Chapter 1
"Are we almost there yet, just being over this forest is giving me the creeps," mumbled one of the colts, rolling his eyes as he glanced over the side of the chariot.
"We will get there when we get there, remember we have a mission to do, don't ever forget that," grumbled another colt on the opposite side of the chariot, not once taking his eyes off the maps they had of the Everfree Forest.
"Guys I think I see something," shouted the pegasus in control of the chariot. He was right, smoke could be seen rising from the thick canopy of trees just below them.
"Alright take us in, and for Celestia's sake be careful, I don't trust this place on the ground or in the air." As they started their decent the Everfree Forest earned its title yet again. Harsh winds began to swirl from all directions, a storm had appeared right out of nowhere.
"Damn it, guys hold on to something it's going to be one hell of a bumpy ride. I can hardly control this thing with all this wind," shouted the pegasus putting all his flight training to use.
"Hold on to something, we're going down!" he screamed before he lost control, plummeting into the sea of green below them.
*******
The sound of knocking could be heard throughout the whole of the library, which for being built into a tree, echoed the sound with surprising volume. At least that's what the purple unicorn who lived there thought, but most likely it was her mind playing tricks on her. After all she had been getting a lack of sleep the past few weeks.
Groaning, she hoped the noise would just go away so she could go back to sleep. Not going to happen, being princess Celestia's prized student, the unicorn Twilight Sparkle was always requested to help in times of crisis, and this was one doozy of a crisis that was gripping the small rural town of Ponyville.
It had all started just a few weeks before - ponies had started to go missing. At first no-one thought much of it, perhaps they had gone out of town to visit relatives or the like.
But that was the thing about Ponyville - it was small that everypony knew everypony. The chances of some pony just vanishing without telling close friends, it just didn't happen in the rural town.
Then the worst possible event occurred. The quiet Pegasus Fluttershy who lived on the edge of the Everfree Forest found the first body. It had occurred while she was tending to some of the animals that lived just outside the forest, being the closest thing the town had to a vet.
They say the scream could be heard all the way from the other side of town. When others arrived to help they found the first of many mangled ponies. These bodies were so damaged when found that everypony thought they had fallen prey to the many beasts of the Everfree Forest.
It was well-known that it was a place that was full of monsters who could easily eat a pony in one bite if provoked, so ponies were told at a young age to stay away from the forest.
However these ideas and theories were short lived, as when the bodies were closer inspected by the medical ponies tasked to find out what happened, to their horror they found the bite marks on the dead ponies were equine.
Murder like this had not occurred since the early days of the twin princesses rule over one thousand years before, when cannibal cults still existed. They believed they could steal the power of another pony by consuming their flesh in twisted rituals. However, such cults had long since been removed from the peaceful land of Equestria, by Princess Celestia herself.
Dragging her exhausted form from her bed, Twilight attempted to shake as much of the fatigue out of her body as she could before moving towards the door. Hoping with every fibre of her being that it wasn't going to be bad news. She knew better, but she could hope.
Opening the door she was greeted by the orange face of one of her best friends, however Applejack wasn't smiling. Bad news, Twilight sighed to herself before putting on the best smile she could, which looked more like a grimace, but Applejack knew she was trying at least.
"Hello Applejack, sorry for looking a mess, but you know how everything has been getting to me," Twilight said, trying to be as cheerful as she could muster.
"Aw it's ok sugarcube, we all know how this has been affecting you," Applejack mentioned, smiling as best she could considering the topic she was about to bring up.
Smile quickly melting off her face she began, "I'm afraid we found another one, same as the rest, half-eaten," shaking her head trying her best not to vomit at the idea of what they had found yet again. "I'm starting to think them cults you were talking about really might be back Twi."
"Oh Celestia I hope not. History tells us they took thousands of ponies under the cloak of shadow before they were caught and brought to justice."
Both just stood there in silence trying to grasp what might be happening in their little town. Nothing this bad had happened since the Nightmare Moon incident, and even then no pony got hurt.
Applejack was the first to break the deathly quiet which had covered the whole of the library, "Have you got word back from the princess yet sugarcube?"
Twilight sighed, "No I'm afraid I haven't, just the last letter saying she was going to look into it."
Just as she said that, as if by some twist of fate she heard a familiar burp from her small dragon assistant, which signalled a letter from her mentor.
