Dr Whooves MONSTER

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1
chapter 2
chapter 3
Chapter 4
chapter 5
Chapter 6
chapter 7
Chapter 8
chapter 9
Chapter 10
chapter 11
Chaoter 12
Chapter 13
chapter 14

Prologue

With the rumbling of dark clouds over my head I stood on the roof of an old decrepit castle, sick to my stomach for what I was about to do. Surrounding me was a ring of candles, and the smell of blood and decay filled the air. An old leather book, sat in my hooves, with odd symbols stitched into its cover; odd symbols I could not read. Even inside the book, the ancient writing left it nearly impossible. Luckily for me, this wasn’t the first time I had done this.

The only question now is… would it work, again? I an ordinary earth pony with little if any true power to spare. Who’d ever thought I could somehow dive into my soul just enough to cast a spell? After saying the old tongue, of magic words, of which I haven’t the slightest clue of what I actually muttered, I could feel my very essence erupt to life. As if I was a battery finally being discharged. The energy swirled from my hooves and began to leek from every pour of my body. I could feel it—my life draining from me a second time. Did I even have enough to complete my task? Should I even do it again?

Yes again.

I did it once before, for selfish reasons. Now I do it in hopes of saving my world. But should I? It was one thing to act out a great sin once. Certainly, the sins I have already committed would send me to hell, but to do it twice—what would be the fate of my eternal soul? Could the depths of hell even be enough to pay for such a crime as this?

The longer the spell was held, the darker the clouds became, along with it, and the louder the thunder roared. With a shiver to my body, I finally played down the book and rose out of the ring of candles and over to the table that was hooked up to a pulley system . All I had to do was crank up the table but before I could even start it begun to move.

Dashing my gaze I found the cause: a mare of such beauty that she outshone the grimy walls of the decrepit castle around us. Such beauty! Her rosy pink mane, her ocean-like teal eyes—how did such a being like this, an angel in our modern world, be standing as a witness to such a crime against nature? I could smell her natural scent, even though i stood ten feet away from her. A nutty smell, mixed with flowers, mixed with the putrid smell of death.

Why was she here? It was my fault. I could feel my heart pounding as I looked at her. Her yellow fur was the only bright color against the black and grey backdrop we found ourselves in. It was my fault, for had I never done it the first time, none of this would be happening now.

As the table reached its final height, the white sheet that lay above it slipped off and drifted down to the floor. Yet she didn’t bat an eye, determined to see this to the end.

For her I had to do this. For her I must. Turning to the other side of the room, there sat a lever, one that would activate a lightning rod, and drag the power of the gods towards what lied on the table above our heads. With a deep breath, and an almost terrifying silence, as the thunder seamed to die down perfectly at that moment, I stood wondering why me.

“With the flash of lightning, and the booming sound of thunder, a tingle shot through my spine, causing me to shiver. Nevertheless, did I stand there before the devil? The devil that I created.

“Will it work, please tell me it will work!” she shouted over the noise.

“It may have worked once, but,” I winced and turned away. “He may not be what you remember, he may resort back to the monster he once was!” I cried.

“A monster you say,” she mumbled, and lowered her head. Only for a smile to spread on her lips. “My monster, you mean.”

At her declaration, I spun on my heel towards her, only to see what I must say was the worst of the worst, things I could have ever imagined. A love struck smile adored her lips. She actually loved that amalgamation of necromancy and science, how? How could she love him and not me, I WAS THE ONE WHO CREATED IT!” With a stumble I fell with my back against the wall, tripping myself in the process. In hopes of catching my self, I reached out for a lever, but in the process of falling down I pulled it along with me. Suddenly, two large metal towers emerged into the sky, catching lightning as it flew past, sending the shockwave into a blazing light, striking a figure that lay on the table.

“WHERE DID I GO WRONG, TELL ME?!!!”

Chapter 1

As I tried to grapple with the current situation my mind began to leap back into what led me to this point.

It all started with the last day, I saw him. My best friend. Well friend might be stretching it. There might have been a time we were close yes. But those last few hours we certainly weren’t.

I was in my home town, of pony vill. A quiet little town actually that was more country then I would have liked. There was not a brick to the muddy roads, nore was there any of the wooden buildings either. Still this was home, and as I dr hooves, walked among the cold morning air, with the sun shine warming my back, I sat in my top hat, and trench coat, caring my briefcase, through town, when my ears caught the sound of the news that morning.

"Extra, extra, read all about it! Another pony dies of the plague !", shouted a gray pegasus mare with lopsided eyes, and a muffin fetish., judging not by the way she stuffed her face full of them. She flew around delivering the newspaper to the crowd of unsuspecting inhabitants of the small little town I grew up in. The headline displayed a gruesome topic that day. But me being me, I walked right past the paper carrier, never giving her a second glance. My work was for the living, not the dead. "Why would I bother with such trivial things, like the death of some random mare I had never met?". No, instead, I walked into a small farm home, to check up on my most recent patient, at the time.

“Dr Whooves , oh thank goodness you could make it,” a big bright yellow farm pony said to me, with a shaking voice.

“Yeas bright Mac, and how is your wife doing on this fine day?” I asked, never acknowledging the gloomy weather. A fog was creeping in that day, but my bright attitude remained ever vigilant, through its mets.

“She’s, uh,” the big rough colt lowers his head and ears.

“I see,” I replied and walked right past him, heading to the bedroom where the patient lied. I passed the children of the home, with little interaction. A red big colt, despite being the second child. A little orange filly, who was carrying a mighty small one in her arms.

“Daddy, is Dr Whooves going to help mommy?” I could hear the young filly ask her father.

“Of course I am, with the right marks of science anything is possible,” I grinned wide as I burst through the door, finding the lady in question, bed written. She coughed twice acknowledging my presence. She was a sickening light, peach, and even lighter orange bushy Maine. Her blue eyes were glossy at best. The only color on her was the ring that hung from her neck, and the sun pendant she wore as well.

I rolled my eyes at the sight of the sun pendant, knowing exactly what it was and proceeded to do my work, ignoring its existence. “Please do not sit up,” I told her, pulling out my stethoscope and began examining her at once. With the sound of a shallow breath, and a strong heartbeat, I proceeded to write down my notes. “Did the medicine I prescribed help you at all last week?” I waited for her to stop coughing for an answer. But unfortunately, all she had the strength to do, was shake her head. “I see,” I replied pulling up my bag and popping open my medical supplies. “I’m afraid it would be best to do a surgery, but without knowing what the exact cause of your illness is, it could be risky.” I said digging through my bag, finding just what I wanted a moment latter. “Yes, I do believe a blood sample will do. I’ll take it home and examine further.” A smirk spread across my lips as I knew I could get to the bottom of whatever ails her.

“No need,” said a familiar voice behind me. A voice that I could honestly do without. It was younger than my own, and quite crackly showing its age. I groaned at the sound of hoof steps walking closer to me. Setting my hoof on the bridge of my nose, only to mask my own insecurities as I turned to the figure with a smile.

“Stygian, my good man,” I laughed through my lying teeth. “What are you doing here, this is a place of science, not magic.” I shook my head.

“Timeturner, nice to see you, still helping the sick I see.” He smiled,” but I couldn’t help but noticed the cup in his hoofs. “Oh yes, as I was saying,” he cleared his throat. “A blood test would not do, what ails her, is neither physical nor blood related. It is an imbalance of energy,” he said as he held out the cup to the patient. She struggled to sit up and take the cup from his arms. “You have three kids and a mighty farm, you’ve overworked yourself, causing you to feel drained beyond normal means. Your sickness is only worsening, because you won’t let your body recover properly. some rest, and a little rejuvenation, erathal tea, will restore your magic energy levels back to normal, with in a month or so. Any further medical procedures will only put your life in danger,” smiled Stygian.

“Prosperous,” I spat bitterly. “Magic is reserved for your kind, not us earth ponies.”

Stygian, who was dressed in brown robes wearing a sun necklace around his neck, lowered his eyebrows. “On the contrary, all creatures big and small have a type of magic, you would know this my friend if you ever paid attention to the gospels.

“I am an atheist, speak of no religious propaganda around me, if you will.” I said with my mostrals high in the air. “Magic is for those of unicorns, only, I have no magic, and so I do not rely on plant juice, and faith. I rely on facts and only science.” I laughed triumphantly of my own ego. Stygian laughed too, to my surprise. I stopped my antics and lowered my gaze to a scowl at him. However my expression only made him laugh harder.

“Ever since we were kids, my old friend, you always had the same take on things,” the ash gray unicorn replied. “Take a blood sample if it makes you feel better, but I assure you, the old ways will heal the sick.” He shrugged and turned around leaving me behind once again.

Staring at his back, my heart sank further than I could have imagined it would go. At the time I didn’t know why. Me and Stygian from a young age had always wanted to help those in need. Perhaps it was because of my dead mother, that I had lost so much faith in the craft of magic. But whether I liked it or not, I couldn’t mistake the results. For thousands of years before science truly took on a medical profession, those like Stygian were our healers. He went on to study under one of the best of the best, magicians in all of the land. And here I was, just a lonely earth pony, with a book, a bag of knives, and a title to my name, that did very little to help anyone. “Dr Whooves, yeah right, more like Dr scams.” I muttered as the mare held out her arm in my sights. I looked up, wide eyed, at first, as I saw her simple gaze. It was the same gaze I remember so well. Hope, hope that she could get better, if she had help. Seeing it I flashed back to the day's long ago, when my own mother would frail ill. She too had a sun necklace around her neck, same drink in hand too. But as I sat there as a child. I watched as she deteriorated until a blanket was tossed over her head.

I turned to the door, Seeing the children and their father peeking their head through. From them to the patient in front of me, I could feel a surge of courage boil in my stomach. “I will get to the bottom of this, I promise,” I told her, and her family.

“I know you will,” the mare smiled softly. “My life is in your hands doctor,” she tilted her head, and placed the cup down on the table, without taking one sip.

I nodded, and proceeded to take a sample of her blood, by sticking a syringe in her vein. This was me. This was what I was born to do. I am Timeturner. I am Dr hooves, and I was going to cure the greatest disease that ever plagued our world. DEATH! Oh but where my journey would lead me, would become my very undoing.

chapter 2

There I was, sitting at my desk the very next foggy morning. The month of October, judging not by the calendar, but by the pumpkins scattered across the town walls. The smell of sugary sweets and popcorn filled the air. Nevertheless, not one decoration of the sort was held in my office. Unless you counted the pony skeleton I had hanging by the door, for work.

