with one arm and used my free arm to drag the deceased stallion back in to the cave. Once I reached the back of the cave I put the mare down to one side and put the stallion down across from her. I kneeled in front of the stallion with my back facing the mare. My hunger was killing me so i began to eat. I couldn't lie and say I didn't enjoy it. The taste was bitter, but not to bitter, just the right amount. I heard the mare begin to move behind me, I turned and saw that she was trying to shuffle her way to the caves exit. She didn't even notice me get up and walk towards her. I grabbed the ropes that binded her legs and draged her back to where I put her. She tried to scream but the ropes stopped her from doing so. I saw the tears in her eyes as she fixated her gaze on to me. I looked right back at her. She was definitely familiar to me, but how? She was a unicorn but I had seen plenty of those. Maybe it wad her blonde mane, her light purple coat or maybe even her golden eyes. It took a while but then it struck me. This mare was the filly I met all those years ago. The one with the mother who's eyes didn't look straight. The only two creatures to show me kindness. I didn't know what to think, my mind was racing. "It's... it's you." I stuttered out. The mare immediately looked shocked that I spoke to her. Her wide eyes were fixed on my mouth. My hands slowly came up to the rope that had her gagged. With a small flick of my claw the rope wad cut and I removed it from her. Her lips trembled. "Y-you know me?" She asked. I let out a small chuckle at her question. "Of course I know you. It was a long time ago but we have indeed met before." "How?" Her voice was still full of fear but she was calming down. "Well when you were younger I broke in to your house and you and your mother treated me like a guest." I looked away from the mare. "I- I don't remember." She said. "I don't blame you. You were very young." I continued to talk with the mare for a while, I eventually trusted her enough to cut her legs free. I asked her about her mother and she told me that she was in the hospital for something rather serious. I didn't want to pry so I left it at that. Our conversation led to us discussing how she ended up here. Apparently those two stallions broke in to her house and kidnapped her two days ago. All she wanted was to go home. I stopped talking for a moment and began to think. After a while I told her I would take her home. I could see the excitement in her eyes at the idea of returning to her home. Before we left I gave her the picnic basket I stole and all the left over food in it. I left the cave and she followed closely behind me. I could tell she was still afraid of me and didn't fully trust me, but I couldn't blame her, she did just watch me kill and eat someone. We walked through the forest for a few minutes until we arrived at the edge of the forest. There it was, Ponyville. Couldn't say I liked the place but I didn't hate it. I turned to the mare and spoke to her. "You ok to go alone from here?" I asked. "Yeah, I should be fine." She walked out of the forest and towards the small town. I turned and began to go back in to the forest. "Oh my names Dinkey Hooves by the way. What's your name?" I turned my head to see her looking back at me expectantly. It was a good question and a question I hadn't answered in years. "I don't remember my name." ConfrontationI watched my prey from the canopy of the forest. A blissfully unaware deer stood bellow me. I had been stalking it for the past hour or so, waiting for the perfect time to strike and right now was the perfect time. I dropped down from the tree and slashed the deer in its hind leg. It let out a yelp and took off. The chase was now on. I sprinted after it. With my prey injured this was easy for me. In no time at all I sprinted the deer down and bit down on to its back. It let out another yelp. I grabbed it and dug my claws in to it's back before swinging my upper jaw down on to the back of it's neck. I heard a snap as the deer's neck broke under the sudden force. I slowly removed my jaws from the deer's neck and rolled it on to it's side. With the claw on my index finger I sliced up the deer's stomach, slowly opening its internals to the outside world. I slowly began to remove the insides of my prey. I ate most of it but some I left as I didn't find them to appetising. Ever since my return I had gained more control over my hunger. It had become easier and easier to control myself as the days went by. I tried to be more collective and calm during my meals, you could say I was trying to be more... "human" if you could still call me that. I continued to enjoy my meal in the quite of the forest. It seemed whenever I finished a hunt a defining silence came over the forest, as if all that animals wished to stay hidden. This made hearing things alot easy... such as the hoof steps approaching from behind me. I slowly turned my head to face the sound and there stood several white ponies in golden armour. They raised their spears at me and slowly moved forward. In retaliation I let out a shrieking roar. They stopped for a moment before continuing their advance. I slowly stood to my full height and I watched as they seemed to go paler than white. I suddenly jumped at them and tackled the first one to the ground. He screamed for help as I dug my claws in to his forelegs. Once my claws where deep enough, I suddenly yanked them out, removing massive amounts of flesh from the stallions legs. I heard the next one charging behind Mr and with one turn and a heavy swing of my hand I smacked him in to a tree, probably cracking a few ribs as well. I quickly picked up the first guards spear and charged down the final guard. In a fit of panic he threw his spear like a javelin at me. I simply stepped out the way, continuing my charge I lifted the spear I held and drove it in to the guards head. I stood over the fallen guard and caught my breath. It had been a while since I moved that fast, so I wasn't quite used to it. Behind me I heard a small click then a flash went off. Turning my head I saw a new pony. A young unicorn mare who was pink with an orangey blonde mane. She stood looking at me with a trembling lip. Just next to her was a camera floating in her magical aura. That's what the flash was. She had taken a picture of me. She slowly began to back up before she turned tail and ran. As if on instinct I chased after her. My powerful legs kicked up the dirt behind me as I sprinted after her. I knew it would take me no time at all to catch her, after all I was definitely faster. But I knew it was a simple question of speed verses stamina. I was slowly but surely gaining on her, as I got closer I stretched out my hands and got ready to grab her. I felt a sudden kick strike the side of my face and I tumbled to the ground. I looked back up and saw the guard I had smacked in to a tree only minutes before the chase. His was hovering in the air with his wings. He slowly landed on the ground and flared out his wings. He looked at the mare and yelled. "Keep going, I'll buy you some time!" "But it what if-" the mare tried to say before being cut off. "I said go Luster!" She nodded and continued to run. I watched her go, before my eyes locked with the guard's. I slowly got up of the ground to my full height and roared at the guard. He snarled at me and flapped his wings. Without hesitation I charged at him. He used his wings to lift himself off the ground but it was to late. I grabbed his hind leg and yanked him back down the ground. He hit the ground with a thud and he let out a sharp hiss. I grabbed him by the face and two of my fingers entered his mouth. My other hand wrapped around the back of his neck and pushed down. With the first hand I began to pull back. He let out a pained scream but I kept going. It didn't take long for his neck to break, once it was broken I gave one last hard pull and removed his head. I tossed it to the side and took in a deep breath. I looked in the direction the mare had ran. She was long gone. I decided to go back to the deer carcass and finish my meal. Once I was done with the dear, I walked over to the guard with the spear in its head and pulled it out. I examined the weapon and wiped the blood off it. This would do nicely. A Meal for TwoSleep. Sleep was what I yearned for. Despite my best efforts my body and mind refused to rest. I had tried and failed to get comfortable with sheet I still had, well now it was less of a sheet and more of a torn up rag now. I had tossed and turned but nothing worked, even eating the remains of one of the guards didn't work. I let out a sigh and looked to the mouth of the cave, before getting up. I grabbed the sheet and threw it around myself like a cloak and walked out of the cave. I decided to to stroll through the forest I had become so familiar with. I knew every good hiding spot and how strong each branch in the trees where. In a way I would say I was truly one with nature. Despite my loss of humanity and my violent tendency, I would say my life has improved in a way. Sure no one here wants to converse with a monster, but I was fine with that. I continued to walk getting closer and closer to the edge of the forest and towards Ponyville. I let out a sigh and got ready to turn back. That was until something caught my ear. It sounded like an animal eating. I slowly followed the sound and saw a pair of antlers peaking over a bush. Very oddly shaped antlers. They were massive and looked to have grown in a violent manner. I pushed from the shrubbery and my eyes locked on to something I thought I would never see. A large thin creature with a skull like head, with antlers protruding out of it. It looked practically identical to me. The main differences that it had to me was that instead of feet it had two very large hooves and its hands only had three fingers, including the thumbs. Its waist was incredibly thin, so thin that I could probably count each of it vertebrae individually. I didn't dare to get closer. I was in absolute shock. Another creature like me? How was this possible? I took a step back, and the crunch of leaves was heard. The creature in front of me stooped and slowly turned its head towards me. Its skull like head was slightly crooked and its jaw had been warped so it curved down a little and those eyes, oh those eyes scared me. Unlike my empty sockets, this one had a crimson glow coming from them and it stared at me like a predator watching it's prey. I mentally gulped and watched the creature and dared not take my eyes of it. It looked at me for a few moments before going back to eating. I looked down to see it was eating the remains of a gold and silver mare. Her face was nothing but a mangled mess now. I felt my heart twist in my chest. I couldn't understand why, I had killed ponies before and I had eaten them. After my revival I had only killed those who threatened me or had done wrong. I slowly got closer to my doppelganger and it let out a huff. I walked around it and sat at the opposite side of the carcass. It looked up at me before going back to it's meal. I was at a loss of words. This thing didn't seem bothered by my presence, it just seemed at peace. I decided to take a risk and reached out to the carcass and ripped a chunk off. It paused for a moment and I inhaled sharply. My worries were put at ease when it continued to eat. I took a bite out of the chunk of flesh and studied the creature. It was so off putting to see something so familiar yet so... twisted. It was similar to looking in to a broken mirror. I took another chunk of flesh and ate it. I wondered if it