Equestrian Evil

Canterlot Mountain Forest, July 1998

Me and my comrades; members of an elite group of police officers called S.P.A.R.C were called out to the forest on the unoccupied side of the mountain on a rescue mission. We had just recently lost contact with Lunar Squad, who had been sent out to investigate a string of reports regarding horrific murders in the mountains. All of the victims of the murders were reported to have been eaten; by what appeared to be diamond dogs, but the bite marks resembled pony teeth. The whole thing smelled fishy to me. After we lost contact, the captain of S.P.A.R.C, Rainbow Dash, sent out Celestial Squad to investigate, which was composed of our combat specialist, Me; our captain, Rainbow Dash; the smart planner of the team, Fluttershy; our pilot, Cloud; our second combat specialist, Barry Blood-drop; and our tech master, Elec.

The reports of the murders have been going on for about a week now. At first the Ponyville Peacemaker Department were on the case, but after they couldn’t turn up anything, the job went to us. Lunar Squad left about eight hours ago, and we lost contact completely about an hour ago. Captain Dash told us it was most likely the mountains bad reception, but even her hard headedness died down after an hour of silence. So here we were, currently searching the Canterlot Mountains for a downed S.P.A.R.C carriage, with a storm brewing.

“Captain, I see the downed carriage. I’m making a landing nearby in a clearing.”

“Roger that Cloud. Okay everypony, get your gear together and stay sharp. If all goes well they will have rendezvoused near the carriage. If not, then we have a lot of territory to cover. Big Mac, you and Fluttershy search the carriage. Barry, Elec, and I will be searching the nearby forest. If anything happens, meet up at the wreckage. “

“Yes captain!” Rainbow Dash gave us a nod as we began to land. Hopefully we would find them before the rain started. This barding takes forever to dry. We all started piling out of the carriage, and into the dark night sky. The weather patrol seemed to be doing a rather good job, because I couldn't even see the moon beyond the dark clouds.

“It’s kinda spooky out here. I hope Lunar Squad is alright.” Fluttershy looked timidly to the ground as she spoke. Never had she been the best at dealing with situations like this, but she was the only one in the whole peacemaker force that was this smart.

“Don’t worry. Help me search the wreckage for clues; they can’t be far.” She smiled and nodded. The wreckage was pretty bad; not a single salvageable part remained of the carriage. There was no reason a pilot of S.P.A.R.C should crash like this unless he managed to get a horrific cramp in his wing, which is incredibly unlikely to happen due to the rigorous training they have to go through. Despite the fact, the pilot didn't seem to be anywhere near; meaning that he managed to get to safety.

“Hey captain, I found something.” Fluttershy perked up as she heard news of one of our comrades, and ran off to where the voice came from. Within a couple of seconds, I heard agonized screaming accompanied by what appeared to be barking and muffled growling. I assumed the worst.

“No! Elec!” I heard Fluttershy yell out. Whatever she saw, I don’t envy her, but I couldn't leave her to whatever it what that just attacked Johnny.

“Hold on! I’m coming.” My four legs began sprinting as fast as I could to where Fluttershy’s screams were coming from. Within seconds I reached a small clearing, with Fluttershy looking over something mangled and bloody. When I neared I saw it was Elec; now a mere bloody heap of a once lively pony. Something had ripped him to shreds, leaving nothing but a mangled corpse. Fluttershy didn’t seem to be able to look away, so I averted her gaze with my right front hoof.

“Come on, we have to report this to Rainbow. We can’t stay here, those things will be back.” She looked up to me with tears in her eyes. Obviously seeing a friend ripped to shreds was too much for her, and I couldn’t blame her.

“He’s… He’s…”

“I know, we can grieve back at headquarters. Let’s find Rainbow and get out of here.”

“Okay.” She perked up a little, took one last look back at Elec, and then stood next to me as we walked into the forest to find Rainbow. I activated my radio and hoped to get a signal out here.

“Captain, this is Mac, do you hear me?” There was no response, but I could hear the faint sound of running footsteps.

“Captain?”

“RUN!” WE barely had time to turn around before Rainbow and Barry rushed past us. It was strange that Rainbow wasn’t flying, as she usually always is. Regardless, we did and told and stayed right on their heels as we ran towards the direction of out carriage.

“What is it captain?”

“I don’t know, just keep running!” It took me a moment to notice, but Rainbow’s wing was wrapped up in medical gauze.

“What happened to your wing?” We began to have to dodge trees, as they were starting to get in the way.

“I crashed when one of those things jumped out of a tree, barely had time to patch it up. Can the questions wait until we reach the carriage?” She gave me an angry stare. When she gives you that stare, you stay quiet.

“Understood.”