If it weren’t for the distraction of a piece of chocolate I had in my mouth, perhaps a cure for our trinkets would have been found much sooner. But as I tossed the wrapper away, I turned to the distilled blood to examine my results of the day. My eyes danced across the page, only to roll when I tossed the paper away onto the floor with the others. Twenty-four to be exact. Some may say twenty-four down, but hey, twenty-five would be my lucky number. But at the moment, the only thing I could do was settle back in my chair and wash my failure away with another bite of chocolate. Once my sweet tooth was satisfied, I turned to my books in hopes of finding anything that could be of use to me. What ailment could be the darn cause of the sickness plaguing my world, I wondered as I flipped through the books once more. Only for a knock on the door to pull me away from my work.

With a turn of my head, I came face to face with the figure of an old unicorn, adorned in a starry cloak and a wizard hat. “Star Swirl,” my eyes shot wide at the sight as I rose from my seat and gave a polite bow. Despite this, the old pony kept a neutral look as he stroked his long beard. “What are you—”

“Dr. Hooves, I have come for your expertise on a rather poor subject.”

“My—” I sputtered, nearly breathless, as I stumbled forward. “Sir, I am but a humble earth pony doctor. What can I do that one of your stature cannot?”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself; I merely wanted a second opinion on the matter at hand,” he said as his horn glowed, producing yesterday's morning paper.

With a quick glance and an amused chuckle, I tossed it on the floor with my failure of the day. “Sir, that subject is for the authorities. I wish to heal the sick and the wounded, not bother myself with yesterday's news.”

“Check the date,” he muttered as he looked around the room.

“I did, finding the same headline as before, but the date was this morning once again.” My jaw dropped as my eyes filled with fear. “Another mare died this morning, but, but…”

“That makes the second one this week and the fifth one this month,” the old pony lowered his eyes. “I, of course, was brought in to take a look-see, only I have found myself stumped.”

At his words, I snapped my head back to him, my temperature rising as I stood before him.

“Yes, even one as powerful as I does not have all the answers all the time,” he stated as he picked up my most recent failure and glanced over it. “The victims of some disease, one would think, but I’m afraid I could not determine one issue with the subjects at hand. All of them died in the same prolonged way as your mother.”

The very mention of her struck me cold. I could feel my own heart stop beating for a moment as those days flashed before my eyes.

A beautiful, chocolate-brown mare, with strawberry-red curls, flipped pancakes in the morning for me every day. That morning was no different, as I walked into the house smelling the batter on the stove. But as I walked into the room, a young, spry colt would lick my lips at the delicious smell in the air. My world turned upside down at the sight of my mother lying emotionless on the ground. Soon the pancakes would burst into flames, but it wasn’t the fire that had my attention. “Mom,” I yelled, and ran to her side, pulling her best I could over my arm. She was tired, but alive. With a groan, I helped pull her out of the kitchen and out the front door, as the flames grew high catching the curtains. It wasn’t long before everything I knew would be turned to ash and dust, but I cared not for my childhood home. Instead, I pulled my mother straight to the town church, bursting through the door, where a younger Star Swirl was teaching magic to the young unicorns. I say younger, but then again, he didn’t look much different than he did now. He rushed over, seeing me aside and helping my mother to a bench in the corner.

“Help her, please!” I demanded. Star Swirl only gave a nod as he rushed her through the doors, slamming them shut in front of me, leaving me on the steps, just outside.

…

As I came back into reality, no longer was there any pain or sadness in my heart. Now all that remained was the fury for the pony in front of me. “You were supposed to heal her!” I growled, shaking in my stance.

Star Swirl glanced at me, but there was nothing in his eyes. Not a speck of empathy or regret, nothing except his unicorn pride.

“If you can’t heal the sick, then what point is there for your magic? And now you tell me, five more have fallen for the same ailment as my mother!”

“Do you not have a patient of the same sickness?” He asked, getting right to the point, with no drop of care in his voice.

I could feel my anger welling up at his tone, but instead of acting on it, I crossed my arms and turned around from him. “Your pride student has already diagnosed her, with the same ridiculous sediment you gave my mother.”

“And he is wrong, just as I was wrong then,” he said in the same tone as before.

I spun around, wide-eyed. For the first time since I couldn’t remember when, he actually stated his own mistake.

“I fear something far more sinister is at play, than a mere disease. My students would only come to the same conclusion as I, since I taught them, but you,” he narrowed his eyes on me.

I straightened my posture and stood as tall as I could. “I am a scientist, with a medical profession. My ways are a mystery to the mystic arts of magic. You need me.”

I smiled, confident in my words.

“He slowly blinked at first, letting the room grow still for a moment, before giving me a nod. “Magic and science, may be the only way we solve this mystery.” He then produced a file with a puff of his magic, that landed on my desk.

“What is this,” I asked, giving it a look over.

“The files of research on every incident this has happened,” he said, as he began heading out the door.

I didn’t think of it much at first, but as I read through the files, it was all too clear. I nearly choked on a piece of chocolate, as I realized the size of the file in my hands. There were hundreds of cases just like this over the years. Hundreds dating back to the days before Queen Celestia's reign. All with the same symptoms: loss of color, loss of energy, but no disease ever found. The subject would just grow weaker and weaker until death. Whatever plagued my mother, and my patient, plagued the world for thousands of years.

What in the world was I up against? I had no idea. You would think the daunting task would overcome my pony brain, but in fact, the opposite occurred. As a surge of energy ran through my veins, full of excitement and a new-found determination, I slid across the floor, grabbed my hat, and followed the old pony out the door.

We quickly headed to the only stone building in the entire town, the church. It rose above the many small huts of Ponyville, shining a glorious sun symbol above those of the land. Being Monday, the church was quiet, empty, all except for a few orphans making the most absurd Nightmare Night costumes I had ever seen. A creature with five pony limbs and a bat wing, and another with four unicorn horns. They looked more silly than scary, and I couldn’t help but smile at their innocent minds. It was a good chance for me to relieve the tension I had from that morning, before a gruesome sight would be laid before me.

“This way,” Star Swirl demanded, catching my attention and bringing me back to the task at hand. We walked into a back room, where the morgue held the dead before burial. The stench of decomposing matter struck my nose, causing me to gag on the spot.

Star Swirl, who seemed oddly used to it, gave me a moment before he pulled off the cloak, revealing the corpse of a dragon.

“Wait, I thought I was here to see the mare,” I raised an eyebrow.

“This is actually the most recent to die of the disease. She was found just outside of Ponyville not even an hour before I fetched you,” Star Swirl confirmed before raising his voice. “STYGIAN!!! What notes do you have on the body?” he barked at his student.

Stygian, who was upstairs, came rushing in, with a nervousness I had not seen before. “Y-yes, Master,” he stuttered as he quickly crossed my path and pulled scrolls of notes from the back. “I found no cause of death. In all regards, her heart just stopped beating. She was a perfectly healthy dragon, by all accounts,” he squeaked in a high-pitched tone.

With a stomp of Star Swirl, his student bolted back. “That tells us nothing,” he groaned and turned to me. “Well, Dr. Hooves, now’s your chance,” he said, clearly unimpressed with my previous work.

I lowered my hat and began examining the corpse as best I could, looking for anything out of the ordinary. “Did you do a blood or tissue test?” I asked Stygian, who immediately handed me a clipboard. Same with every test, no results were found. “That doesn't make any sense. If it were a transmissible disease or a pathogen, then it would have been caught and studied. But even in Mrs. Apple’s case, no such cause could be determined. Even stranger still, it only affects females.”

“Neither could a source of magic, I’m afraid. At least none that I could find. All I could ever see was the subject growing weaker in comparison. Well, that, and—”

“And what? Spit it out!” demanded the old pony.

“Dra—dreams, sir,” the tiny unicorn shrugged.

“Dreams? Yes, my mother also said she had nightmares before that fateful day. But,” I shrugged and discarded the clipboard. “Everyone has bad dreams from time to time. They’re just a state of unconscious restlessness. Nothing that can kill a pony, let alone a mighty dragon.” With a head shake, I tapped my chin in thought, but it was Star Swirl who narrowed his eyes.

“Dreams have a lot more than just a matter of unrest. They are a direct link between reality and the divine! Why didn’t you tell me of such a development before?” he turned his gaze to Stygian, making the unicorn cower further.

“I didn’t think it was worth mentioning, until I knew more,” he stumbled back.

The pony rolled his eyes and grumbled “worthless” under his breath. But I caught it as he headed out the door.

With a raised eyebrow, I turned to my old friend.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he deadpanned.

“You’re just going to let him get away with that?” I spat, keeping my voice down.

“What can I do? He’s Star Swirl the Bearded, and I—”

“Are Stygian the Unicorn. One day your magic will be mightier than his,” I declared with a stomp of my hoof.

“You—you really think so?”

“I think I know so. You’re stronger than you look. Why, I’d bet my degree in medicine that you will one day prove him wrong about you.” Out of nowhere, the little guy gave a giggle, catching me off guard. “What, what is—”

“You’re always so nice to me, despite our differences in our methods.”

At his shift in tone, I lunged back, wide-eyed. “W-well,” my eyelids lowered halfway. What was I supposed to say at that moment? Was I supposed to give in and tell him how I truly felt? Perhaps if I did so, perhaps if I told him how jealous I was of my lack of magic, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out the way they did. But looking back on the moment now, I remember grunting and stomping away. He was my rival, my archenemy. My best friend. I couldn’t give in to his nature, could I? But as I remained there studying the bodies of the dead, listening to him grovel at the insults by the mightily powered unicorn, my bitterness for them grew ever stronger.

Unicorns with all their magic, and not one of them ever truly lifted a finger to help anyone, not one—except Stygian. And here I had to watch such power take the knee to someone greater. What was I then? If magic couldn’t solve this issue, how in the world could I? How could science be the answer? Oh, how I wished I knew where my troubles were leading to.

chapter 3

Chapter 3

That would be the last I saw of Stygian, or so I thought. A few weeks went by, and Star Swirl kept me so busy that I got nothing but a passing glance whenever I came into the church. For now, my job was examining the root cause and hopefully curing my patient’s illness.

I would report my findings to Star Swirl directly—that is, if I had anything to report. Day in and day out, he would ask that I personally come to the church for an update, but after the third day, he soon asked that I not come in without finding anything at all. Although if I had something, even if it were small, I was to report it. Otherwise, I was given full access to his library.