could speak and decided to talk to it. "Umm, hello?" It's head shot up to look at me and it let out gurgling growl. I let out a nervous chuckle and slowly got up "I'll just be going now." The creature lunged at me and I felt it bite in to my shoulder. I yelled and pushed it off of me. I felt my shoulder and felt blood gushing out of my wound. I looked at my attacker and saw it pacing back and fourth on all fours. I stepped back and it made another lunge for me. I stepped out the way and it tubled in to the bushes. I heard it screech and it run in the opposite direction of me. I stood there in shock. The pain of my shoulder brought me back to the situation. I grasped my wound and winced. I slowly went back in the direction of my cave. On my way back I passed a small stream and I came up with an idea. I removed my make shift cloak and cleaned it in the water. After that was done I tided it around my shoulder and tightened it. I let out a sharp hiss of pain and got a move on back to the cave. The journey back to the cave took longer than I would have liked. Upon my arrival back to the cave I collapsed on the cave floor. My shoulder felt as if it was on fire. I stifled a scream as my shoulder connected to the ground. I felt the blood seep through the sheet. I grasped at my injury, trying to stop the flow of blood, but in return all I felt was a sharp pain. I finally let out a scream and rolled on to my back. My body twitched and shook. After a few moments I could feel the pain start to subside and I could feel sleep trying to take hold. In a matter of moments my vision began to fade until everything went black. The HospitalThe red reflection of blood off the floor was all that I could see in the black void I found myself in. I could hear the blood slosh with every step I took. I walked aimlessly, without purpose in no real direction. But yet I felt I was getting close to something. The sound of a second set of sloshes followed behind me. I instinctively turned around to see what it was. But there was nothing, nothing but ripples in the blood. I turned back and almost jumped out of skin. Standing inches away from me was my doppelganger, drenched in the blood, as if it had risen from it. I slowly began to walk backwards, praying it would go away. It's mouth slowly opened and it let put a pained screech. I wanted to look away or run but I couldn't. In a matter of seconds it lunged towards me, prepared to rip me apart. Before it made contact, I jolted awake in my cave and let out a scream as my shoulder shot waves of pain through my body. I slowly looked to my injury only to be greeted by the sight of blackened blood pouring from my shoulder. I slowly brought my hand up to my injury and gently touched it. In less than a second another wave of pain shot through my body. I gritted my teeth and bit back a scream. After laying on the floor for a few moments I finally got up. With every move of my shoulder it felt as if it was trying to pull itself apart. I continued to grit my teeth in pain as I slowly made my way to the exit of my cave. As I stepped out I felt rain fall and hit my shoulder, the cold water numbed my wound as I matched forward. I knew this was no ordinary injury. The colour of my blood made that clear. I figured that Ponyville could have something I could use to help me. Maybe a pharmacy or doctors office, he'll maybe would get lucky and find a hospital. But even then, maybe cutting my arm of at the shoulder would be the best course of action. With a terrible plan to run through Ponyville to find medical supplies in my head I set off towards the town. The ponies in the hospital's lobby screamed. Some of them ran away, some hid under chairs and desks, others were to scared to move. My journey to the hospital had been surprisingly smooth until now. Due to the rain there was barely anyone in the streets. It wasn't until I stepped through the hospital's front doors that ever went to hell. At lest for the ponies. I made my way past the front desk and down one of the many halls. I didn't want to rush in fear that my injury would flare with pain again. I walked slowly down the long hall hoping to find where they kept their medicines. I could hear the ponies in the rooms next to me let out gasps of fear as I walked by. I didn't bother to look through the windows to their rooms, I knew they be on the other side of the room. It didn't take long for me to find a small counter with a sighn above it that read "Prescriptions." I figured this was the place and climbed over the counter. I walked in to the back and found an abundance of different medicines. I may have found where I needed to go but there was one massive problem. I had no idea what medication I needed. I decided to grab one of the bottles of pills and read the lable. "Vicodin." I shrugged and opened the bottle. "Bottoms up." I said to myself before chugging the small bottle. I swallowed the pills with ease and was immediately hit with this numbing feeling. I looked at my wound and poked it. Blood spilled out but there was no pain. It was at that moment I remembered what Vicodin was. It was a pain killer. I laughed at myself. "Who am I Gregory House, now?" I threw the empty bottle behind me and moved on to the next bottle. Eighty six bottles. I had consumed eighty six bottles of drugs in the span of nine minutes. It was honestly rather impressive that I consumed that many and that I had not been sick. "I hope I don't accidentally overdose on the way home" I stepped back to the small Pharmacy's front desk and climbed back over it. To my right I heard several hoof steps come to a stop accompanied by some short gasps. I looked towards the sounds and saw a small group of guards. But there was one thing that stood out to me. One tall and purple Alicorn. Twilight, she was here with the guards. I was frozen with shock. Of all the places a would meet her again, I did not expect it to be here, especially after I had consumed a ridiculous amount drugs. "Get it!" One of the guards yelled before they charged at me. I instinctively ran the opposite direction. I felt so full of energy, like nothing could stop me. I had out ran the guards in no time. I slowed down slightly and turned a corner. Upon turning that corner I was met with a room full of more guards. They all immediately yelled and began to charge at me. I in return turned the other way and ran. I knew I would be sandwiched between the two groups of guards so I had to think of something. I noticed on my left was a stair case. At the last possible second I turned to my left and practically lunged up the stairs like an animal. Upon reaching the top I sprinted in a random direction. I took every possible turn I could to loose my pursuers. At some point I could no longer hear there yelling or their hoof steps. I finally slowed down to a silent walk. I explored the first floor of the hospital and looked in some of the rooms, most of them where empty wards, some had ponies in them. I didn't bother looking in the occupied ones for obvious reasons. Eventually I saw a very different room at the corner of my eye. I walked backwards a bit and looked at it. Through the window I could see the room was completely white with bags full of red fluid in them hanging from metal stands. I opened the door and walked in. The room was cold and the smell of fresh blood flooded the air. I looked at the bags and lightly licked my teeth. "Well since I'm hear I may as well grab a snack." Author's Note I'm back... again. Not As PlannedI sat in the middle of the white room now soaked with crimson blood. I looked down at my hands then at the empty blood packs that littered the room. "What the fuck in wrong with me." I said to myself as I got up. I walked out of the room and checked both ways down the corridor before turning left. I kept my pace at a steady stroll, not wanting to make to much noise. A sign on my left pointed to a pair of doors that seemed to be toilets. I fave my hands another look. "I may as well clean of here." I looked at the two doors and the signs. I picked the one with a stallion on it and tried to enter. Immediately it felt like I got stuck. I stepped back and tilted my head before trying again. I got stuck again. I reached up to my head and felt my antlers. They were noticeably bigger than when I had first arrived. I sighed knowing what the problem was. I tilted my head in a very awkward and uncomfortable angle and tried to enter. I made it further than last time but got stuck again. After some struggling I finally got my head through the door. Once I got the rest of myself through I walked to.the sink and looked at myself in the mirror. Most of upper body was drenched in blood. I groaned and turned on the tap before I started to clean the blood off. As I cleaned the blood off something in my head compelled me to hum a small tune to myself. At first I didn't recognise the tune but the more I hummed the more I recognised it. Eventually I remembered the entire song. A wave of nostalgia hit me and I couldn't help but sing. "And now, the end is near." "And so I face the final curtain," "My friend, I'll say it clear," "I'll state my case, of which I'm certain." In no time the sing was in full swing, for the first time in a while a genuine smile crossed my boney face. But to me, it felt like my old face. By the time I was done signing I had washed all the blood off of me. I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled again. "Maybe I am still human after all?" In the corner of my eye I saw something move in the reflection of the mirror. One of the stall doors slowly opened, I watched as a stallion poked hid head out and look at me. He immediately gasped in fear. I slowly turned to look at him. He screamed and ran out the stall and out the door. "Help, the monster is here!" He yelled as he ran down the hall. I rolled my eyes and walked to the door and got my head through it with some mild discomfort. I stepped back out in to the hall and was immediately hit by something sharp in my shoulder. I yelled in pain and looked at my shoulder to see a long iron spear sticking out of it. I looked down the hall and saw a group of guards running at me. I stumbled back before another spear struck me. This time in the thigh. I let out a pained screech as the spear when through my leg. "Remember the Princess wants this thing alive." One of the guards said. I fell to one knee and tried to pull the spear out my leg, before I could remove it the blunt end of a spear struck me across the jaw, causing me to fall backwards on to the ground. I looked up for less than a second before being struck again. This time my vision went dark. The sound of a heartbeat monitor beeping awoke me from my sleep. I slowly opened my eyes and started to look around. My vision was blurry and i could hear muffled voices. Words such as "beast", "awake", and "question" filled my ears. I turned my head to thr left and saw the face of a pink mare with a blonde mane. "Good morning." She said in a heavy English accent. "I do apologise for the violent nature of your capture." I didn't say anything and just looked at her. My vision slowly cleared up and I took note of the horn on her head and a clipboard and pen floating in her blue magical aurora. I felt something trickle down my head and between my eyes before dripping of the side of my head. I shook my head trying to get rid of whatever the liquid was. "No, don't do that. We just got the bandages on you." The mare said desperately. "You've lost... alot of blood and we can't afford you to lose more." I tried to move and found myself bound down to some kind of bed. I looked past the mare