Before she could even say anything, the small dragon, still half-groggy from the fact that he himself had only just woken up, came bounding into the room falling down the stairs.
"Spike, are you alright? You really should be more careful," Twilight said, half worried and half trying to stifle a small giggle at the antics of the small dragon.
Dusting him self off and sporting a half-crooked smile, the little dragon handed the letter to Twilight Sparkle before speaking up "I'm fine Twilight, but enough about that, what does the princess have to say?"
Giving a small nod Twilight began to open the scroll. Taking a deep breath she began to read:
Dear Twilight Sparkle, My faithful student.
As you well know, I told you that I was going to look into the bizarre murders which have been happening in Ponyville. Know that I am as worried as you, I hate to see any harm come to my subjects. In response to this we organised the best of the royal guard to go and check for clues in and around the forest.
However, we have lost all contact with the group and I am growing desperately worried. I hate to ask this of you, but I feel that the elements of harmony might once again be needed to help find out what is going on, so I request that you and your friends join a small group of my elite guard and try and find out what is happening.
This is a mission of utmost importance, as lives of many ponies could be lost if this isn't resolved soon. These guards will be in Ponyville later today, so please give them all the help you can.
And Twilight please you and your friends be careful.
Princess Celestia.
"Wow this sounds serious alright. Only one problem is Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity are all out of town right now," sighed Twilight a little bothered.
Normally the 6 members of the elements of harmony were in or around town most of the time, but these past few weeks had been stressful on everyone, some more then others.
Fluttershy being shy and quiet at the best of times, was a total wreck after finding the first body. All of her friends were worried about her, but hoped with time the experience would be far less traumatic.
However, they were not expecting to find more bodies in a steady fashion from then on. Fluttershy was becoming more and more of a recluse every time a new body was found. Her friends, desperate to help her, got together and thought it would be best if Fluttershy got away from town for a bit.
Rarity took it on herself to take Fluttershy to another town, about a days trip away, to visit a fancy spa. She had read about it recently and wanted to go too. Fluttershy, always enjoying their trips to the local spa's agreed to the idea.
It was just going to be the two of them, but Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie invited herself, rambling on about some ultra "Super-duper Cheer Up Party" she was planing for Fluttershy. Rarity didn't mind, and Fluttershy welcomed the extra company for her little trip. This was about three days ago, so they weren't going to be back for a while yet.
A few hours had passed, and all of the ponies that could be found were sitting around the big table in the middle of Twilight's library.
"So, do we know anything about these guards that are being sent?" questioned the new addition to the group, a sky blue Pegasus with the most remarkable rainbow coloured mane.
"Not much Rainbow Dash, apart from they are meant to be elite guards, so I'm guessing they are going to have a lot of training under their belts," remarked Twilight, wondering the same thing herself.
"Oh! Maybe they are like super secret agents, only sent on top secret missions or something! That would be like so cool!" Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to do spins around the room. Whenever she thought something cool was going to happen, she always acted like this. Even more so around her idols the Wonderbolts.
Rolling her eyes Twilight opened her mouth to say how silly Rainbow Dash was being, however before she could a knock came on the door making her jump.
Bracing herself for the worst, Twilight, horn aglow, opened the door slowly. To her surprise it wasn't another pony murder report, but three stallions towering at the door. Two of them were wearing the iconic golden armour of the royal guard, but the third was like nothing she had seen before.
"Greetings. Twilight Sparkle I presume," the middle one said in a low voice that made Twilight shudder to her very core. Instead of the golden armour of the others, the smaller earth pony was in some form of combat suit that fit his body like a second skin, it was coloured to make him hard to see in the dark and covered his cuite mark.
Over this he was wearing a harness with a radio and a badge attached to it. He bled an aura of mystery around him. His blonde mane was cropped short and pulled back and his eyes hidden by a pair of sunglasses.
"My name is Douglas, I'm a member of the Royal Investigation Unit. I was sent by the Princess to assist in the investigation of missing ponies in the area".
"Douglas? What the hay kind of name is that for a pony anyway?" shouted Applejack from the back of the room, and even though his eyes were hidden everyone in the room knew he was glaring at the earth pony right now. Applejack however, never being one to back down, glared back with equal intensity.
"My name is the least of our concerns at the moment. I thought there was supposed to be six of you, where are the others?" Douglas questioned, his eyes scanning the room.