And there I sat, three days before Nightmare Night, in the church with old files, passing through a pile of books. Hundreds stacked around me—hundreds that I spent day in and day out searching through. But nothing. Not a single sliver of anything useful.

As I sat there, though, one who had lost all faith, reading scripture about how magic worked within the body, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t fascinate me. Sure, most, including me, were taught the basic concepts, but to actually see the advanced scripture that usually only unicorns should have access to was quite an interesting read. And frankly, being a scientist, I strangely understood the basic concept, whether I believed in it or not.

Essentially, the body acted like a battery, holding spiritual energy, often referred to as mana. Children, being underdeveloped, especially as infants, often are not physically capable of holding in such vast amounts of energy, leading them to hyperactive activity—especially when consuming such molecules as sugar. There were essentially two specific types of energy: inner energy, and natural energy, which everything in nature held within its structure, and, if processed correctly, could be used to feed one’s body, such as sugar or salt, and given to the body to make it stronger. Magic needed to be trained. If used too much, too quickly, it would drain one to death. But if improperly trained and built up within a strong body capable of maintaining such energy, it could endlessly grow stronger.

Several appendages of the body were also capable of directing said energy out of the body. One such appendage was the unicorn horn. When one focuses their energy through a unicorn horn, it can charge a ray of energy that is more focused and pinpointed in accuracy than if one didn’t use a horn. Likewise, many other animals have such appendages for similar reasons. Deer antlers, for example, could often be shaved down and used as a replacement for unicorn horns if something happens to them.

Thinking back, I often saw a handful of unicorns with wooden horns shaved from deer antlers. I just thought it was because, without their horns, they looked funny. I didn’t know it was actually a vile replacement for the appendage. Likewise, the wings of a Pegasus, or any flying animal for that matter, could focus said energy in the feathers, dispersing it just enough for basic flight capabilities. Though they still need to be trained to catch the wind and use the breeze for easier flight distribution.

The science was there, all in religious text. Who’d have ever thought that? Still, while fascinating, I closed the book when I realized it would be of no help to what I was trying to accomplish.

Setting it and a handful of more scientifically-based inscriptions of medical science into my book bag, I began to clean up for the day. But as I was about to pick up the last book, I came to a halt and looked it over once more. The title of the book: Nightmare.

With an eye roll, I chuckled at it. It was given to me by Star Swirl. He insisted I take a look at it ever since that day Stygian told us about the silly dream thing. Out of amusement more than seriousness, I opened it up, glancing through its pages, showing the classic Nightmare Night fairy tales that every single pony child knows by heart. I chuckled at the idea of a man of science finding anything in this book of children’s stories, religious or not, to be of any use.

Even so, I read over a few of the words, a grin on my face, with no tendency to believe in such nonsense as this.

“It was said that Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon. But she left her four mighty knights of shadow who were easily vanquished by Celestia not long after. Nightmare Night was the very night of the defeat of her evil sister and her soldiers. And it was Nightmare Night that the soldiers always tried to grow in power and resurrect their master. But those shadows were vilely strong, with the power to haunt ponies' dreams, yet they had no true strength. And were simply frightened without their master. Which is why, on Nightmare Night, we dress as monsters ourselves to drive the shadows away from us and seek glory in the name of Celestia by dining on offerings, not her.”

Reading the last part, I couldn’t help but burst out in a snicker that I could barely hold on to. I covered my mouth in hopes of not disturbing the rest of the church, but I really couldn’t help it. The idea that that’s why we fed on candy during Nightmare Night was ridiculous. “Long ago, it was apples and bread; now it’s chocolate and sweets,” I muttered as I pulled out another piece of chocolate to feed my sugary addiction for the day. Tossing the wrapper aside, I stood up and began making my way out of the stone building, only to find myself blocked by a colt who was rushing in, out of breath. He took a moment to catch it, nearly hyperventilating as he stumbled over his words. “STAR SWIRL! Where is Star Swirl?” he demanded to know. “YOU TAKE ME TO HIM! I must see Star Swirl right away.”

Of course, the next thing I did was lift the pony's forelimb over my shoulder and help him the rest of his way. We quickly ran into the church's main hall, where they were currently holding a funeral for a griffon named Buckbeak at the time.

“What is the meaning of this?” shouted Star Swirl, furious with me. But one look at the colt over my shoulder, and he soon swiped his book from the pedestal and ran out, closing the main hall doors behind him so we didn’t disturb the funeral preparations a moment longer.

“Bring him to my office, quickly now, quickly!” Star Swirl instructed, leading us up a flight of stairs and into his private study.

Despite the urgency of the situation, as soon as I helped the colt sit down, I couldn’t help but feel I was transported through time, sitting in his office once more. Sitting in the center of the grand stone circular tower was a hoof-carved wooden seat. Behind him, there was a massive telescope for stargazing and a shelf full of strange artifacts I didn’t have a clue what to call. There were also shelves of jars filled with strange hair tea and liquids, a mountain of scrolls, and five towers of books that stretched from ceiling to floor, as well as several large chalkboards, all filled to the brim with scribbled scriptures. I had only been here once before—when my mother died—and I told him I cursed him for not doing more before tearing off my own sun pendant and tossing it on the ground. I walked out, all belief in magic gone that day. Imagine my surprise walking into it years later, only to find not a single thing had changed. Not even the smell of the place. It had the odd odor of maple syrup and tea, as if it had ingrained into the walls. And as if on cue, the reason why was simple—there on his desk, the old pony made no hesitation to start a pot of tea.

The same herbal tea he gave my mother and every ill person who walked in and out of that damn church.

With a quick blast of his horn, the water was boiling, and with a quick stir of a tea bag, he quickly poured himself a cup as well as the frantic colt.

Good, I thought. He’d done better than to offer me a single sip of the leader juice.

Handing the frantic colt the cup, Star Swirl then asked with a tired sigh, as if he were finally letting his old age show, “Now, what seems to be the trouble?” as he sat on a red cushioned stool directly across from the colt, who sat in an equally fancy cushioned chair.

The colt took a sip of the tea, silently thanking the old pony before setting it beside him on a bookshelf. “Sir, I was walking through the forest this morning, gathering mushrooms for my wife’s mushroom stew, when…” He visibly shook but then momentarily took a breath and calmed himself before speaking again. “I found a body, sir, mangled beyond description. And—“ he pulled something out of his overalls pocket on his chest.

At that time, I found myself dealing with my own inner turmoil due to my surroundings. Had I not, perhaps I would have been more prepared for what the colt would say next. But as I sat examining the strange ingredients in Star Swirl's collection, when the colt uttered the word “Stygian,” it struck me like a bolt of lightning.

“What!” I spun back, more furious than I meant to be. In truth, it wasn’t fury I felt, but an utter mix of shock and disbelief. My eyes widened at the sight of the pendant in the pony's hand. It was clearly Stygian's sun pendant. It had his name inscribed on the back of it, as all sun pendants often do. Still, even with the evidence, I could not believe it. After all, it was possible that it just fell off him. The strap to it was broken. “WHERE'S THE BODY ?” I demanded to see it. I needed to see it.

But the colt only whimpered in my fury as he dropped his head into his lap. I furiously lost my cool and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, shaking him as I asked him again, “Where is the body? Tell me!”

It was then Star Swirl stood up and began to struggle with me to get off of him. “Do not shoot the messenger!” he shouted before using his magic to stranglehold me, sending me flying across the room and onto the walls, held down by an invisible field like a child. “Control yourself, Dr. Hooves!” he demanded before letting me drop. And drop I did. I slid down the wall, my eyes fixed on the pendant that once belonged to my best friend.

Chapter 4

Taking in the sight, I stood over what was left of Stygian. Thinking back, I really wished I could have been nicer to the guy.

After all, there was a time long ago when we both attended that church, and despite being older than the guy, I remember getting along just fine in my childhood. That all changed, however, after the tragic loss of my mother. I blamed Star Swirl, the healer, for not doing more, and Stygian thought I was crazy. I was an earth pony, while he, a unicorn, had much more of a role in our society than I ever could have. Despite my wanting to heal the sick and the wounded, I had no magic to achieve such greatness. Unlike him. Truth be told, I was jealous of the colt, and after many years, as I stepped away from the church, he kept steadfast in his faith, becoming the second head and protonja of Star Swirl. Perhaps one day, when the old pony retired, Stygian would have been the lead of the church.

I said "retired" because the likelihood of that old geezer dying was as slim as me coming back from the dead. But as I sat there, staring at the remains, I fell on death's ear, with no words out of my mouth. What could I say? Sorry? Sorry for what? Sorry he didn’t achieve his greatness as expected of him? Sorry he died? Sorry this happened? Or sorry I was ever foolishly rude to him in the first place? No, instead I could only stare as they finished examining the body in deathly cold silence.

“Well, the body is far too mangled to conclusively identify him.” Star Swirl’s words broke the silence. Not a word he said was untrue. The pony’s body was so mangled that its face was unrecognizable. The left side was stripped right down to the bone. All that was left was the torso and a few flaps of flesh that held on to dear life on the rib cage. One colored long, the other missing—and a heart. The stomach and lower intestine, including everything else, were all stripped away, along with its arms and lower body.

I couldn’t help but want to vomit at the sight of it. Yet despite my upset stomach at the gruesome state, my mind was set on who it was.

“And where exactly did you say the pendant was found?” Star Swirl asked the colt who found the body.

“About three feet away from the head, sir. It has to be him, it has to be—”

“Yes, I do concur. It is indeed.” He said the last part in a tuned breath. “Well, see these marks here?” He pointed at the rib cage. “Those are claw marks that I know only one beast could make. We must have a manticore who has traveled too far, too close to the edge of the forest. I will report the hunters to go after it.” He rose his muzzle in the air. “Now prepare the body,” his gaze lowered to the remains. “Or what’s left of it, I suppose,” he murmured under his breath, before raising his vocal cords once more. “For a proper burial.” And with that, he turned around and walked away.

I watched as he walked up the steps of the church, stunned. A part of me was furious. A part of me wanted to yell how—that’s it. I mean, after all, this was some good-for-nothing on the street. This was Stygian. Your student, I wanted to call out. How dare he turn his back to the death of his closest prodigy as if he were nothing at all, I wanted to say. But who was I to talk? I, who treated him like a pest at my side when in reality what he truly was, was my rival.