and saw a pair of familiar antlers. The mare tracked my vision then turned back to me. "I must apologise, we removed your... antlers. We didn't want you to use them as weapons as you have in the past. But we didn't realise just how connected to your skull they were." I slowly began to understand what she was getting at. The bandages where on the stumps of my antlers, all the blood I lost was because of their removal and apparently not the spears. "As I said I do apologise. But we-" I cut the mare of with a few words of my own. "Where... where am I?" I asked. The mare's eyes widened. "Y-you can speak?" She said. "Yes, now please answer my question." "Y-you are in the Ponyville forensics lab." I sighed and I looked to the ceiling. "M-my name is Pen Ink. I am part of an investigation that is looking in to a string of murders. And you fit the profile of the suspect." I heard a paper move and I turned my head to look at Pen Ink. She had geld up a childish picture of what looked like me. "This was made by a young filly who survived a vicious attack. It looks suspiciously alot like you doesn't it?" Pen Ink said. "I have never attacked a foal in my life." I said to her. "Hmm... well this picture says otherwise." The door to the room suddenly slam open and a brown stallion with a grey mane walks in followed by a orange pegisis. "D-detective Note Taker! Y-your here!" The mare said as she stumbled over her words. "Yes. Now leave us. I want to talk to our little guest." Note Taker said as he stared in to my eyes. "Y-yes sir, right away." Pen Ink said as she got up from her chair and ran out the room. The orange pegisis closed the door as Pen Ink left. I stared in to Note Taker's eyes as he stared in to mine. "What do you want?" I asked. InterludeThe scene was horrific, one pony ripped limb from limb with their insides pulled out. It was like looking at a nightmare come to life. The grass was drenched in blood. "Got anything from the wounds?" Note Taker asked. A short yellow maned nurse turned to him and spoke. "Yep. All injuries inflicted correspond to those found on the couple out in the forest." She said. Note Taker, nodded and turned around. "But..." the nurse started again. "They do not match those found in the Royal Castle's dungeons." "What do you mean?" "Despite the attacks being almost identical there is one clear difference." "That being?" Note asked as he raised his eyebrow. "The bite marks are different." The nurse pulled a file over and opened it before laying out three distinct pictures. "This attack and the first attack have identical bite marks while the one in the dungeons is different." She pointed at the pictures. They were different, Note Taker noticed the teeth spacing on the second attack where much more spread out unlike the the other two. "Is it possible there are two of these things?" He asked. "More than possible." The nurse said with a hint of fascination. Note Taker left the nurse to geek out over her findings. He pulled out his pipe and started to smoke. "Thought you gave up on that thing?" Said Autumn as he walked up next to Note. "Well in times like these we need a chance to calm ourselves." They both fell silent for what seemed like hours but was only a few seconds. "You really think there's two of those things out there?" Autumn asked. Note toom the pipe from his mouth a blew the smoke from his nostrils. "All the evidence points to yes." "What if what we are dealing with is not an animal? But rather something much, much worse." " Then what are we dealing with, monsters?" Autumn sighed and looked to the ground. "I don't think we have a word to describe what we're dealing with." Another long silence fell over the two. "Who was the victim this time around?" Note asked suddenly. "Twenty four year old, Cherry Cake. Cause of death... undeterminable." Autumn said in a heavy tone. "Fucking hell. What ever these things are... they must be stopped." Looking down to the ground Note took in the sight of a massive hoof print, a hoof print that didn't match that of a pony, horse or a dear.
PrologueThe flash of a camera filled the room, the smell of blood had filled the air due to the events that had transpired. Ponies with cameras took pictures of the bloodied scene in front of them. A mare and a stallion, both ripped to pieces and positioned in to some kind of ritualistic circle. "So, do we have their identities?" An orange Pegasus asked. As he looked down at the two bodies. "Yes, we were able to find their IDs. A Mrs. Cotton Ball and a Mr. Sweet Tooth." Said one of the ponies working at the scene. "Was their anything else found?" The orange Pegasus asked. "We found their daughter, she's alive but appears to be in a state of shock. She hasn't answered any of our questions." "What's her name?" "Cotton Candy, sir." The orange stallion thanks the other pony and makes his way towards the exit, he looked down one of the hallways and saw a massive hole in the wall at the end, leading to the forest outside. He continued to make his way through the cottage, ducking under the yellow tape as he exited the building. He looked to his right to see the small filly, Cotton Candy, sitting on a wall with a blanket tucked around her. The poor filly's pink coat had been stained red, presumably it was her parent's blood due to the amount. A young mare sat next to the filly, gently rubbing her back and making sure she was ok. The stallion looked down the dirt road to his left and towards a small carriage coming up it. He stood there and waited for it to stop, knowing fine well who was in it. The carriage stopped in front of the orange Pegasus and the side door opened. A brown stallion Earth pony with a grey mane stepped out of the carriage and greeted the Pegasus. "It's good to see you again Autumn." The brown stallion said. "I could say the same to you Note Taker, if it wasn't for the situation." Autumn said. The two stallions slowly made their way over to the cottage as Autumn gave Note Taker a rundown of the situation. Note Taker's eyes locked on to the small filly as they passed them, he ran multiple scenarios through his head to what could have truly happened. "Before you go in I must warn you it's not a pretty sight." Autumn warned. Not Taker simply nodded his head and entered the building. The smell of blood immediately hit his nose. He looked at the walls and saw massive claw marks across them and a bloodied trail on the floor. He continued his journey through the cottage and made it to the blood filled room. In all his time investigating crime scenes he could safely say he had never seen anything like the scene in front of him. Autumn watched as Note Taker exited the cottage, the look on his face said it all. "So... any ideas." Autumn asked. "In all honesty, I don't know what to think," Note Taker admitted. "But there is one person here who knows what happened." He began to make his way towards the young filly who sat by herself now. The filly looked up at Note Taker, she looked so scared. No foal should have to go through what she experienced. Note Taker crouched down to be on eye level with her. "Hello, my name is Note Taker. I am aware you know what happened here and I need you to tell me what happened." Note Taker said in a calming tone. The filly stayed silent, not making a sound. Note Taker observed her behavior and concluded what ever she saw has but her in so much shock she couldn't even speak. This would be troublesome for Note Taker. Then he had an idea, he signaled a mare to bring him a pad of paper and a pencil. The mare quickly gave both items to Note Taker. "Are you able to draw me what you saw?" Note Taker asked. The small filly very slowly nodded her head as she gently took the pad and pencil from him. Then she began to draw something. The filly didn't even look at the page but it was clear that a full imagine was being made and not just random scribbles. In no time at all the filly gave Note Taker the paper, he looked down on it in slight horror and disgust. "Send a letter to the Princess, and send this to her with the letter." Said Note Taker, as he gave the drawing to Autumn. Autumn looked down at the drawing for a moment then nodded before trotting off to send the letter. Unbeknownst to the ponies dark figures watched them from the trees, studying who they were as individuals. "...And that was how my friends and I were able to defeat Discord before he changed for the better." Twilight said to her student. She sat in her personnel quarters at her desk looking over recent letters and documents she had to manage. "Wow, that was quite the story Princess." Luster Dawn admired. She had been studying in the same room as Twilight. She had become invested in the stories that her teacher told her and all her adventures when Twilight was younger. "I will say Luster, it was quite an experience. But nothing compared to my brothers wedding," Twilight said as she thought back on that day. "But that's a story for another time." Luster, let out a sigh of disappointment that she wouldn't hear the story now. But she knew Twilight was right, she couldn't waste all of her stories. The time ticked by and everything fell in to peaceful silence. The silence lasted about fifteen minutes before three knocks were heard on the door. "Come in!" Twilight called. A royal guard opened the door and trotted in holding an envelope in his magical grasp. "Princess this is an urgent letter that just came in for you." The guard said in a monotone voice. "Thank please put it on my desk and I will look at it in a moment." The guard did as he was told before leaving the room, gently closing the door behind them. Twilight picked up the envelope and read who it was from. "Huh, It's from Detective Autumn. Probably about some kind of break in that happened in the castle that I don't know about yet." Twilight assumed to herself. She curiously opened the envelope and pulled out the fist piece of paper. "Your Highness Princess Twilight." "It is with great concern that I write you this letter. As of last night there has been a double homicide in the Everfree Forest Experience Holiday Home. Two ponies have been brutally murdered and dismembered in the home. We have no idea who or what did it, but from their injuries it looks like an animal attack. But when we discovered the bodies they had been arranged in to some kind of circle." "We don't know why they were positioned like this, so we can only assume the attacker or someone else put them in place. There is one witness, the two ponies daughter. She couldn't tell us what she saw, but we could get her to draw it. I have no idea what it is, so if you can aid us in anyway please do so." "Sincerely Detective Autumn." Twilight with a concerned look on her face put the paper down and reached in to the envelope again with her magic and pulled oy the second piece of paper. She quickly unfolded it to see what the drawing could be. When her eyes laid upon the drawing her blood ran cold and her eyes turned to pin pricks. She shot up from her desk and rushed out of her room. "Wait! Princess where are you going?" Luster called out to her teacher, but she was to late, Twilight, was already out of ear shot. Luster, looked back to her teachers desk and saw the last piece of paper Twilight, had looked at had fallen to the floor. She got up and made her way over to it. She slowly picked it up and looked at it. It was a crude childish drawing of a tall thin creature, with a large skull for a head with a mouth full of teeth and two large antlers protruding from it's skull. The picture showed this creature ripping in to two ponies. Author's Note It feels great to continue this story.