"Oh they are out of town I'm afraid, and they won't be back until next week at the soonest," mentioned Twilight, hoping to remove the uncomfortable feeling in the room she began to move towards the new ponies in order to greet them.
However, before she could they had already barged into the room, carrying with them large crates with the royal symbol embossed onto the lids.
"Well I suppose there is nothing that can be done," groaned Douglas, annoyed that almost half of his unit was missing for this important mission, "This mission is far too vital to wait till the rest of you get back, so we are going to have to go as is."
"Woah hold on there, the Princess said that the Elements of Harmony were needed. That means we all have to be here. We are just going to have to wait," Twilight, not wanting to rush into anything without everything at her disposal, did not like the idea at all of going without the rest of her friends.
"The Princess also said this had to be done ASAP, and I'm not about to ignore a direct order Twilight Sparkle!" Douglas was practically growling at his point. He was not about to have his mission ruined by some inexperienced mares, even if the Princess did order him to take them.
Twilight could only slink back to the table after this, slightly shaken by his outburst. Not wanting to go against the princess in any way, she reluctantly agreed, as did her two friends, not wanting to leave her alone. Rainbow Dash was never one to give up the chance at adventure anyway.
"With that out of the way, have any of you three had any form of combat training? We have no idea what we are going to be up against. It's likely to be dangerous."
Shaking her head, Twilight was the first to speak up, " The princess taught me a few self-defence spells, for emergencies you know, but it's stuff like knock backs and the like, spells to stun."
Next in line was Applejack "Working on a farm ah have never had the need to do any fancy combat training, however ah can buck anything into next week if need be," she seemed to be quite proud of the power of her kick, and who could blame her? Years of Apple bucking had given her one of the strongest kicks in Ponyville.
"Combat training? Who needs combat training when you're the fastest flyer in Equestria? They won't even be able to touch me!" Rainbow Dash always loved to brag. She was one of the best athletes for miles around, which didn't help her ego at all.
However after all of this, their good feelings melted away when they saw the stallion face hoofing. "I can't believe this! the Princess wants to send a bunch of amateurs into harm's way without any kind of firearms training!"
He turned from them and began to open up one of the crates. It was full of smaller black boxes and grabbing a few he tossed them towards the mares, expecting them to catch them with no problems, that was, if the bragging was true from two of them. Much to his surprise they did all catch the boxes with relative ease and began to open them with glee.
This was short lived however, as when the boxes were finally fully opened looks of shock graced each mare. Each of the boxes contained a pole of metal that entered a small black box. At the side there was a rectangular hole in the side of it where a clip could be inserted, and a small hole on the top that looked like a jack of some sort was meant to be inserted.
Adorning the back of the device was two leather straps, about the size to fit around a ponies leg, this attached the device to just above the hoof so the hole on the end of the pipe could be aimed in front of the hoof.
"A...a...h...hoof pistol?" gasped Twilight, almost unable to talk because of the device in front of her, dropping the box onto the table in fear she tried to compose herself as best she could, "Is the princess expecting us to... k...kill somepony?"
Yet again Douglas face hoofed in disbelief, "We are going after cannibalistic murderers here, who would likely kill you before talking to you, and you don't expect to need to use lethal force?".
"No... I mean yes.... I mean, I didn't really think about it that way," Twilight stumbled over her words.
On the other side of the room, the other two ponies just sat there as if they had been forgotten. Both had reacted a little differently however. Applejack was looking at the device in her hooves as if the severity of the events were only just coming to light.
Rainbow, however, had already put it on and was playing around with it, pretending to aim and fire.
"So how does this thing work?" chirped Rainbow, appearing right in front of the combat pony with a huge grin on her face.
Blinking twice in disbelief, the brown earth pony stallion was taken aback at how eager she was to learn.
Coughing to get his composure back, he began to talk again, "Alright, I have a few other things you are going to need before you can use the pistols." Turning back to the crates he opened up another two. These, however, were full of harnesses that could be worn around the shoulders, a belt and some combat fatigues.
"You will all need to use one of these as well they have a few pouches which can be used to store ammunition, and they can be used to hold a small radio and other such devices."
While Douglas was rummaging in another crate all three of the girls began to equip the guns and suits which had been given to them.
"Hey, this is kinda cool!" Rainbow Sash remarked, looking at her new form in a mirror.
All three of them were now wearing blue combat fatigues with the leather straps on top, easily they could be mistaken for some highly trained army corps, if they didn't look so young that was.