Yes, it was him achieving this title and his lessons from Star Swirl—him achieving the so-called greatness of magic and ascending to his role as top healer of the magical arts—that made me only deepen my studies in the art of science. I wanted so desperately to prove to not only the world but to him that I, an earth pony, could heal the sick just as good, if not better, than the old ways ever could. And when I had, I planned to run it in his face, as an arch rival would, along with both a drink for him.

Now look. Now what was left of that so-called dream? What could I do now that he… was gone? Yes, even so, the fact that I had not cured the terrifying illness that took my mother’s life yet. I couldn’t help but feel drained at the thought of achieving such a goal and having him by my side to congratulate me on my work.

A splashing sound, even though it was quite quiet, pulled me out of my trance. I looked down to see next to the body a small damp spot that hit the ground. With a shake of the head, I soon realized where the drop came from. My eyes were watery, and I soon sniffled as it finally sank in. I would never see that young lad’s face again. And I could do nothing but walk away, and so ajar as Star Swirl did, I proved to be no better. As I sniffled, I walked as if I had aged sixty years that day. I never said a word to any pony on the street after that. I just went back home, to the office, drained of all life itself, it felt like.

Laying in my bed the rest of the day, it was Mr. Apple who knocked on my door that evening. With little to no energy in my body, I slowly crept out of bed and over to see what he wanted. There, standing in the doorway, nearly at ten o'clock, was Bright Mac with a shotgun I’m sure.

“Good evening, Dr. Hooves. I wanted to be the one to give you the good news. That manticore put up a tough fight, but he stepped aside for me to see.” “It won’t be nothing to any pony any more,” he sighed as I gazed upon the corpse of the beast.

But as I did, a strange sensation came over me, one I couldn’t explain why. Part of me should have been thrilled that the beast that took my friend got what it deserved. Part of me wanted to cheer, to laugh, to lick its corpse and dance around its grave. Yet for some reason, as I sat there staring at all it was to me, it was another body. Another death. After all, it was an animal. It merely only kills for food. I knew taking it out was right for safety reasons, but as I stumbled towards it to get a better look, I felt no rage towards it at all. But sadness, and pity, for the creature’s life. After all, revenge—this creature’s death—did nothing to bring Stygian back. Instead, I merely whispered to Bright Mac, “Thank you for the update,” before clearing my throat and turning back to him. “How is your wife?” I asked, trying to sound stronger than I was at the moment.

“Dr. Hooves, are you alright? You look paler than my wife. Perhaps we should get you back to bed.” He insisted, running over to me and picking me up as if I were a filly.

The experience was quite something. He was very strong and did so easily. A part of me could see why his wife fell in love with him. Hell, I nearly fell in love right there. Despite his brute strength, he gently laid me in bed and pulled up the covers.

“You being sick is the worst thing possible, sir. My wife needs you in full health, for if you’re not…” He chuckled. “How can you heal her of her illness?”

“Right,” I rolled my eyes and settled my head into my pillow. He had full confidence in my ability. Why, I did. It’s known. Could it have been that I was his last hope? His wife’s last hope to live? Was that why he had full faith in me? Because he had nowhere else to go?

“Why, I’m sure science and magic one day will be seen as partners and you’ll be able to heal anyone,” he happily noted as he left.

“Science and magic, sure,” I grumbled before snuggling under the covers until I was comfortable to fall asleep. “Science and magic,” I continued to mumble, rolling over to my side. “Ha, what a silly…” My eyes shot wide as I suddenly remembered the old scriptures. There, lying on the floor across from me, they sat in my bag. With a quick notion, I leaped for them, spilling some chocolate in the process. I cared not for it at the moment. Quickly, I sprang the pages landing on the text about how magic worked and glided my hoof over it, spreading it once more.

“A battery,” I thought to myself. Batteries that can be charged and discharged. Quickly, I tossed aside the book and ran through the bag again. This time pulling out a book on electricity in the body. I flipped through it, taking in what I could.

“The body is filled with cells that, when electricity strikes through them, can cause the body to move. Enough energy can be used to restart a heart before the brain dies.” Yes, but if you were able to bring back the brain, bring it to life along with the heart, surely it would live.” I blanked in awe before tossing it aside and pulling out more books on the anatomy of a pony. Finding a picture of the layout inside the body, an idea began to swell in my mind. An idea that at the time I had no fear of and later would wish I did.

“That’s it,” the crazed man chuckled. Yes, I was no longer in the right mind. This wasn’t me—want my rational thinking. All I wanted to do was see him. To talk to him. To bring Stygian back… back… from… the dead.

That night I wasted no time running out of my home and breaking into the church. I quickly searched through every library book I could find on the subject but came up empty-handed. I soon broke into the old pony's office, finding Star Swirl’s private collection of materials. There were at least a hundred more books, all about magic spells and what they did, but nothing even came close to what I was searching for.

As I searched, I came to a stop when I stumbled onto the old pony's stack of mare paintings, some far more revealing than I should have seen. Even as a doctor, I truly felt such things were better left for a lover to view than this. With a blush on my face, I snapped that book shut, now terrified to go through the rest. Besides, it seemed what I was going to do was indeed completely new. There wasn’t one subject that neither science nor magic could ever accomplish. But it would take both science and magic to achieve it.

Getting to my feet, I stumbled out of the room and headed down the hall, passing the snoring old pony in his sleeping chambers on my left. Turning to the right, I saw the sign that read “Stygian,” marking his old bedroom. With a sudden inhale, I decided to look inside on a whim, if nothing else.

When I opened the door, it was as if he had never died. It was far too soon for any real change to occur. I felt his presence in the room through the lingering smell of magic smoke, as he often smelled like magic smoke. But it was strangely the coldest room in the entire church. Even the morgue didn’t feel as cold as it did in here. It was as if death itself stood in the very room, observing the leftovers of the boy’s life. A simple bed in the corner, a nightstand, a bookshelf, a wardrobe, and a small desk sat inside. The books were mostly his own studies, nothing out of the blue. And there on the desk sat his pendant, clearly left there by Star Swirl. It was the only shiny thing in the entire cold, dark room.

Quickly rushing over to it, I picked it up and held it in my hands, running my fingers over the back where his name was inscribed. I had to bring him back. I just had to. “There’s got to be a way,” I whispered, only for the strap of the pendant to snap again. I forgot that it was broken. The pendant fell down off the table and rolled under the bed, making a little cling as it did. Kneeling down, I quickly went after it, hoping to stop the noise before it woke anybody up.

But as I grabbed hold of it, I could see in the shadows under the bed the faint outline of another object. There was nothing else under the bed, nothing except this one rather large object. My curiosity peaked, so I crawled further under the bed to grab it. Pulling it out, to my surprise, it was extremely heavy. It might have been the heaviest thing I had ever felt. I couldn’t imagine skinny little Stygian with such an object. Then I remembered he was a unicorn and would most likely just use his magic to levitate it.

Darn lucky unicorns, I thought to myself as I struggled to pull it up. Once I was able to get it out into the dim light of the room, I saw that it was, in fact, a book. But not just any book. Unlike all the other books I had seen in the church, even in Star Swirl’s office, this book was clearly the oldest. It was in rough shape, too. The leather was badly cracked and charred in some places. The scriptures etched into its cover were unreadable, as if it were from an ancient language even before Ponyish. I could make out a few letters, like a “C” and a “D,” but either because it was in such rough shape, or because it was in another language, the words made no sense, and I couldn’t figure out the title of the book. Even as I touched it, despite its heavy nature, some of it seemed to crumble with the slightest pressure of my hoof.

Even so, as gently as I could, I opened it to find hundreds of pages that were either ruined due to water damage, burned judging by the ash, or so sloppily written that even if I could read the language, I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea of what any of it said.

As I went through it further, however, some of the scriptures came and went. It was as if I was close to making out a few words, but nothing was ever concrete. The book had many hoof-painted illustrations of what I could only assume were representations of what the words were talking about. One such illustration depicted a pony's hoof on fire. Another showed a pony raising his hoof while vines sprouted from the ground. Another illustration depicted a pony creating what I could only describe as a doorway of some sort. Was it possible that this strange book was a spellbook?

Oh, who am I kidding? I’m in a magical church; all books are either historical or spellbooks. I flipped through more of it, revealing some of the craziest images I had ever seen. Like a pony controlling the sun and moon. A pony turning a bright day to a snowy fields night. Another page showcased a pony transforming another pony into a monstrous form, a giant. Another showed it controlling other ponies with one look into its eyes. What was this book of horrors? Somehow, I didn’t want to know. At the same time, I couldn’t help but flip through it. As I did, some of it did indeed begin to crumble, but even so, I was so fascinated by it.

I had seen unicorns perform magic. Some would levitate objects, some would pour liquid as if pulling it out of the air, and some could even teleport from one place to another. Some could heal wounds and others could produce flames from their horns. But I had never once seen anypony be able to do what this book inscribed. A pony being able to lift a mountain with ease. A pony being able to turn an object into another.

The capabilities were endless and unusual. Then I flipped to what must have been the middle of the book, and my jaw dropped. There, in the illustration, was what I was searching for: a pony drawing magic out of another. If this spell was done in reverse, perhaps instead of drawing magic, I could give it to something. It must be just enough… just enough! To repower the mind. If I did it, combined with the circuit of energy into the body, certainly, I would have created it. I could bring him back to life.

But how could I get enough energy to restart his heart? I asked myself, only for the answer to literally fall from the sky. A flash of lightning and the thunder of the clouds outside announced a storm coming. “Lightning,” I whispered to myself. I flipped to another page, finding a spell to call upon the weather.

It was right here. It was all I needed. I just needed a place to set up, a place to perform the necessary rituals. And so I easily found it, for in all directions of the book lay a castle in the silhouette.

“The Dark Forest, the Everfree Forest, it has ruins of such a place, yes. This book must be from there,” the crazed side of me smiled. “Yes,” he said, not I—not my rational mind anyway—laughed in a crazed fashion at first, only to stifle my own ludicrous thoughts. I couldn’t wake anyone up; surely they would have tried to stop me.

Now all I needed was the body.

chapter 5

Chapter 5

I quickly snuck down to the morgue, collecting both the needed suplies. and Stygian's remains. Luckily for me, the preparation for his bariel was not yet executed. He still remained intact. His brain was there, his heart, his torso, and skull. Despite its shredded look, all it really needed was a few replacements at best.