RebirthFirst things first, it is extremely boring being locked in a small cell for countless years. It wouldn't be as bad if I wasn't stuck as a fucking disembodied skull. So yeah, that's my situation. Twilight, stopped visiting about... three to four years ago. She said "that there was nothing more she could say to me." Which I completely understand. But it's been lonely. I don't feel much anymore, well physically I don't feel much, mentally I feel lots of thing. I've forgotten what the breeze of the wind feels like, I've forgotten what moving my fingers feels like, and I've forgotten what it's like to feel pain. You could call this true peace, a curss or even Hell. To the ones I hurt, they would call this justice... and they would be right. The sound of thumping hooves across the stone floor caught my attention. Someone running, here? It has been a while since I've heard that. I continued to listen to the thumping as it grew louder and louder. Eventually the door to the room I am kept in crashed open and in stepped none other that Twlight Sparkle. I watched as her eyes laid to rest on me. She let out a sigh if relief and slowly approached me. "Good, your still here." She said to herself reassuringly. "Of course I was going to be here, I don't really have the option to leave now do I?" I watched as her breathing slowed down and she composed herself. She still wasn't aware that I was still technically alive, but that didn't matter. She slowly backed out of the room and closed the door behind herself without even saying good bye. As I've said before, I can't blame her. She doesn't need to know I'm still thinking, still questioning my life. But questions plagued my mind. Why did she come here? And why was she so panicked? I couldn't make heads or tails of it. As if on que I felt my non-existent brain begin to shut down, guiding me in to a gentle sleep. All this thinking and talking to myself in my head had made me tired, to tired to ponder what Twilight was dealing with. My vision slowly faded as I drifted off. Fire, burt wood, blood, and burning books filled was all that I saw, accompanied by the sound of wood crackling as it burned and the building falling down around me. I was here again in the library, no I couldn't be here, I shouldn't be here. "Please don't make me relive this!" I felt my skin boil and blister against the scorching hot flames. Blood oozed from the wound on my head and the fire continued to consume me. I looked out the closest window and saw the ponies all looking on at me as I burned. "Please I just want to leave this place, I just want my old life back!" My begging only increased the intestine of the flames as they swirled around me. A voice called out berating me with my sins. "Do you remember the mare you butchered? Do you remember her friend who looked on as you ripped in to her flesh? Her name was Bon Bon. Do you remember now?" With one final scream of pain I was thrown out of the burning library and back in to the stone prison I was kept in. That dream was the same one I faced every time I tried to sleep. It forced me to relive my final moments before my untimely demise, and forced me to remember those I have slaughtered. I'm a monster, and there isn't much that can change that. There was a sudden click and the door to my room opened. Three ponies trotted in to the room in front of me and kneeled down. Was this still part of the dream? Cause it felt very real. They each pulled out a small jar filled with a red liquid and a paint brush. They opened their jars and dunked their brushes in to them before they began to pain strange symbols on the floor. This was all so... confusing. I didn't understand who they were and why they were here. After some time they put their brushes and jars to the side and bowed before me. The three of them began to chant something and for the first time I felt something. I clenched my eyes shut and welcomed this strange new sensation. I felt cold, so very cold, but yet I felt so alive. I opened my eyes and found myself standing upright. Upright? I looked down and had to take a double take when I saw my body. Granted I wasn't human any more, but rather still the monster I had become. I looked towards the three ponies and saw them all bowed down in front of me. Then one of them spoke up. "Oh great one, teach us how to be like you. Teach us how to join you in this form." The pony said. I was complete and utterly dumbfounded that they would make such a request. Be like me? Why in God's green Earth would they want to be like me? I stood there in complete silence for what seemed like forever. Then I felt something. Something crawling under my skin like a parasite. The hunger, I had forgotten about my hunger. I felt my stomach gurgle as it demanded to be fed. I continued to look at the ponies. I could feel their little hearts beat in the air, I could already taste the blood. I knew what I had to do. I lunged at the pony in the middle and threw them against the wall. There was a sickening crack as they hit it. The other two ponies shot up and looked at me in horror. I quickly spun to my left and rammed my clawed fingers in to their side before peeling them open. I heard rushing hoof steps on my right. As I quickly turned around I snagged the last pony by the tail and pulled them back. I shoved them to the floor and opened my jaws wide. The pony was begging and trying to bargain with me. But my hunger was to strong, I had to feed. I slid the back of their head in to my mouth and slowly began to apply pressure to the back of their skull. They screamed and thrashed about but I held them still. With a sudden crack and bloody crunch, their skull suddenly caved in to the pressure of my jaws. It tasted amazing. The sweet blood trickled down my throat as I ripped in to the dead their bodies and had my first meal in years. There was a sudden sharp pain on my head that brought me out of my hunger induced rage. I reached up to feel what it could be. My broken antler. It still hurt like Hell, even after all these years. I can still remember how I got it. I slammed in to a wall while charging at Twilight. I looked at the bodies around me then at the still open door. I crouched down and stepped out of my room. When I stepped out I almost tripped over something. I looked down and saw a guard with their throat slit. Whoever had brought me back to life did it for a reason. I suspect they need me for something. Author's Note He's back!
FreedomThe feeling of the stone floor under my feet felt so good. It had been years since I had walked on literally anything. I picked the last remnants of crushed bones and flesh from my teeth with one of my long claws, once they were out, I flicked them off to the side of the hall. As I walked through the stone halls of the dungeon, I found more and more deceased guards. Most of them had their necks slashed, other had multiple stab wounds in vital places. The ponies who brought me back from the dead clearly wanted me for something. They asked to be taught how to be like me, so maybe they wanted to be cannibalistic freaks? I don't know, but right now they don't matter. I continued my journey through the endless maze of stone walls. Slowly but surely I entered in to a new area that I had very much never seen before, still with the plain stone walls of course. After what felt like half an hour I found a clean wooden door. Upon opening I looked on at a small staircase that led upwards. So, I decided to slowly climb up them. The celling was to low for me to stand upright, so I was forest to walk on all fours, which was surprisingly effective. My long arms helped with it a lot. As I made it to the top of the stairs I was greeted by yet another door. I slowly opened it and peeked out of the stairwell. I saw a clean marble floor with a beautiful red carpet running down the middle of it. The walls where the same shiny marble as the floor. I had to say, I would kill for a place like this back in my world. I crept out of the stairwell and out in to the large corridor. I looked left, then I looked right. Both ways looked the exact same so really I just had to pick one and go with it. I chose to go left down the corridor. The red carpet felt wonderful, it was soft and comfy I could have just laid down on it and took a nap. But I knew better and decided to keep moving. This place was wonderful and so very bright. I wish I could have stayed but if Twilight, found that I was gone, she would have the entire castle swept just to find me. I would uncountably be caught. I heard the sound of hooves gently walking along a split in the hall. My mind began to panic and I looked around for an escape. There, a small door. I rushed over to the door, sung it open and entered. It was a tight fitting cupboard, filled with janitorial equipment. I hid behind some large sheets that where also in the cupboard, just so I could conceal myself more. The hoof grew closer and slowly sped up. They were coming in my direction and as they grew closer, I heard the sound of a mare giggling. "Where should we do it." I heard the mare say just beyond from the door. "Well I was thinking in there, no one would find us." I heard a stallion say. I peeked out of the sheets for a moment and saw the cupboard door slowly open. I watched as a maid entered the cupboard, she was the followed by a stallion in guards amour. The maid twirled around to meet the guard with a kiss. "Oh, shit!" I thought to myself. I carefully watched as the stallion shut the door behind him with his hind leg as he returned the kiss. "Fucking, couples." The kiss grew and grew, until they were forcibly undressing each other. There were three ways this could go. I could let do their business the leave, let my presence be known, or they could spot me. The guard practically picked the mare of the ground with his forelegs then spun her around so her back was against the door. She had her forelegs wrapped around his neck. "For the love of God, please don't do this to me." "Do you smell that?" The mare said suddenly, as she stopped kissing her partner. "What do you mean?" He responded. The stallion sniffed the air. "Oh, oh my! What is that smell?" I had forgotten that I probably gave off the smell of a corpse. I silently cursed myself for smelling so bad. My eyes locked on to the mare as I saw her squinting at me in the dark, as if she wasn't sure if I was there. I slowly, very slowly began to move my head back behind the sheets. The mare let out a scream, the stallion turned around and locked eyes with me. He screamed as well and they both tumbled out of the door. They scrambled to their hooves as I walked out. I towered over both of them and they looked at me in horror. Before I could do anything, they where halfway down the hall already. I watched the couple as they turned a corner and left my line of site. That was one of the most unconfutable two minutes of my life. I looked back in to the cupboard and shivered at the thought on what I could have seen. I decided to grab one of the sheets I hid behind and threw it around myself like some kind of cloak. Was it practical? No, But at least I would be somewhat obscured from the outside world. I continued my march to find an exit to the castle. I had never been here before so it was a little tricky to navigate the endless amount of halls and rooms. Eventually I stumbled upon a window. I looked out of it, finally able to see the outside world. It was night and there was a massive thunderstorm going on. I shuddered, remembering this was the same weather as my first night in this world. The three fillies in the tree house and how I scared them. How I beat Applejack to a pulp in the middle of the road. I shook my head clear of my thoughts. My only concern should be to get out of here. If I couldn't find the exit, I could always make one. I looked at the window and brought my fist up. I slammed it against the glass and it immediately shattered instantly. Finally... Freedom.