"Ah, found them!" Douglas turned around with three headsets, or at least that is what they looked like to the passer-by. "These are how you use the hoof pistols I gave you, you attach the wire from the headset down the harness I gave you, into the gun itself at the small hole on the back."
He began to give out the strange headsets to the other ponies in the room, "When the gun is loaded, you aim at your target, and then bite down on the trigger on the headset, easy as pie."
"Wait a second?" questioned Twilight, "How is that meant to work, I've never heard of something like that before."
"That's because detailed information on these weapons are not given to the public for a reason. The Princess was worried that if shady people got their hands on these, then murders and who knows what else might start happening again. So they were kept for army personnel. However, there was a rumour of a leak a while back of this Tech getting out, so I hope we won't see any in the hands of the enemy."
"You still didn't answer my question. How is biting on this thing meant to do anything?" Twilight questioned yet again, when there was something new to learn she never let the chance pass her by.
"Ah, well, every pony has a small amount of magic in their bodies. Unicorns, however, are the only ones who can amplify it. However, this works by taking that small amount of magic, and using it to make a small spark. This spark in turn sets off the gunpowder in the firearm launching the ammo at the target." a large grin was forming on the earth pony, "Simple really."
********
After the suit up, the unlikely gang of ponies had begun to make their way into the Everfree Forest.
They thought it best to avoid the sky as much as possible, after thinking about what had happened to the last group who tried to go in via air.
"What are we looking for anyway?" Rainbow said lazily flying above the rest of the group.
"Anything out of the ordinary." one of the guards added before taking his spot back at the front of the group.
"Gosh darn it, this is the Everfree Forest, nothing is ordinary here," sighed Applejack before looking back at the road, giving her an idea of how far they had come.
A good few hours had passed before the group had found anything that really caught their attention. With some twisted stroke of luck they had managed to find where the chariot of the other group had hit the ground.
However, they didn't feel lucky when they got in close to inspect the wreck. The chariot was lifeless for the most part, with only one body to be found, which seemed to be the unlucky Pegasus who was controlling it at the time of crash.
Slightly bothered but no worse off, the group began to look around the area to see if they could find what had happened to the rest of the crew. Suddenly, low growls could be heard from the surrounding trees.
"What the hay was that?!" exclaimed Applejack, as the whole group began to take a defensive stance.
Too little too late, before anypony knew what was happening the creatures attacked. Strange dogs were rushing them fangs bared. They began to move in for the kill, jumping one of the guards by the neck, as the rest of the pack rushed in to take down the prey.
Swearing under his breath, the other guard began to aim his weapon at the beasts swarming over his now-dead partner, unleashing his whole clip into one of the dogs it fell to the ground lifeless.
All this managed to do however was gain the ire of the rest of the pack, who began to swarm him. One of the dogs had latched onto the pony's leg and brought him down just like the other guard, with total ease.
Douglas could see the fear in the eyes of the more under skilled members of his group, and muttered his own swear under his breath, turning to them he yelled as loud as his lungs would let him, "RUN!"
This had managed to snap them out of the trance that the gruesome sight had thrust upon them, as they turned and ran as fast as their hooves could carry them.
And then they saw it, looming in the darkness like a giant tomb stone.
"A mansion? Out here?!" cried Twilight, confused by the sight she saw, never stopping her gallop.
"Who cares why it's here, it's shelter from these things!" screamed Applejack back to Twilight as they began to make a beeline for the large doors at the front of the building, and with an ungodly loud slam everything went dark for a while.
***********
"Everypony alright?" groaned Twilight as she pulled herself to her hooves. Scanning around the room she could see Douglas and Applejack, but then horror stuck her. "Rainbow! Where is Rainbow Dash!" everypony else began to pull themselves to their hooves and search around the room. Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found.
Applejack then put a hoof on Twilight's shoulders, "It's ok sugarcube, she can take care of herself, you know she can. Ah think right now we had best worry where we are, and what in tarnation the creatures that chased us into here were."
Douglas nodded, "I agree we should get our bearings first, you girls check out that room over there, I'm going to check around here some more."
The two mares nodded in agreement as they began to move towards the left door from the great hall where they stood in at the moment.
"Wow, I can't believe something like this exists in the Everfree Forest," Twilight exclaimed, wide eyed as she began to look around the large dining room.