And what better place to find such replacements than the morgue itself? There in jars sat organs that were kept for replacement to those who needed them. Who needed it more than Stygian, though? I found a decent-sized stomach and a spleen. There were buckets and buckets of blood, of which I could fill his brain and arteries. Flipping open my book, I found whatever I needed. A pancreas—I chose the cleanest looking one I could find. Lungs were a hard find. Stygian had one that was collapsed and the other one missing. That would not do at all. I searched for a pair, or even just one would do, but came up empty-handed among the jars. With a frustrated groan, I growled at the struggle, only to remember where I was. There, sitting in the morgue, was the body of the recently killed manticore. Manticore's lungs were definitely bigger than a pony's, but certainly they would work. Pulling a knife, I quickly dove into the body of the beast and extracted what I needed, carving it out easily, I Ignoring the blood splatter across my clothes as I did so. The smell of it was so putrid, rotten, and strong that I would have vomited if it weren't for the fact that my mind was on other things.

Then I had another issue, didn’t I? I needed skin to replace what Stygian had lost. The hide of the manticore would do just fine. And I effortlessly ripped that away as well. But would it be enough? Of course not. As I stumbled back trying to find more, there I saw in the distance out the window a freshly dug grave. With a crazed laugh, I ran out towards it, finding a casket. Inside, the perfectly preserved deceased Mr Buckbeak. Certainly he wouldn’t mind if I took just a bit of flesh, would he? He didn’t need it after all. I soon quickly preserved his wing and left arm. I needed a right leg, and to my surprise, there sat in the next grave the dragon that died nearly a month ago. Gathering its leg would be simple. And so I did so without hesitation.

Gathering what I could in the old cart, I quickly tied it to myself and began treading up out of town and into the forest just as a thick fog began to sweep in.

Tracking through the woods, I stumbled onto a divided deer; its antlers a perfect substitute for Stygian's horn. I also took its left leg, as it was in good condition and Stygian had none at the time.

I traveled three days and three nights endlessly searching for the old ruins. As I went through the forest, the shadows and the fog only seemed to thicken, despite the changes of day to night. It didn’t matter the hour in here. It was so thick that it was always dark.

I cared not for the scary sounds of alligators and owls. Nor did I for the swirling crows and frog croaks. I only had one thing on my mind, and that one thing led me to my finale destination.

There, standing just above the trees, sat an empty ancient tower. The led down to a decrepit stone castle. Its only entry was the rickety old bridge over a grand and furious river. It sat on the edge of a cliff surrounded by trees and overgrown plants that took it as its own.

Stepping onto the bridge, the first step easily bent under my weight. It didn’t break, but the cracking sound from it told me that that bridge was never going to make it. No, instead I would have to carefully take each piece of the body one by one over the bridge myself. And so I did just that without hesitation. It took me a whole day to finally get everything I needed inside. But once there, I traveled to the higher room in the tower. It looked to have once been the sleeping quarters of royalty.

The castle itself was grand and yet simple, with basic rooms and basic structure. A throne room sat at the end of a hallway, a bathroom on the first left door, a kitchen and dining room on the right followed by what seemed to be an ancient garrison and a grand library. Its walls sat stories high above me. And up the steps were several bedrooms, including at the highest what must have been the king’s or queen’s royal chambers. The place was filled with spiders and webs; vines of plants and broken stained glass scatterd the old black stone walls and floors. Even so, tired of moving all day, I fell to slumber on a mattress so soft I was surprised it had ever existed.

The next day, though, I began my work patching up the body. I needed a way to gather energy from the skies, and so I used parts of the cart and my own intellect to devise a pulley system out of its wheels and created a rising and falling table. Along with creating two large lightning rods using metal poles from the cart's structure. They could be lifted into the air, drawing the necessary energy from the lightning down through a wire that I hooked up to the body. It could be easily activated with a simple switch when ready. Now that everything was ready, the hard part began.

Due to the storage amalgamation of limbs and body features that I had, it wasn’t easy stitching the body of Stygian back together. My medical prowess and supplies of string were all I had to make it work. The final collection was, in a word, ugly—very ugly. After stitching and properly patching it, Stygian, who was actually quite short in life, was now leathery and tall due to me having to rearrange some of the organs to fit. Simply put, he was now slimy and weathered if not ridiculously so. The hardest part was actually reconnecting the tendons and arteries, especially since none of it came from the same being. But after hours of surgery, I had finally made it work. All that was left was his right arm. I forgot the right arm! And where was I going to find one on such short notice? I scrambled furiously with myself that I could forget such an appendage, only to find the remains of the manticore.

With the sight of it, I grinned as I recognized a sense of irony in it. Thinking that the hand that had killed Stygian would now become his, I thought. And so I did what I could to attach it to the body.

I couldn’t care about a horn, so I just plunged the manticore’s horn into the skull, making sure not to touch the brain at all. I also added a goat horn so I could use it to draw the lightning into the body. Perhaps once he was alive again I could remove it, but for now, it was a necessary additive. Once it was all said and done, I sat back and looked at my hard work from the past three and a half days. And then I remembered the date. It was finally Nightmare Night of all nights. Thinking, I realized this could be the end of my horrific nightmare.

Oh how I was wrong; this wasn’t the end, but whether it was just the beginning.

As the night began to tremble into the day, I was able to make makeshift candles thanks to the leftover wax and stickers found in the castle's throne room. I soon began to read the book and make out the spell that was nearly for the process. The problem now was, I wanted to know Stygian. I was no unicorn. I was only an earth pony with no horn to direct and focus magic—assuming I had any in the first place.

With a sigh, I remembered mine and Stygian's last conversation about how all forms of life had magical energy. I could feel my heart twist as I remembered my crude words to him about not passing his religious propaganda to me. Oh, how foolish I truly was.

But even so, if I were to do this spell and achieve the objective, I would have to believe my friend's words, as they were the only chance I had to bring him back to life. Science did all it could; using it, I stitched back a functioning body for him. Now I needed to breathe life back into him. It was, as I said, a simple charge of his batteries so donated. I just needed to give him enough of a magical charge to reinvigorate his brain. The science was there, but the question was, was the magic.

I looked at my hooves, realizing it had been a long time since I ever tried to attempt anything like this. It was said that just like a muscle, magic had to be trained to become stronger. Mine was secretly weak at best. Still, it was what I had.

With a deep breath, I closed my eyes and breathed out. Upon opening them, my gaze was now fixed on the spell before my eyes. Though I couldn’t make out what I said,*specifically. There were letters that I could possibly form a spell with. The question now was, would it work? Raising my hoof in the air, I began with all my might to call upon whatever energy I had in my body.

I then did as the photos depicted, using my medical syringe to make a small cut on my hoof and Stygian's flesh. The candles flickered as the wind and fog began to spiral around the room. I then conjured the thunder spell to create the necessary storm for the work. And then I began to finish what I started with the transfer spell.

What I had said, I couldn’t tell you. But at first, after saying it, I felt nothing at all. Believing it to be a dud, I tried again, saying the spell in a different way. It seemed to do the same. Finally, after three more tries, on the fifth one, it seemed to finally activate. I had finally made the right words. And as I did, I could feel for the first time in my life my own magical energy. My own life force. To my surprise, however, it began to drain out of not just the cut on my hoof but every pore on my body.

Soon it gathered into a bright white light and seemed to shift into the form of Stygian. As it did so, I could feel my body grow weaker as if I was aging quickly. Soon, before it was too late, I grabbed the crank of the table and rose Stygian's body up in the air and through the hole in the roof of the castle. Along with it, I then felt my heart come to an abrupt stop as I stared at the lever that would activate the lightning rods.

There I stood, staring at the lever. And yet, despite all my hard work, despite the crimes I committed—grave robbing, the sins I have endured—as I stood at that final moment, of threshold, I sat there hesitating as to whether or not I could pull the trigger.

It was as if all my senses that had been lost the last few days finally returned to me in that very moment. The pulsing of my hoof drew my gaze to the cut, and then to the rest of the room, and up to the body now extended in the air.

“What have I done?”

“I defiled a body; I cut apart and defiled not only the remains of my best friend but the remains of others just to put him back together, and for what?”

I came crashing to my knees as the tears filled and erupted from my face—tears I had been holding on for far too long. Soon I raised my head, and a cry I could not recognize erupted from my throat. It wasn’t just a cry for what I had done but of the pain and suffering I had accumulated in my life, and all the pain and suffering I was about to cause.

Stygian wouldn’t have wanted this. He wouldn’t have wanted me so fixated on something that it drove me to not only sin against him but to sin against nature itself. Life was precious; I knew that, and yet here I was wasting it away on the dead. My work was for the living, not the dead. The memory of Miss Apple rang into my mind. My patient.

The last time I had seen her, as I sat with little faith in myself, she—who was dying—set aside her tea, her beliefs in the magical arts, and told me, “I know you will; my life is in your hands.”

How could I sit there for days, working on the dead when a patient dying—[b]someone who was alive,[/b] someone I could prevent their death—needed me most? “Stygian,” I stumbled over my words. “Stygian would have wanted her to live, not him. I have betrayed both her and Stygian for my own selfish desire of wanting him by my side.”

“This was where I went wrong… and I have to stop it before it’s too late.” With that new knowledge, I arose to my feet as best I could. The problem was I felt extremely weak and stumbled forward, falling flat on my face—catching myself on the lever. Pulling it down, along with me.

“And so I was wrong. This was where I went wrong.”

With a loud crack of thunder, lightning struck the two towers. I looked up in horror as I saw the remains reanimated and shake above my head.

“It was too late,” I stumbled as I watched the body for a few moments until then lightning and thunder died down, leaving smoke and the smell of burnt fflesh in the air. I leaped back, scared out of my mind, as I watched the body jump from the surge of electrical charges. I was nearly blinded by the flash, but as the lightning came to an end, the wind blew out the candles as I heard a mighty thump from the body smashing into the table below.

Despite my newfound clear mind, my curiosity got the better of me once more. And I soon grabbed the crank and began to bring the table back down to the ground.

But to both my dismay and relief, when the body was back in my sights under the table, it sat as a burnt-up corpse under a sheet. No sign of life in it.

Even so, despite my relief, the sadness of losing my friend came crashing back to the forefront of my mind, and my heart ached as I stared at the body before me. For a moment, I silently said goodbye to Stygian, turning away from him, about to leave and never come back to this haunted place ever again.

Bump! As I turned away, a thump echoed through the deadly silence that made my heart stop and my eyes widen as the fur on the back of my neck stood up.