Return To The EverfreeThe streets where dowsed in rain, the sheet I had taken was soaking wet and I was colder than ever. The streets of Canterlot were nothing like I expected, I was expecting something more like Ponyville. Wooden houses, with thatch roofs, not giant buildings that look like they are made of marble. If I could have, I probably would have stolen a block of marble to sell and pay of my student loans back home. Home... I haven't thought of home in a long, long time. Back when I was normal, back before I was cursed. But with what I have done, there is no going back to that life. I looked down at my hands and remembered all those I have killed and hurt. It didn't matter now, what's done is done and more people where going to die as long as I lived. So best course of action, return to the forest next to Ponyville. It was the safest place I could think of, well safe for me at least, the ponies, not so much. It was the perfect place to hide. Uncountably Twilight, will send the whole royal guard after me once she notices I'm gone. I continued through the streets, trying to find a quicker way to Ponyville. I could have been walking in circles, all the streets looked the same. When I was going to give up and hide somewhere, I found a set of train tracks. Where there were tracks, there were trains. I slowly followed them them, hoping they would lead me somewhere useful. As luck would have it, they did indeed lead somewhere useful, Canterlot Train Station to be precise. Well at least that's what I believed it to be. I slowly crept closer to the station, being carful not to walk out in to the open. As I got closer I heard the sounds of three distinct voices. Two stallions, one much younger than the other and a mare. "How many crates do we have left?" One of the stallions said. "Only four more sir." The mare responded. "Alright let's get them loaded up quickly, we want them at Ponyville tonight." Ponyville. This was my ticket out of this city. I crept closer and closer to the voices and peaked around a corner. There they were, the three ponies. They were lifting crates up on to a train. It looked like a cargo train, which made it perfect for me. I crept around the ponies, being carful not to walk in to their line of sight. I made my way to the rear of the train before climbing on board. I hid myself between two crates and hoped no one would get on board with me. Thankfully that didn't happen. I heard the ponies yell to the driver that all the crates where on board. Not a minute after that, the train began to move. The train let out a whistle as it began to pick up speed. For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt free. I felt like an unstoppable force. But whith these feelings, came thoughts. Who where the ponies who brought me back from the dead and more importantly why? They claimed they wanted to be like me. I assumed that they wanted to be monsters, just like me. The questions crawled through my head, demanding answers. But non came, just the questions over and over. I hadn't even realised we had arrived at Ponyville until I heard a stallion yell. I toom that as my cue to get off the train and find a place to hide. The town looked different from when I last saw it. It still had the same basic structure of houses but there where more of them with some enhancements. I could say I was impressed at the progress the ponies had made, but who am I kidding, they still don't have the internet. God I miss the internet. I began to make my way through the town and towards the forest. Even after all these years I could still remember where it was. Memories flooded back in to my head, memories of stealing food and sneaking around in the night. I continued to walk before I came across a pretty over the top sight. Where the tree house library used to be stood a tall crystal tree house? Honestly I didn't like it. Didn't fit with the rest of the town. With a grown and a bad memory I marched on towards the forest, swiping a loaf of bred from a passing food stall. Even after all these years they still don't put their food away. After a while I saw it, I found it. The Everfree Forest. A wave of nostalgia hit me like a truck... and it felt amazing. I took a bite from the loaf of bred and marched in to the forest. The forest hadn't changed much. Ian why would it. It was a forest after all. But it had indeed changed. The ponies had made roads in to it and set up a few houses. I made sure to stay clear of them. Didn't want to attract any unwanted attention. I had one target in mind... my cave, the place I could home. I walked deeper in to the forest. The dirt, rocks and sticks under my feet felt amazing. Never in my life did I think I would be happy to walk barefoot in a forest. I quickened my pace, exited to return to my home away from home. I don't know what was in the air but it felt like the forest welcomed my return, as if it was happy I was back. I slowed down as I saw it come in to view. My cave it looked identical to how I left it. Atleast from the outside. I began to take the sheet I was using as a cloak off. I would've smiled if I psychically could've. But I didn't need to. I approached the mouth of the cave and threw the sheet to the side. I sighed in relief that I had made it back. But that relief was short lived. There was an loud growl from deeper in the cave. I looked in to the darkness and watched as a bear ran out of the darkness at me. I moved to one side and let the bear pass me. It turned and looked at me with a fierce gaze. I looked back with a gaze more powerful. This animal had taken refuge in my cave, my home while I was absent! No I couldn't have that. With all the power in body I let out a roar and sprinted at the bear. It tried to run but I was already on top of it. I bit in to it's neck and held of tightly. Despite it's efforts it couldn't shake me off. My hand came up to it's face and I grasped it's head. My other arm slashed at the bears body. I felt the bear begin to lose strength. My jaws let go for just a moment before clamping back down and thrashing the bear neck. It stopped moving after a while and I let it drop to the floor. Blood pooled out of the bears mouth. I moved down to the bears side and slashed it open with my claws. I ripped in to it with my jaws and I savoured every bite. I was back and nothing, no one could stop me.