The room looked like it could seat one hundred ponies easily in one meal, and was incredibly ornate with antique furniture gracing the room.
Twilight had seen furniture like this before of course, but only in the biggest, most fancy houses of Canterlot where nobles lived.
"Perhaps they wanted privacy. Crazy if you ask me," Applejack snipped, as she began to check around the large room.
It was quiet in the room, as if no-one had lived here for months. Dust layered on the table and chairs in the room, and spider webs adorned the fixtures on the walls.
Dusty as it might be, Twilight was having the time of her life taking it all in. She had almost forgotten about the whole incident that brought them here in the first place. But one thing in the room had caught her eye, a grandfather clock. Regal and strong, it looked like a thousand years could pass and it would still be here. Strangely, one thing about the clock wasn't right. It was missing one of its hands.
"Strange..." Twilight muttered to herself in a quiet voice before being called over to where Applejack was haunched over on the floor, looking at something.
"Blood," Applejack said a coldness in her voice, which was rare for the earth pony farmer.
"You don't think?" Twilight exclaimed, a large amount of shock in her voice.
"Nah, no way Rainbow could have come through here without us noticing," she said, shaking her head, "But ah don't like it, I'm going to stay here for a little bit, see if ah can find what caused this."
"Alright, then I'm going to look through here, see if I can find any other ponies in this place."
Twilight began to move towards the small door on the side of the dining room, and began to open it. It felt like the slow creaking of the door lasted forever, sending shivers down her spine.
The door closed behind her with a thunk. As her eyes began to adjust to the darkness of the hallway, she began to walk down the dark cramped space. Twilight swore she heard something, like a soft wet crunching noise. It made her feel sick to her stomach.
As she turned the corner she could only stare aimlessly at the sight that lay before her.
A pony was sprawled on the floor, and another pony was towering over it head down. It dawned on Twilight what that sound was now, and she wanted to vomit even more. The pony was eating the other pony on the floor.
She lifted and aimed her hoof pistol towards the pony figure, and hoof shaking she tried to put on a brave face, and remember with all her being how the blasted contraption worked.
"Stop what you are doing! By order of Princess Celestia you are under arrest!"
It was then she felt her heart stop in her throat. The creature had taken notice of the pony behind it, letting out a low guttural moan it began to raise it head and looked towards Twilight Sparkle.
What she saw then she could almost never put into words for the rest of her life, and the fear she felt glued her to the floor. The thing that stood before was a pony, or at least it was once.
It had no fur on any part of its body and its skin was flaking off as if the pony was rotting from the inside out.
Its eyes, however, are what haunted Twilight the most. Whereas most ponies have colour in there eyes this pony did not.
Instead it had milky spots where its eyes should be, soulless and lifeless, as if the pony was dead and had been for a long time. Its maw was covered in a mix of blood of its victim that still lay lifeless on the floor and its own drool.
Once again that moan, it sent shivers down Twilight's spine. It began to move slowly, lumbering towards Twilight dragging its back leg on the floor.
Scared out of her wits Twilight just sat there, but realised that the thing was getting closer, and she had an idea what it wanted to do with her.
Doing everything she could to brace herself for what she was about to do she steadied her hoof with her other front hoof, and bit down on the trigger next to her mouth.
Bang...Bang...Bang, she would remember these noises forever. The creature had been stopped by the barrage of bullets, however it didn't fall, it didn't cry out, it didn't even look hurt. After a few seconds it began to move again, edging closer and closer to the now terrified unicorn.
Without thinking, Twilight sent a large magic pulse to knock the creature off its hooves which, thank Celestia worked. Before the thing had a chance to get back up she turned tail and ran as fast as she could to the door.
Slamming the door open as she dived through, this scared Applejack half the death, but Twilight for once didn't care, she had to get away.
"Applejack.....something.....hall..... MONSTER!" was all she could cry out before spinning around in fear as she heard yet another moan from the beast.
Applejack looked at the pony shaped creature wide eyed for a few seconds, before lifting her hoof pistol and unleashing a barrage of bullets into the form before her.
After what seemed like an eternity for the two ponies in the room, the creature buckled and fell to the ground, a large pool of blood forming below its now lifeless form.
Gasping, Twilight was able to find her voice again as she shot to Applejack and away from the thing on the floor. "AJ, what WAS that thing?"
"Ah have no idea sugarcube, but at least you don't have to worry about cults any more."