Another thump, followed by an animalistic groan, startled me into action. I spun around as I heard a loud thud of something making a chill run down my spine. My eyes popped nearly out of my skull. I began shaking as I could feel a cold, cruel tension building up behind me. Suddenly, another bump made me jump, and I chanced a glance over my shoulder.

I watched as the dragon tail raised and thumped on the ground again, only to fall cold and lifeless.

With a chuckle, I realized it was just some leftover nerve charges. “For a second there, I thought you were a-

Before I could finish the sentence, a groan came from under the sheets of body parts. I watched in amazement as the head raised from the depths and tore off the sheet with a mighty swipe of its lion claw. The figure didn’t move naturally. It kept its movements twisted and jumpy as it struggled to its feet.

“St-Stygian,” I stammered, as a warm feeling spread in my heart. I should have known not to have hope. I should have been more terrified. Yet, despite that, the very notion my friend was alive— the very idea—brought happiness that overshadowed my fear. Big mistake.

The figure stood towering over me as it stretched its elongated neck, its unconscious ways cracking the bones into proper place.

“Stygian, say something!” I asked with a shuddering breath.

The creature before me turned its head to me and snapped its eyes open. I leaped back, screaming in horror, as I stared into its demonic state. Whatever I had done, whoever I brought back, was not Stygian. It was not my friend. It was a malformation of science and magic. It was evil and ominous. It had blood-red iris that were small in comparison to the massive amber glow of its eyes.

It groaned loudly as it tried to approach me. I could see saliva build up in its mouth. A giant fang, that protruded from its lips, dripped with the substance as it tumbled forward my way. Its bat-like dragon wing and feathered one flapped, propelling itself into the sky as I ducked for my life.

I knew in an instant what it wanted. It was a hungry beast, one that was starving for food. It would stop at nothing to get what it wanted, and I was it. Racing through the old barn-style doors of the crumbling castle, I tore through the forest as quickly as I could in hopes of getting away—far, far away. I ran all the way back to Ponyville, a disheveled mess. My clothes were torn into pieces from them catching onto branches and splitting apart due to the force of my escape. My hair was a disgusting mess, and I smelled like I hadn’t showered in weeks due to the stench of the rotting corpse that I brought back to life.

Once back in town, I ran home and cowered under my bed, shivering, hoping that it wouldn’t come after me. Hoping that I would never see those demonic eyes ever again.

Chapter 6

With the sound of a party cannon going off in a cemetery I found myself staring at not just one, but two gravestones. On one was engraved "To Stygian," though it was left empty due to my work. The only thing buried was his pendant. And up a ways away from him sat none other than the party as they gathered around a gravestone. Funny, I didn’t think setting off a party cannon in the middle of a graveyard was a custom. But the Apple family certainly were a lively bunch who remembered every member of their clan and partied as if their deceased were right there standing next to them.

As I slowly approached the Apple family to give my condolences, I quickly decided not to, on the count that I couldn’t even look any member of the family in the eye. Twenty years— that is how long it’s been. Twenty years. Two decades since their mother put her faith in me to save her. And what did I do? I wasted it. The very night after my horrible attempt to bring back Stygian, she had died, and it wasn’t long until her husband died along with her from a broken heart.

While no, it wasn’t my fault, I did feel very guilty. After all, it was I who promised her I would do everything in my power to help her. And in the end, I failed not only her, but myself as well.

With that in mind, I quickly decided to head home. As I walked the roads of the small city. Yes, city. The so-called backwater town now had roads of brick lit by electric lamps that were far more efficient than the old oil ones that littered the streets before. It was now a bustling city. A small one, barely big enough to hold that title. But it definitely changed in the last twenty years.

A grand school was built not too far from the city, constructed by Princess Twilight herself, who had a summer home placed not too far away from the church. That brought plenty of new opportunities for the small town to grow. Not only did Ponyville now host a growing population, but it had a great set of entrepreneurs who opened stores and built their homes not too far away. Still, it was good business, and along with it, good progress for most at least.

However, with more business came more competition, and in a short while, I was a doctor who now worked in a large hospital instead of out of my home office. The most I was ever allowed to do was examine and bandage a wound. With more and more creatures moving in and a scientific mind prevailing, the idea that any magic other than the basic levitation spell was of any use died out. No longer did the church or unicorns heal the sick and the wounded. No longer did anyone drink herbal tea as a remedy for magic imbalance. No, instead, now they all looked at modern medicine—pills full of strange ingredients which I haven’t the foggiest idea of what was inside them.

It’s funny, I long ago would have wished for this, due to my own atheism and lack of faith in the old ways of magic. But as I looked over at the sterile white walls of the hospital, I soon found myself saddened by the sudden shifts in medical practice, especially now that I knew some of it, if not all of it, was indeed real if not better than the medicine we hold so dear nowadays.

With a groan, I fixed my top hat and began walking past it. Today was not a workday, and with my grey hairs coming in, it would soon be time to retire from such work. Going on my way, I was at least kindly greeted by the city folk.

Smiles and waves from both my patients of the past and from the crowd who knew of me. All I had to do was ignore their snickers and laughter after they would use the nickname I had gathered over the years.

A passing young mare named Scootaloo walked up beside me, greeting me like all the rest. “Morning, Dr. Nuts! Hey, how’s that monster of yours?” she smiled wide as she prepared to walk alongside me.

As she said it, many of those in the crowd giggled. I could hear it, yet I only rolled my eyes at the idea. “Just make sure you don’t go near that forest,” I warned her.

“Oh yes,” said another voice from behind, this time a young male. “It’s almost Nightmare Night. Hey, you don’t think the monster would cone here, do ya?” he said before clutching his stomach and laughing in my face.

“Hay stop being rude, I mean, you don’t want the monster to come to your house every night and torment you, do you?” Scootaloo replied trying to hold back her own laughter and failing to do so, to my face.

“What could I do, except groan at the stupidity of the youth? They knew not of my experience. They knew nothing of the horrors I witnessed, the horrors I committed. Instead, I just tipped my hat to them and walked away as they called for my new name.

“Oh wait, Dr. Nuts, we didn’t mean to upset you! It’s Nightmare Night,” Called Scootaloo as she pulled out a flyer. “The church is hosting a party!”

Ah yes, the Nightmare Night Costume Gala, which started not long after the next generation was born. That’s all the church was used for these days. Despite them all having a sun pendant, the youth today definitely did not understand what it truly meant to have faith in the old ways. As for me, I hadn’t walked back into the church since the day after the horrific night.

…

Running back into the church that morning, I went up to Star Swirl, frantic and frightened as ever, as I called out, “Monster! There’s a monster in the forest! I saw it with my own eyes!”

Star Swirl at the time was looking over the stolen graves when I found him in the church’s morgue. “Good morning to you too, Doctor,” he raised an eyebrow as he noted down what was robbed.

Little did he know I was the culprit who did it. Little did he know I used them to create a monster. I couldn’t tell him that; all I could do was grab him by the collar. “Sir, a monster! A great monster is in the woods! I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Probably just another manticore.”

“No, sir, no! You must listen to me! We must burn down the forest! We must burn it to the ground, and all its inhabitants, or that monster will eat us all!”

“Monster?” asked another mare who overheard.

“Yes, yes, a monster!”

“And how would you describe such a beast?” asked another colt as he grabbed his gun.

“Tall, has a horn and antlers, and a lion’s arm!” I spat wildly.

“A what?” shouted the colt with the gun.

“Yes, yes! It also has the leg of a deer and the other a lizard!”

The room fell silent for a moment before laughter erupted from them all.

“I get it, Nightmare Night! The kids must have scared you good, Dr. Whooves.”

“No, no, no! Listen to me!” I frantically spat. “There in the old castle, once the woods sits a monster who wishes to eat us all!”

“Castle in the woods?” laughed the mare.

“Yes!” Dr. Whooves interjected. “There is no castle in the woods. I went through that entire forest and have never once seen any evidence.”

“No, no! I traveled there! It took me four days and four nights to…”

“Sir, do you even know what day it is? It’s the day after Nightmare Night, sir. You went nowhere.”

“What— but— but,”

“It seems you must have had a bad dream. Perhaps you’ve contracted the same illness as your patients.”

“But—!”

“Go home, Dr. Whooves Get some rest,” Star Swirl instructed before he sat on a bench with a tired sigh. “Perhaps I have been working you too hard. And with the death of Stygian, it is clear you’ve cracked, my good sir. I don’t blame you; I too think I will retire.”

With the old pony’s words, the room gasped.

“But Star Swirl, sir,” the colt with the gun stood up.

“Quiet, Shotgun… I am getting too old for this. The church I leave to you now, now let this old pony rest,” he solemnly stated before heading away.

…

That was the last I saw of Star Swirl. No, he didn’t die; in fact, he still lives in the church but is no longer the head of it, fully retired from his work. As for me, I ran through the town, trying to tell anyone who would believe me about the monster… but as soon as I started describing the beast, they all laughed and thought I was just dreaming. And so, after twenty years, this was my final fate. Dr. Hooves, the brilliant scientific mind set on finding a cure for an impossible illness, was now labeled a fraud, the late Apple’s husband, and was claimed to be Dr. Nuts. This is why I was only allowed to bandage a patient and never allowed to autopsy them, as they all believed I had gone crazy.

And perhaps they were right. Perhaps I had gone crazy. Perhaps it was all just a dream. After all, other than the occasional strange beastly cry from the forest, which most considered to be just a wild hurt animal, there was no change between then and now. No sighting of the beast had ever been seen by anyone except for me. Often, through the nights, I would relive my worst memories of that fateful day, but that was just it, wasn’t it? It was all just a crazed dream—a dream I let ruin my life for over twenty years. And now, now I am old, I am tired… and I would like to move on. Lowering my hat over my gaze, feeling weak as always, I walked my path, alone.

A few steps later, though, and to my surprise, I literally bumped into the dress of someone. She, though, did not do more than take a step back and catch me, making sure I did not fall.

“Da— Dr. Whooves,” stuttered a small, beautiful, angelic-like voice. The voice alone struck my ears like the softest and sweetest of music. Knowing full well who that voice belonged to, I immediately leaped back onto my feet, fixing my hat and hoping I wasn’t blushing too much like a fool.

“Madam Shy, of the Shy household,” I grinned, hoping my cheeks weren’t as red as they felt. “I’m terribly sorry, I was lost in thought and wasn’t watching where I was going. Tell me, how is your rabbit?”

“Fine, actually,” she replied with the smallest of smiles. “I only hope to become a vet one day so I don’t have to rely on you to bandage him when he gets hurt.”