A Strolle Through The ForestI spent my first night back at the cave feasting on the bear I had found in my home. Honestly, it tasted great. I never thought bears would be so damn tasty. It took me roughly two and a half hours to pick the bones clean of any flesh. And for the rest of the night, I slept. I wanted to have the energy to go out in to the sun once again. When I woke up, I grabbed the sheet I had used the previous night as a cloak and tossed it around myself yet again. I was excited to see the sun again after who knows how many years. I would've have smiled, but alas I couldn't. I made my way to the entrance of the cave and stepped my foot out in to the sun. I could feel it's heat and it was wonderful. I stepped further out until my entire body was bathed in the warm light. The trees broke apart perfectly so that the sun could shine down on this one spot. I tilted my head to the sky and relished in the feeling. My moment was interrupted by a small needing in my stomach and the back of my head. I was hungry again, even after eating an entire bear in one night. I sighed and began to walk through the forest in a random direction. I listened to the sound of animals all around me. I heard the birds above me, squirrels scampering up and down the trees. It was lovely. The forest was alive, just like me. The sound of running water came from in front of me. I quickened my pace towards the sound. After just a few seconds I saw it. The river I was all to familiar with. It had been a long time since I had seen a body of water like this. Without a second thought I ran to the rivers edge and stuck my mouth in to the water. I took in one gulp of water, then another and another. I only felt better than ever. The river brought back so much nostalgia. Not all of it good. I shook those thoughts away and looked at my reflection in the water. My skull face had been stained red with the blood of the bear. With a quick chuckle I crawled in to a shallow area of the river and began to bathe myself. I felt so much better after that little bath. My face was its usual off colour of white again and I felt at peace. Well accept for my hunger which demanded to be satisfied. I continued my strole through the forest until I came across a peculiar sight. Two ponies where having a picnic in a sunny clearing. To was rather odd to me as ponies used to never enter rhe forest, yet here was this couple eating sandwiches and kissing. My stomach growled, yearning to be fed. I crept closer to the clearing and crouched low to the ground. All the sounds of the forest had stopped, as if the animals knew what was coming. The points took note of the sudden lack of sound as well and had started to look around. Thankfully both their backs were turned to me. This only made what I was about to do much easier. I began to move out of the bushes and in to the clearing, trying to make as little noise as possible. There was a small crack then a sudden snap from under my foot. I looked down to see I had stood on a branch. My eyes darted to look at the ponies. They were now looking at me in wide eyed horror. As soon as the rest of my head came up to look at them they both let out a scream and sprinted away from me. I let out a sigh and stood up straight. I walked to where the couple had been eating and began to search the basket they had brought. A few sandwiches, a couple apples, some grapes and two chocolate bars. But no meat. Not that it surprised me of course. I took the white and red blanket that they had been sitting on and stuffed it in to the basket before picking it up and walking back the way I came. When I entered the trees all the sounds of the forest came back. I was slightly disappointed that I couldn't catch a meal that would satisfy my hunger, but I was grateful I didn't have to kill anyone. I began to walk back to my cave my mouth drooling at the thought of eating chocolate again. While walking back to the cave I decided to take a slightly longer route. I wanted to make up as much time as I could. I made sure to sniff every new flower I saw and brush my hands across the trees. My nice walk came to a sudden but surprising stop when I saw something most strange. A wooden cabin, or was ot a cottage? It doesn't matter, what matters is that it was just out in the middle of the forest. My curiosity got the better of my and I approached it. As I got closer I noticed that the front door was sealed of by yellow police tape. I extended my free hand towards the tape before retracting it. But once again curiosity won. I ripped the tape away and entered the wooden building. Thank god for that broken antler or my head wouldn't have fit through the damn door. I took in my surroundings and noted that everything was rather messy, but not in the traditional sense. The wall looked as if they had been ripped apart by something and there was an ominous brown streak across the floor. I slowly followed the streak in to a nice open room. At the end of the streak was a massive brown stain. I slowly backed out the room, realising I had just tampered with a rather serious looking murder scene. I made my way out the cottage and decided to go straight back to my cave. I didn't want to poke around that place anymore than I already did. The journey back to the cave was rather uneventful. As I got closer a familiar smell caught my attention. The all to recognizable smell of blood was in the air and it was coming in the direction of my cave. I quickened my pace to a light jog. Once I arrived I found what was making the smell. There was a rather fresh looking dear carcass at the entrance to the cave. It didn't look like it had been eaten but rather just had it's throat slit and it's stomach sliced open. I noticed all its legs were tied together with a rope that was also formed in to a bow. It was like somekind of sick and twisted present. Despite my hunger craving meat, the carcass didn't take my fancy. I stepped right over it and in to the cave. I would deal with it later, but at that moment, I was fixated on the picnic basket.
An Unexpected GiftI awoke to the sounds of a struggle come from the entrance of my cave. My vision was blurry and the darkness didn't help at all. The sounds only intensified as my body began to fully take hold of its surroundings. I looked to the entrance of cave and saw the strangest thing. There were ponies. At first I thought there was only two of them, but there was three. Two of them were standing up and the third one was on the ground. It was so strange. The pony of the ground squirmed and thrashed about, as if they were trying to escape. The other two held them down with their forelegs. I could feel my hunger grow and scream in my head as I watched the scene unfold. I slowly got up and moved towards the ponies, I could soon here them speaking the two ponies standing up where both male and one on the ground was gagged, but their muffled whines and screams made me believe it was a mare. "Just hold still and it will all be over soon." One of the stallions said. The mare of course did not calm down but rather thrashed about more. "The great one is hungry and we must appease his appetite." Was this the cult who revived me? Did they want to give this mare as a sacrifice? I crept closer and closer. I noticed the other stallion had a large dear skull mask placed over his head as if he was trying to imitate my own face. He hadn't spoken alot but rather just stared at the mare. At this point the mare had stopped trying to scream and had just begun crying. I decided to make my move. With a screeching roar I ran towards the ponies. Both the stallions looked towards me the one without a mask was grinning madly. His grin immediately faded when I came straight towards him. I knocked him to the ground with my antlers before biting in to his chest and stomach. He screamed and tried to scramble away. I thrashed him around in the dirt as my jaws tightened. I released for but a moment before biting down on his neck. I slowly stood up with his neck in my jaws, he gasped and squirmed to no avail. With all the strength in my neck I thrashed his body down to the ground. There was a sickening snap as the stallions head was almost severed from his body. I released his neck and turned to the masked stallion, but he was not there. He must of ran of as soon as I grabbed his friend. Bellow me I could hear sharp breathing, I looked down and saw the mare staring up at me in absolute horror. Her legs where hog-tied together by a rope and a rope gagged in her mouth. Something about this mare seemed so... familiar, but I couldn't quite figure it out. I picked her up and threw her over one of my shoulders. She struggled against me and I could hear her muffled protests. I held her in place with one arm and used my free arm to drag the deceased stallion back in to the cave. Once I reached the back of the cave I put the mare down to one side and put the stallion down across from her. I kneeled in front of the stallion with my back facing the mare. My hunger was killing me so i began to eat. I couldn't lie and say I didn't enjoy it. The taste was bitter, but not to bitter, just the right amount. I heard the mare begin to move behind me, I turned and saw that she was trying to shuffle her way to the caves exit. She didn't even notice me get up and walk towards her. I grabbed the ropes that binded her legs and draged her back to where I put her. She tried to scream but the ropes stopped her from doing so. I saw the tears in her eyes as she fixated her gaze on to me. I looked right back at her. She was definitely familiar to me, but how? She was a unicorn but I had seen plenty of those. Maybe it wad her blonde mane, her light purple coat or maybe even her golden eyes. It took a while but then it struck me. This mare was the filly I met all those years ago. The one with the mother who's eyes didn't look straight. The only two creatures to show me kindness. I didn't know what to think, my mind was racing. "It's... it's you." I stuttered out. The mare immediately looked shocked that I spoke to her. Her wide eyes were fixed on my mouth. My hands slowly came up to the rope that had her gagged. With a small flick of my claw the rope wad cut and I removed it from her. Her lips trembled. "Y-you know me?" She asked. I let out a small chuckle at her question. "Of course I know you. It was a long time ago but we have indeed met before." "How?" Her voice was still full of fear but she was calming down. "Well when you were younger I broke in to your house and you and your mother treated me like a guest." I looked away from the mare. "I- I don't remember." She said. "I don't blame you. You were very young." I continued to talk with the mare for a while, I eventually trusted her enough to cut her legs free. I asked her about her mother and she told me that she was in the hospital for something rather serious. I didn't want to pry so I left it at that. Our conversation led to us discussing how she ended up here. Apparently those two stallions broke in to her house and kidnapped her two days ago. All she wanted was to go home. I stopped talking for a moment and began to think. After a while I told her I would take her home. I could see the excitement in her eyes at the idea of returning to her home. Before we left I gave her the picnic basket I stole and all the left over food in it. I left the cave and she followed closely behind me. I could tell she was still afraid of me and didn't fully trust me, but I couldn't blame her, she did just watch me kill and eat someone. We walked through the forest for a few minutes until we arrived at the edge of the forest. There it was, Ponyville. Couldn't say I liked the place but I didn't hate it. I turned to the mare and spoke to her. "You ok to go alone from here?" I asked. "Yeah, I should be fine." She walked out of the forest and towards the small town. I turned and began to go back in to the forest. "Oh my names Dinkey Hooves by the way. What's your name?" I turned my head to see her looking back at me expectantly. It was a good question and a question I hadn't answered in years. "I don't remember my name."