“Are we… Nearly there?” Fluttershy spoke up from behind me. She never really was the most athletic. We started to slow a bit as neared the clearing we had landed in; out carriage sitting in front of us. Something was wrong though. Howling was going off all around, as well as growling. Unfortunately Cloud never was the bravest of us, and he hadn’t seen us coming. The howls must have frightened him off, because his wings were flapping and he was soon to take off. By the time we reached the clearing, he was already in the air.

“Wait! Don’t you dare leave us here!” My screams were in vain. Now we were all alone out here in the Canterlot Mountains; monsters closing in on us.

“We can’t stay here. So run!” Rainbow began to run in a direction. None of us had a plan, so we chased after her. The running was tiresome, but it was better than dealing with those… Things. Everything was the same around us, until I saw something in the distance that stood out. It was what appeared to be an old castle, one that didn’t appear to be Canterlot designed.

“Everybody, run for that castle!”

“Roger Big Mac.” We all began to run towards the castle; the creatures right behind us. I began to feel my four legs weren’t fast enough, and for the first time ever wish I had wings to give me an extra boost I needed. Fortunately, it wasn’t needed.

“Everybody inside! Move it!” Rainbow opened the door for us, allowing us access inside. The second we entered, we heard Rainbow come in; closing the door behind her.

“That was too close.” I looked at Fluttershy, who was panting, trying to speak.

“Where… Is… Barry?” Me and Rainbow looked around. Sure enough, Barry was nowhere in sight.

“I don’t know. Was he with us at the landing site? Maybe he found this place before us and took cover inside.” Rainbow gave Fluttershy assurances, and I hoped myself that he was alright.

“Do you want us to split up and look for him?”

“Good idea Big Mac. This place seems pretty big. We should cover the downstairs first. Go check the east wing. If you find any clues, report back to me. Fluttershy and I will wait here for you.”

“Roger that.” I nodded to both of them, and then made my way to the east double doors.

“Big Mac?” I turned as Fluttershy spoke out.

“Yeah?”

“Be careful please.” She looked down at the ground, and I could tell she was about to start crying.

“Don’t worry. I have this under control.” I smiled as she looked up at me. She nodded to me, and smiled as I slowly I opened the doors.

“Hello? Big Macintosh of S.P.A.R.C, is anybody home?” No response. I proceeded to open the door, which revealed a large dining hall inside. The candles on the table were still lit, and dinnerware was set out, as if dinner was about to be served.

I proceeded down one side of the table; the only sound was my hooves clopping to a rhythmic beat as I crept slowly down the dining hall towards a fire place at the end of it. The fire place was still lit, indicating further that residents had been here recently. The thing that worried me however was a red puddle in front of the fire place. Without hesitation, I darted over to the blood stain and began to examine it. Upon further examination, I managed to deduce that it was in fact pony blood. No doubt about it.

Rainbow would need to know about this, but I wanted to do my own investigation real fast. The blood lead out in small drops to a door near me on the north side of the dining hall. Cautiously, I followed the small trickles of blood, and into a long hallway. This place was definitely big, and we would have plenty of time to investigate. Hopefully the residents were all right.

I continued to follow the blood down the hallway to the left, and into a small sitting area. As I neared a corner into the sitting area, I heard a rather sick sounding munching noise, as if somepony were munching on a pound of meat. When I turned the corner, I saw a pony laying down on its stomach, eating something I couldn’t quite make out lying on the ground. I was about to speak up as it ripped violently upwards, accompanied by a loud ripping noise, and a fountain of blood raining out of whatever it had just ripped.

Horrified, I looked down as the head of a pony; which I barely recognized as a member of Lunar Squad; roll away from its now lifeless corpse. More importantly, the cannibal pony began to look backwards at me.

“Stay where you are. I’m placing you under arrest.” I went to reach for my gun with my mouth, and realized that I must have dropped it while we were running from the creatures outside. The pony before me stood, and turned around to reveal its horrifying face. The pony’s face appeared to be rotting; its face missing half of its skin; one of its eyes hanging out its socket. “What are you? Stay back!” It slowly began to shuffle towards me as it released a low groan from somewhere in its throat. All I had was a knife, and that was nowhere near enough to defend myself from this thing, so I did the only thing I could; run. I ran all the way back to the main hall, shutting all the doors behind me. Hopefully that thing wouldn’t be able to open the doors.

“Rainbow, we have a prob-“I looked around at the now empty main hall. No sign of Rainbow or Fluttershy anywhere. Perhaps they decided to investigate the western wing? Yeah, that must be it. Finding them is my new goal, but first I would have to find something to defend myself with. That proved to be easier than I thought, as I noticed Fluttershy’s gun was lying on the ground. Even though she almost never used her weapon, it was unlike her to leave it behind. With Fluttershy’s gun in my mouth, I looked towards the left door, and then to the right.

Which one would be the better choice? A room with a decayed cannibalistic pony or a room with the contents unknown. Only trial and error would give me the answer.