Despite my conversational skills, one look at her and my mind went blank; I hadn’t the foggiest idea of what she had just said. The basic word of beauty was merely a disservice to her.

Had Miss Fluttershy not been a mare, I would have believed her to be a goddess, an angel among our mortal kind. She was quietly beautiful, but not extraordinarily so. She didn’t have to try. She wore no makeup on her lips or powder on her nose. In fact, from all accounts, most would probably call her rather plain-looking at first glance. It wasn’t until you saw her up close that she truly shined. Other mares, especially older ones, had to wear wigs or makeup to hide their aging wrinkles. She, however, was spotless, except for a small laugh line that framed her lips perfectly. She was a bright yellow pony whose color outshone even the sun. Her soft, rosy pink locks framed her face delicately, yet she often used them to cover and hide under, as she was quiet and shy in nature. As she was doing now, all I could see was the faint outline of one of her eyes, a crystal teal blue that made even the ocean’s hello ice seem unclear in comparison. Coupled with a simple figure, with curves in all the right places, she stood out in her green dress, which she wore often for school. It flared out perfectly at her waist side, making her look like a princess in ration. And yet, she was none of the sort—a daughter of a cloud manufacturer, a wealthy profession perhaps, but not so high-class as to be snooty. And on top of that, merely a young mare, not a filly, barely marriage age.

With a blissful sigh louder than I would have liked to express, the thought of such a mare by my bedside left a stupid smile on my face.

She was just barely marriage age, and with it, no doubt, many men would be after her hoof. I was certain her father must have had thousands asking him for a proposal these days.

Had I a son, I too would be barking at his throat on his behalf for her hand. But the years had left me empty-handed. Perhaps it was because no one wanted to be called Mrs. Nuts, or perhaps it was my so-called focus on a possibly imaginary monster that had left me without anyone by my bedside.

Yet, despite that, was it really too late? I was, after all, barely middle-aged myself. I was still quite young, in fact. And the sight of her only made me feel more so. Perhaps this is what I needed—a chance to move on from my past and start anew. To find a mare and settle down with my life. Or perhaps I had found a mare, and I only needed her hoof.

With that in mind, I straightened my back, fixed my hat, giving it a small dip in her direction, as any gentleman should. “Good to hear, madam. Do you, um, have any plans?”

“My—plans,” her eyes shot wide. “Well, no, I mean, my family is forcing me to go to that awful Nightmare Night dance next Friday. Other than that, I nearly have my school—”

“Fluttershy!” Scootaloo shouted from a distance.

“Oh, it’s Scootaloo, I better get going,” she politely gave a small curtsy with her dress before clutching her purse tighter and heading away, leaving me with a smile.

She was nearly half my age, but not exactly. And she was marriage age, after all—was it truly so inappropriate to ask her for her plans? Setting a hoof on my chin and turning back on my way, I knew exactly what I had to do. First, I would ask her father to take her to the dance, and then, while they were distracted, convince her to let me court her. I stopped midway, and my lips nearly hit the ground.

“Friday—it was Monday; I have less than a week to learn how to dance! Note to self: pick up a book on dancing at the library.”

“Yes, if I could impress her with a dance and show I am far more than just an old, crazy doctor, surely then she’ll agree to be my wife.”

…

And as I headed on my way to the library for that book, the cloud factory of the town was right next door, perfect to set my plans into motion.

As an earth pony with no wings or magic of my own, I’m sure I was a funny sight to many when I started my path up the thousands of steps that led to the cloud factory.

Make no mistake, despite the name, the cloud factory was not a fluffy place of rainbows and snowflakes. It was a masterful building of the weather—a factory in its truest sense. Using water and air mixed at different pressures, the pegasi mastered the art of cloud-making. And it was here I would find my next obstacle to Miss Shy's heart. There, showing a new colt by the looks of him, sat Mr. Shy forging a thundercloud. Dressed as a worker should be, in his blue denim overalls, the green pegasus patted the kid on the back and asked, "Think you got it, son?"

To which the boy nodded and began his work as the master of his craft left with a grin and headed to his office as an observer of the manufacturing. I quickly followed him to his office, hoping to ask my question. But as I approached the door with the man’s name on it, I paused and took a breath, preparing myself for the task at hand. After a moment of psyching myself up, I dashed inside the office to find the man holding a cigar in his hoof.

“Ahh, Dr. Whooves, let me guess. My daughter brought you her rabbit for more bandages, didn’t she? I’ll have to talk to her about spending all my money on that little devil,” he chuckled before putting down the cigar and pulling out his wallet from his back pocket. “What is the damage this time?” he asked joyfully, as the sound of a thunderstrike outside made me jolt.

He snickered at my reaction, giving me a side-eye. “It’s a weather factory; it happens all the time here.”

“But of course.” I cleared my throat, both from the fear of the lightning and my own anxiety about my next question. “Anyway, Mr. Shy, please put your wallet away; I am here for no such accessories. I’m afraid I have other business to discuss,” I said as I took the empty chair across from the desk.

“Other business?” The light-green pegasus raised an eyebrow as he puffed on his cigar. His demeanor instantly changed from a friendly worker to a serious bloke.

On the one hand, sure, he wasn’t dressed in a fancy uniform coat and hat, but somehow the grease on his hands, the oil stain on his face, and the cluttered worker uniform gave the man an even more intimidating look than one of great wealth.

This was not a man of high class but of high work ethic, and somehow I didn’t know which was worse to deal with at the moment. However, I couldn’t help but feel a strange relief when I noticed how gray he looked. His hair was thinning, and his hairline looked as if he would go bald within the next decade. He was clearly older than I, and somehow, despite my own gray hairs, it gave me great relief to know that the father of the mare I was after was at least older than me, if only a little.

“And what business brings someone of your expertise, then?” he asked. I could hear it in his tone—the shift in the weight of his words clearly showed he was serious. Too serious.

Clearing my throat again, I said in a far too high-pitched voice, “Personal business, actually, Mr. Shy. I’m here to discuss your daughter.”

The mere mention of his child in the conversation shifted his eyebrow lower and narrowed his eyes.

“My daughter, you say?”

I nodded.

“I see…” he slowly muttered, as if contemplating what to say next. “And what is my daughter to you?”

He nearly groaned, a warning to me.

“Sir,” I nervously stuttered as my nerves began to shake my lower legs. I silently begged whatever god there was—Celestia or whoever—that the man didn’t realize my weakened state. “There is a party, the Nightmare Night gala, at the church. Surely she is going, and I thought perhaps I could take her, in hopes of making sure she had a safe journey.”

“A safe journey, yes. After all, there are such monsters on Nightmare Night, aren’t there?” he said with a grin, despite the unchanging tone.

I knew exactly what he meant by that too. It was his way of digging at me again, mocking me like they all do—like they always did. The only one who never mocked me, at least not to my face, was sweet Fluttershy. For her, I had to stand my ground. For once in my life, I could not falter due to my past mistakes. I had to make my mark and every intention I had clear in this very moment, or my silence would forever consume and haunt me just as the dreams of the monster did.

Raising my chin in the air so I looked squarely into the pegasus's eyes, I simply and politely stated, “Sir, I wouldn’t just want to chaperone her. I wish to court her—with your and her permission, of course.”

The mere words brought no emotion out of the colt. He sat nearly speechless, staring coldly into my face as the smoke of his cigar encircled his head.

“Aren’t you a little old?” he asked, taking the cigar out of his hand.

“I am younger than you, and besides, as a doctor, my profession has given me decent wealth—enough to care for her properly, I assure you.”

“Yes, but…” he sighed, never taking his eyes off me. Instead, I could feel his gaze sizing me up as if he were assessing my very worth. “My daughter has plenty of options, even those much more eligible than you, and far younger, and certainly far better looking than you,” he said, with a rise in his voice, a notch so I would hear every word as clear as day. It was clear he wasn’t fooling around, not when it came to his daughter.

My hooves nervously ran down the collar of my jacket. Even so, despite the shake it left in my leg, I had not backed down from his gaze even an inch. Finally, when I could speak again, I told him, “She would be happy with me, sir; I can assure you. My intellect alone far outclasses the mere boys she used to. I am a man offering her a good life—if only she and you would accept it.”

As if on cue, the old pony finally loosened the tension in his muscles and seemed to be mulling over my words. He soon brought his cigar back to his lips but didn’t smoke again. Instead, his eyes softened and he gave a light nod. “Tell you what, Dr. Hooves: you are a kind and fine man. Many of which today do not have the decency we did in our younger days.”

His gaze then raised to mine, and he leaned over his desk once more, closer to me, making sure that he was looking me straight in the eye.

“As a father, I only wish for my daughter to be happy. I did everything I could to give her what I didn’t have growing up. You remember how things used to be, before this factory and the school? The dirt streets, the oil lamps, the church—houses built on the backs of men, not metal machines. For that reason and that alone, I will pass on your offer to my daughter and let her decide for herself. She is a mare now, and while I wish I could keep her locked and protected, I know she must live by her own choices.”

With that, a relieved “Thank you, sir!” erupted from my throat as I began to prepare for my leave. But as I quickly reached the door, he stopped me with:

“However—“

I suddenly felt like I was dead myself. I was so cold all over as I waited for his words. I could tell by the sound of the creak in his chair that, without looking at him, I could see him leaning back, inhaling his cigar.

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high, Dr. Nuts. I truly feel there’s a better chance of us finding your monster than scoring a date with my daughter.” He laughed, his cigar in hand.

I clenched my teeth at the implication but soon let it go, knowing full well the colt was right. Saying not another word, I left, a heavier pit in my stomach than before.

chapter 7

Later that evening and all through the night, I did what I could to follow the dance instructions of a book I found on the subject. One two three, one two three, I mumbled to myself as I tried to catch the imaginary rhythm of the musical in my head. Whether I was actually successful or not was up to debate. As I began my lessons, the preparations for the Gala were underway.

Yet, there was one more glaring issue that I had no control over. It was after all Madam Shy's decision. And I had not heard back a solid yes yet. With that in mind, my dancing came to a halt as I stood, feeling the pit in my stomach tighten again.

“Per, perhaps her father changed his mind about letting her know of my offer. Perhaps he didn’t like the idea of us together after all.” With a shake of my head, I remembered who I was talking about. Mr. Shy was a blue-collar man, an honest hard worker; he wouldn’t have forgotten it, but still, the fact that there was no reply was my answer. I at least would have liked the common courtesy of saying no to my face, or a letter by this point. The dance was nearly less than 35 hours away. Less than two days, and she had not sent one message.