ConfrontationI watched my prey from the canopy of the forest. A blissfully unaware deer stood bellow me. I had been stalking it for the past hour or so, waiting for the perfect time to strike and right now was the perfect time. I dropped down from the tree and slashed the deer in its hind leg. It let out a yelp and took off. The chase was now on. I sprinted after it. With my prey injured this was easy for me. In no time at all I sprinted the deer down and bit down on to its back. It let out another yelp. I grabbed it and dug my claws in to it's back before swinging my upper jaw down on to the back of it's neck. I heard a snap as the deer's neck broke under the sudden force. I slowly removed my jaws from the deer's neck and rolled it on to it's side. With the claw on my index finger I sliced up the deer's stomach, slowly opening its internals to the outside world. I slowly began to remove the insides of my prey. I ate most of it but some I left as I didn't find them to appetising. Ever since my return I had gained more control over my hunger. It had become easier and easier to control myself as the days went by. I tried to be more collective and calm during my meals, you could say I was trying to be more... "human" if you could still call me that. I continued to enjoy my meal in the quite of the forest. It seemed whenever I finished a hunt a defining silence came over the forest, as if all that animals wished to stay hidden. This made hearing things alot easy... such as the hoof steps approaching from behind me. I slowly turned my head to face the sound and there stood several white ponies in golden armour. They raised their spears at me and slowly moved forward. In retaliation I let out a shrieking roar. They stopped for a moment before continuing their advance. I slowly stood to my full height and I watched as they seemed to go paler than white. I suddenly jumped at them and tackled the first one to the ground. He screamed for help as I dug my claws in to his forelegs. Once my claws where deep enough, I suddenly yanked them out, removing massive amounts of flesh from the stallions legs. I heard the next one charging behind Mr and with one turn and a heavy swing of my hand I smacked him in to a tree, probably cracking a few ribs as well. I quickly picked up the first guards spear and charged down the final guard. In a fit of panic he threw his spear like a javelin at me. I simply stepped out the way, continuing my charge I lifted the spear I held and drove it in to the guards head. I stood over the fallen guard and caught my breath. It had been a while since I moved that fast, so I wasn't quite used to it. Behind me I heard a small click then a flash went off. Turning my head I saw a new pony. A young unicorn mare who was pink with an orangey blonde mane. She stood looking at me with a trembling lip. Just next to her was a camera floating in her magical aura. That's what the flash was. She had taken a picture of me. She slowly began to back up before she turned tail and ran. As if on instinct I chased after her. My powerful legs kicked up the dirt behind me as I sprinted after her. I knew it would take me no time at all to catch her, after all I was definitely faster. But I knew it was a simple question of speed verses stamina. I was slowly but surely gaining on her, as I got closer I stretched out my hands and got ready to grab her. I felt a sudden kick strike the side of my face and I tumbled to the ground. I looked back up and saw the guard I had smacked in to a tree only minutes before the chase. His was hovering in the air with his wings. He slowly landed on the ground and flared out his wings. He looked at the mare and yelled. "Keep going, I'll buy you some time!" "But it what if-" the mare tried to say before being cut off. "I said go Luster!" She nodded and continued to run. I watched her go, before my eyes locked with the guard's. I slowly got up of the ground to my full height and roared at the guard. He snarled at me and flapped his wings. Without hesitation I charged at him. He used his wings to lift himself off the ground but it was to late. I grabbed his hind leg and yanked him back down the ground. He hit the ground with a thud and he let out a sharp hiss. I grabbed him by the face and two of my fingers entered his mouth. My other hand wrapped around the back of his neck and pushed down. With the first hand I began to pull back. He let out a pained scream but I kept going. It didn't take long for his neck to break, once it was broken I gave one last hard pull and removed his head. I tossed it to the side and took in a deep breath. I looked in the direction the mare had ran. She was long gone. I decided to go back to the deer carcass and finish my meal. Once I was done with the dear, I walked over to the guard with the spear in its head and pulled it out. I examined the weapon and wiped the blood off it. This would do nicely.
A Meal for TwoSleep. Sleep was what I yearned for. Despite my best efforts my body and mind refused to rest. I had tried and failed to get comfortable with sheet I still had, well now it was less of a sheet and more of a torn up rag now. I had tossed and turned but nothing worked, even eating the remains of one of the guards didn't work. I let out a sigh and looked to the mouth of the cave, before getting up. I grabbed the sheet and threw it around myself like a cloak and walked out of the cave. I decided to to stroll through the forest I had become so familiar with. I knew every good hiding spot and how strong each branch in the trees where. In a way I would say I was truly one with nature. Despite my loss of humanity and my violent tendency, I would say my life has improved in a way. Sure no one here wants to converse with a monster, but I was fine with that. I continued to walk getting closer and closer to the edge of the forest and towards Ponyville. I let out a sigh and got ready to turn back. That was until something caught my ear. It sounded like an animal eating. I slowly followed the sound and saw a pair of antlers peaking over a bush. Very oddly shaped antlers. They were massive and looked to have grown in a violent manner. I pushed from the shrubbery and my eyes locked on to something I thought I would never see. A large thin creature with a skull like head, with antlers protruding out of it. It looked practically identical to me. The main differences that it had to me was that instead of feet it had two very large hooves and its hands only had three fingers, including the thumbs. Its waist was incredibly thin, so thin that I could probably count each of it vertebrae individually. I didn't dare to get closer. I was in absolute shock. Another creature like me? How was this possible? I took a step back, and the crunch of leaves was heard. The creature in front of me stooped and slowly turned its head towards me. Its skull like head was slightly crooked and its jaw had been warped so it curved down a little and those eyes, oh those eyes scared me. Unlike my empty sockets, this one had a crimson glow coming from them and it stared at me like a predator watching it's prey. I mentally gulped and watched the creature and dared not take my eyes of it. It looked at me for a few moments before going back to eating. I looked down to see it was eating the remains of a gold and silver mare. Her face was nothing but a mangled mess now. I felt my heart twist in my chest. I couldn't understand why, I had killed ponies before and I had eaten them. After my revival I had only killed those who threatened me or had done wrong. I slowly got closer to my doppelganger and it let out a huff. I walked around it and sat at the opposite side of the carcass. It looked up at me before going back to it's meal. I was at a loss of words. This thing didn't seem bothered by my presence, it just seemed at peace. I decided to take a risk and reached out to the carcass and ripped a chunk off. It paused for a moment and I inhaled sharply. My worries were put at ease when it continued to eat. I took a bite out of the chunk of flesh and studied the creature. It was so off putting to see something so familiar yet so... twisted. It was similar to looking in to a broken mirror. I took another chunk of flesh and ate it. I wondered if it could speak and decided to talk to it. "Umm, hello?" It's head shot up to look at me and it let out gurgling growl. I let out a nervous chuckle and slowly got up "I'll just be going now." The creature lunged at me and I felt it bite in to my shoulder. I yelled and pushed it off of me. I felt my shoulder and felt blood gushing out of my wound. I looked at my attacker and saw it pacing back and fourth on all fours. I stepped back and it made another lunge for me. I stepped out the way and it tubled in to the bushes. I heard it screech and it run in the opposite direction of me. I stood there in shock. The pain of my shoulder brought me back to the situation. I grasped my wound and winced. I slowly went back in the direction of my cave. On my way back I passed a small stream and I came up with an idea. I removed my make shift cloak and cleaned it in the water. After that was done I tided it around my shoulder and tightened it. I let out a sharp hiss of pain and got a move on back to the cave. The journey back to the cave took longer than I would have liked. Upon my arrival back to the cave I collapsed on the cave floor. My shoulder felt as if it was on fire. I stifled a scream as my shoulder connected to the ground. I felt the blood seep through the sheet. I grasped at my injury, trying to stop the flow of blood, but in return all I felt was a sharp pain. I finally let out a scream and rolled on to my back. My body twitched and shook. After a few moments I could feel the pain start to subside and I could feel sleep trying to take hold. In a matter of moments my vision began to fade until everything went black.
The HospitalThe red reflection of blood off the floor was all that I could see in the black void I found myself in. I could hear the blood slosh with every step I took. I walked aimlessly, without purpose in no real direction. But yet I felt I was getting close to something. The sound of a second set of sloshes followed behind me. I instinctively turned around to see what it was. But there was nothing, nothing but ripples in the blood. I turned back and almost jumped out of skin. Standing inches away from me was my doppelganger, drenched in the blood, as if it had risen from it. I slowly began to walk backwards, praying it would go away. It's mouth slowly opened and it let put a pained screech. I wanted to look away or run but I couldn't. In a matter of seconds it lunged towards me, prepared to rip me apart. Before it made contact, I jolted awake in my cave and let out a scream as my shoulder shot waves of pain through my body. I slowly looked to my injury only to be greeted by the sight of blackened blood pouring from my shoulder. I slowly brought my hand up to my injury and gently touched it. In less than a second another wave of pain shot through my body. I gritted my teeth and bit back a scream. After laying on the floor for a few moments I finally got up. With every move of my shoulder it felt as if it was trying to pull itself apart. I continued to grit my teeth in pain as I slowly made my way to the exit of my cave. As I stepped out I felt rain fall and hit my shoulder, the cold water numbed my wound as I matched forward. I knew this was no ordinary injury. The colour of my blood made that clear. I figured that Ponyville could have something I could use to help me. Maybe a pharmacy or doctors office, he'll maybe would get lucky and find a hospital. But even then, maybe cutting my arm of at the shoulder would be the best course of action. With a terrible plan to run through Ponyville to find medical supplies in my head I set off towards the town. The ponies in the hospital's lobby screamed. Some of them ran away, some hid under chairs and desks, others were to scared to move. My journey to the hospital had been surprisingly smooth until now. Due to the rain there was barely anyone in the streets. It wasn't until I stepped through the hospital's front doors that ever went to hell. At lest for the ponies. I made my way past the front desk and down one of the many halls. I didn't want to rush in fear that my injury would flare with pain again. I walked slowly down the long hall hoping to find where they kept their medicines. I could hear the ponies in the rooms next to me let out gasps of fear as I walked by. I didn't bother to look through the windows to their rooms, I knew they be on the other side of the room. It didn't take long for me to find a small counter with a sighn above it that read "Prescriptions." I figured this was the place and climbed over the counter. I walked in to the back and found an abundance of different medicines. I may have found where I needed to go but there was one massive problem. I had no idea what medication I needed. I decided to grab one of the bottles of pills and read the lable. "Vicodin." I shrugged and opened the bottle. "Bottoms up." I said to myself before chugging the small bottle. I swallowed the pills with ease and was immediately hit with this numbing feeling. I looked at my wound and poked it. Blood spilled out but there was no pain. It was at that moment I remembered what Vicodin was. It was a pain killer. I laughed at myself. "Who am I Gregory House, now?" I threw the empty bottle behind me and moved on to the next bottle. Eighty six bottles. I had consumed eighty six bottles of drugs in the span of nine minutes. It was honestly rather impressive that I consumed that many and that I had not been sick. "I hope I don't accidentally overdose on the way home" I stepped back to the small Pharmacy's front desk and climbed back over it. To my right I heard several hoof steps come to a stop accompanied by some short gasps. I looked towards the sounds and saw a small group of guards. But there was one thing that stood out to me. One tall and purple Alicorn. Twilight, she was here with the guards. I was frozen with shock. Of all the places a would meet her again, I did not expect it to be here, especially after I had consumed a ridiculous amount drugs. "Get it!" One of the guards yelled before they charged at me. I instinctively ran the opposite direction. I felt so full of energy, like nothing could stop me. I had out ran the guards in no time. I slowed down slightly and turned a corner. Upon turning that corner I was met with a room full of more guards. They all immediately yelled and began to charge at me. I in return turned the other way and ran. I knew I would be sandwiched between the two groups of guards so I had to think of something. I noticed on my left was a stair case. At the last possible second I turned to my left and practically lunged up the stairs like an animal. Upon reaching the top I sprinted in a random direction. I took every possible turn I could to loose my pursuers. At some point I could no longer hear there yelling or their hoof steps. I finally slowed down to a silent walk. I explored the first floor of the hospital and looked in some of the rooms, most of them where empty wards, some had ponies in them. I didn't bother looking in the occupied ones for obvious reasons. Eventually I saw a very different room at the corner of my eye. I walked backwards a bit and looked at it. Through the window I could see the room was completely white with bags full of red fluid in them hanging from metal stands. I opened the door and walked in. The room was cold and the smell of fresh blood flooded the air. I looked at the bags and lightly licked my teeth. "Well since I'm hear I may as well grab a snack." Author's Note I'm back... again.
Not As PlannedI sat in the middle of the white room now soaked with crimson blood. I looked down at my hands then at the empty blood packs that littered the room. "What the fuck in wrong with me." I said to myself as I got up. I walked out of the room and checked both ways down the corridor before turning left. I kept my pace at a steady stroll, not wanting to make to much noise. A sign on my left pointed to a pair of doors that seemed to be toilets. I fave my hands another look. "I may as well clean of here." I looked at the two doors and the signs. I picked the one with a stallion on it and tried to enter. Immediately it felt like I got stuck. I stepped back and tilted my head before trying again. I got stuck again. I reached up to my head and felt my antlers. They were noticeably bigger than when I had first arrived. I sighed knowing what the problem was. I tilted my head in a very awkward and uncomfortable angle and tried to enter. I made it further than last time but got stuck again. After some struggling I finally got my head through the door. Once I got the rest of myself through I walked to.the sink and looked at myself in the mirror. Most of upper body was drenched in blood. I groaned and turned on the tap before I started to clean the blood off. As I cleaned the blood off something in my head compelled me to hum a small tune to myself. At first I didn't recognise the tune but the more I hummed the more I recognised it. Eventually I remembered the entire song. A wave of nostalgia hit me and I couldn't help but sing. "And now, the end is near." "And so I face the final curtain," "My friend, I'll say it clear," "I'll state my case, of which I'm certain." In no time the sing was in full swing, for the first time in a while a genuine smile crossed my boney face. But to me, it felt like my old face. By the time I was done signing I had washed all the blood off of me. I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled again. "Maybe I am still human after all?" In the corner of my eye I saw something move in the reflection of the mirror. One of the stall doors slowly opened, I watched as a stallion poked hid head out and look at me. He immediately gasped in fear. I slowly turned to look at him. He screamed and ran out the stall and out the door. "Help, the monster is here!" He yelled as he ran down the hall. I rolled my eyes and walked to the door and got my head through it with some mild discomfort. I stepped back out in to the hall and was immediately hit by something sharp in my shoulder. I yelled in pain and looked at my shoulder to see a long iron spear sticking out of it. I looked down the hall and saw a group of guards running at me. I stumbled back before another spear struck me. This time in the thigh. I let out a pained screech as the spear when through my leg. "Remember the Princess wants this thing alive." One of the guards said. I fell to one knee and tried to pull the spear out my leg, before I could remove it the blunt end of a spear struck me across the jaw, causing me to fall backwards on to the ground. I looked up for less than a second before being struck again. This time my vision went dark. The sound of a heartbeat monitor beeping awoke me from my sleep. I slowly opened my eyes and started to look around. My vision was blurry and i could hear muffled voices. Words such as "beast", "awake", and "question" filled my ears. I turned my head to thr left and saw the face of a pink mare with a blonde mane. "Good morning." She said in a heavy English accent. "I do apologise for the violent nature of your capture." I didn't say anything and just looked at her. My vision slowly cleared up and I took note of the horn on her head and a clipboard and pen floating in her blue magical aurora. I felt something trickle down my head and between my eyes before dripping of the side of my head. I shook my head trying to get rid of whatever the liquid was. "No, don't do that. We just got the bandages on you." The mare said desperately. "You've lost... alot of blood and we can't afford you to lose more." I tried to move and found myself bound down to some kind of bed. I looked past the mare and saw a pair of familiar antlers. The mare tracked my vision then turned back to me. "I must apologise, we removed your... antlers. We didn't want you to use them as weapons as you have in the past. But we didn't realise just how connected to your skull they were." I slowly began to understand what she was getting at. The bandages where on the stumps of my antlers, all the blood I lost was because of their removal and apparently not the spears. "As I said I do apologise. But we-" I cut the mare of with a few words of my own. "Where... where am I?" I asked. The mare's eyes widened. "Y-you can speak?" She said. "Yes, now please answer my question." "Y-you are in the Ponyville forensics lab." I sighed and I looked to the ceiling. "M-my name is Pen Ink. I am part of an investigation that is looking in to a string of murders. And you fit the profile of the suspect." I heard a paper move and I turned my head to look at Pen Ink. She had geld up a childish picture of what looked like me. "This was made by a young filly who survived a vicious attack. It looks suspiciously alot like you doesn't it?" Pen Ink said. "I have never attacked a foal in my life." I said to her. "Hmm... well this picture says otherwise." The door to the room suddenly slam open and a brown stallion with a grey mane walks in followed by a orange pegisis. "D-detective Note Taker! Y-your here!" The mare said as she stumbled over her words. "Yes. Now leave us. I want to talk to our little guest." Note Taker said as he stared in to my eyes. "Y-yes sir, right away." Pen Ink said as she got up from her chair and ran out the room. The orange pegisis closed the door as Pen Ink left. I stared in to Note Taker's eyes as he stared in to mine. "What do you want?" I asked.
InterludeThe scene was horrific, one pony ripped limb from limb with their insides pulled out. It was like looking at a nightmare come to life. The grass was drenched in blood. "Got anything from the wounds?" Note Taker asked. A short yellow maned nurse turned to him and spoke. "Yep. All injuries inflicted correspond to those found on the couple out in the forest." She said. Note Taker, nodded and turned around. "But..." the nurse started again. "They do not match those found in the Royal Castle's dungeons." "What do you mean?" "Despite the attacks being almost identical there is one clear difference." "That being?" Note asked as he raised his eyebrow. "The bite marks are different." The nurse pulled a file over and opened it before laying out three distinct pictures. "This attack and the first attack have identical bite marks while the one in the dungeons is different." She pointed at the pictures. They were different, Note Taker noticed the teeth spacing on the second attack where much more spread out unlike the the other two. "Is it possible there are two of these things?" He asked. "More than possible." The nurse said with a hint of fascination. Note Taker left the nurse to geek out over her findings. He pulled out his pipe and started to smoke. "Thought you gave up on that thing?" Said Autumn as he walked up next to Note. "Well in times like these we need a chance to calm ourselves." They both fell silent for what seemed like hours but was only a few seconds. "You really think there's two of those things out there?" Autumn asked. Note toom the pipe from his mouth a blew the smoke from his nostrils. "All the evidence points to yes." "What if what we are dealing with is not an animal? But rather something much, much worse." " Then what are we dealing with, monsters?" Autumn sighed and looked to the ground. "I don't think we have a word to describe what we're dealing with." Another long silence fell over the two. "Who was the victim this time around?" Note asked suddenly. "Twenty four year old, Cherry Cake. Cause of death... undeterminable." Autumn said in a heavy tone. "Fucking hell. What ever these things are... they must be stopped." Looking down to the ground Note took in the sight of a massive hoof print, a hoof print that didn't match that of a pony, horse or a dear.