As I began to grow impatient and, dare I say stressed, I caught a glimpse of a shadow walking down the street that made me turn my head at just the perfect moment. The shadow was a bird, but it wasn’t that I was interested in. There across the street with another mare, a unicorn I believed was named Rarity, one of her few friends, were off with her, heading to the park by the looks of it.

Coming back from a shopping trip, judging by the bags in their hands.

My jaw dropped at the sight of her beauty. Though it was an average day, she never even once declined for a moment.

I needed to see her; no, I needed to ask her. Growing excited and gritty, I grabbed my hat, about to walk out the door only to pause when I noticed I wasn’t dressed to go outside.

I couldn’t let her see me in my nightgown. Why, that would be absurd. Oh, but there was no time to get dressed; who knows how long it would be till I would get a chance to talk to her? What was I going to do, wait until after the dance? It would be too late by then. No, instead, I would just have to wear my trench coat over myself and hope it would be enough to not make a fool of myself. And so quick as a flash, I dashed for the coat rack and stormed outside.

Heading quickly after her, I saw as she and her friend entered the park. With a grin on my face, I fixed my hat to hide my messy morning hair, and made certain that my coat was at least dusted off, before straightening my back and clearing my throat, and then following them in.

To my luck, I spotted them right away, sitting on a bench, next to another mare, playing with her dog. Heading in their direction, I nearly missed who the new mare was, until I came closer. To my horror, I recognized her. It was Applejack, the firstborn of the Apple household – the very same young filly now grown up who had asked me if I would save her mother. How could I face such an issue.

Despite my wanting to have a discussion with Madame Shy, I couldn't do it. I wanted to face any other situation, but not the Apple family. Not now, not ever, and so with that thought, I dashed into the bushes so that she would not see me when the farm girl turned my way.

With a wave, Applejack saw her friends approaching and offered them a seat on the bench, just as her dog brought back its ball. "Here, Winona," I heard her call out, as she tossed the ball again, giving it a quiet hearty throw, judging by the distance the ball went after one toss. Barking happily, her pet chased after it, leaving the ladies to have a seat and talk.

Good day, Applejack," Rarity was the first to speak up. She was a white pony dressed in a purple skin-tight dress, carrying a matching handbag. Next to her, Fluttershy carried at least a dozen bags, for her own use.

"I, and Fluttershy, just visited the little shop on the south side of town. Oh, I have to show you the absolute most exciting thing we bought," she said, giving one of the bags off Fluttershy's arm. With the bag gone, Fluttershy momentarily lost her balance and nearly fell over, before quickly setting the bags aside, giving a little giggle and sitting down on the bench.

"Come now, Fluttershy, if you need me to carry something, Rarity smiled.

"No, no, your generosity is too much already, Rarity. I can manage," Fluttershy smiled, yet her grin showed anything but confidence.

"Thank you, dear. After all, in my state, a woman of my stature is far too weak for such bags like that. I just don't have the arm strength of a worker like you and Applejack. Being the daughters of a blue-collar worker and a farmer, you two surely outclass me."

"You can say that again," Applejack muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.

"What was that," Rarity asked, perked up.

"Oh, nothing," the fair girl chuckled, fixing her hat, patting out her jeans, and sitting down with Fluttershy, who gave a giggle at Applejack's reply.

"Anyway," Rarity continued, pulling a dress out of the bag. It was a long, black dress with a silver spider-web-like pattern, and a pair of fake fangs, and bat wings. "I bought Fluttershy the fangs and the fake wings, before stitching together this most magnificent dress. Don't you think her costume will leave everyone jealous?" she giggled at the end, before adding, "All except me, of course, who have a fabulous princess outfit, myself. I'm dying to wear it."

"Very nice, Rarity. I'm sure Fluttershy is thrilled with it," Applejack congratulated the two.

"And you, what's your costume this year?" Rarity asked.

"I'm going as a scar crow. My brother is the lion this time; last year, we were the reverse," I replied.

"How festive! If you need me to stitch any overalls, let me know," Rarity grinned.

"Sure," the farm girl rolled her eyes and turned back at the sight of her dog finally returning with its ball.

"So, your brother is taking you again," Rarity questioned.

"Uh, no, he has his own date; I'm going solo this year," Applejack replied, taking the ball and winding up for another throw.

"Solo? Oh, no... No mare can show up to a dance solo," Rarity insisted.

"And why not? It's too late to find a date anyway; most people are already booked. I just want to have a good time."

With Applejack's last sentence, the quiet, shy pony, spoke up. Her voice caught every fiber of my attention, and I found myself nearly dropping my hat, lost in thought, without even realizing it. I didn't mean to eavesdrop; I was nearly debating on how to wave without Miss Apple noticing me while the ladies conversed amongst themselves. But as the angel spoke, I couldn't do anything but listen as if my heart was in a trance.

“I wish I could just do that,” she solemnly sighed. “I don’t like Nightmare Night—all these scary costumes.” With a shiver, she wrapped her arms around herself. “And if that wasn’t bad enough, my options of who I’m going with aren’t exactly the cream of the crop.

“What?” Rarity gasped. “How can you say such a thing? Was it not Prince Barrell, or Bulk the Salesman who asked you? Come now, you have plenty of options! Why, I hear your hoof was asked even more than my own. Granted, with someone of my status—there are only so many who are capable. You’re in a far better shape than I for that.”

“Oh yes, the daughter of a factory worker, which—apart from my face—that’s all they see me as,” Fluttershy lowered her head so her hair hid her as always. “It seems my only worth to anyone is to bed. I hate the way the townsmen look at me.” She shook.

“Oh come now, Flutters, you are much more than that,” Applejack said as she set her hooves on her hips.

“I know,” she groaned, “but I don’t like any of the men in this town. They’re all the same. My options narrow down to four, which are either a pompous rich man, a blue-collar ass, my brother, or a kind but old doctor. Of which I haven’t the faintest idea of who to choose.” She shook her head.

“A doctor?” shouted Rarity, intrigued.

“Oh come on, Fluttershy, it's just a party! It’s not like you’re fainting,” Applejack chuckled.

“Yes, but I just became marriage age. Whoever I go with on Friday, I might as well expect a proposal from them and theirs.” She groaned and settled her back against the bench. “Don’t get me wrong; a family one day would be nice, but my father instilled in me hard work and discipline. I want to become something to help the animals far more than I want to deal with my love life.”

“Well honestly, just ask yourself what you want in a man. Don’t you want strong arms to wrap around you, and a good home to feed your someday children?”

“True strength lies in action; he doesn’t have to be muscular for me to see whose value... but he does have to be kind.” The mare muttered as she began to weigh her options again and mull them over. “Kind, yes... yes, while he isn’t exactly my first choice, I do think the doctor suits me, despite him being older than I.”

“The doctor?” Applejack raised an eyebrow.

“And who is this doctor, may I ask?” Rarity stuck her nose in the air. “Don’t tell me it’s Dr. Vains, because while he is older, I think he’d be a perfect match for one such as yourself.”

“No, Dr. Whooves,” Fluttershy announced.

“Dr. Nuts!” shouted Applejack furiously. “That no-good varmint! Why, that man is so cowardly, he dares not come near my family to even make amends!”

“Applejack, it isn’t his fault your mother died,” Fluttershy meowed to her side in hopes of comforting her.

“Na—no, you’re right, but—but after Daddy...” Her voice began to shake. “We treated him like a member of the family. We believed in him, and even after he failed us, I at least expected him to… to…” Her eyes began to water, and with a head shake, she declared loudly, “I don’t know!” With a whisper, she repeated herself, “I don’t know,” before adding, “Apologies, I didn’t mean to bring any of this up. In the end, he is a good man, I suppose, but do you really want to be called Miss Nuts? The man’s crazy about some mythical monster in the woods that, by all accounts, doesn’t exist. I’m sorry! If I were you, I’d take the blue-collar ass and run with him.”

“Applejack,” Rarity called out.

She huffed and stood aside. “In the end, it is your decision, Fluttershy. Go with your gut.”

“That’s the thing—my gut tells me to wait and not go with anyone,” she sighed. “But if I do that, my father will send me with my brother because he thinks I should get out more.” With another sigh, she raised her head to the sky’s light. “No, it is my decision, and with it, Dr. Wooves is my only option. Yes, my mind’s made up; I shall write him tonight.”

Hearing her words, and what she truly thought of me, I couldn’t help but stand still as if time itself had no meaning. She was only going with me as her only option. But she was goi go with me. With that resolution my heart thumped. I had a chance. And come this Friday night, if I did things right I might actually be able to convince her I was much more than the men in this town. Come this Friday night, I would show her what a true gentleman was. That is what she, a woman of her class, and beauty truly deserved. My future set, I layed down in the bushes, a happy grin on my face, feeling as if the weight of the world was lifted off my soldiers. So much so, that right there in the dirt, it didn’t take me long to fall asleep, for the first time in years, without a care in the world.

Chapter 8

With the sight of the full moon rising in the backdrop, I stood in front of a nicely built White House with a picket fence. The air was chilly, but it wasn’t the frigid weather that had me shaking that evening. No, it was my nerves.

Just as she said, she wrote the letter the night before and I received it this morning. I was so fixated on learning how to dance that I hadn’t even thought about what I was going to wear to the party. Luckily for me, though, I was a doctor. So I quickly ran back, grabbing my white coat for work.

I would need to replace it afterward, but time was of the essence, and I had to use it. Besides, if tonight went well, ruining a pair of my pants and a lab coat would have been worth it. So I slashed a leg of my pants and cut the cost. Before adding in a design of a rib cage and some splashes of ketchup to stain it, giving it the appearance of a bloody attack.

With a knife in my pocket and my stethoscope around my neck, I was ready with my costume. With an inhale of my breath, I quietly encouraged myself. “Come on, old chap, you can do this,” before knocking on the front wooden door.

“Coming!” I heard Mr. Shy’s voice from the inside. Opening it, he greeted me with a nod as he stepped aside, letting Fluttershy come into view. She was gorgeous in her vampire costume. Even her fake fangs could not ruin her appearance. I began to wonder if there was such a thing that ever could.

She smiled at first, but the sight of my costume caused her lips to fall. “You’re a doctor going as…”

“A, a dead doctor,” I stuttered.

“I see.”

Okay, well, it was clear my costume wasn’t going to impress her, but my main focus was the dance. With a clear of Mr. Shy’s throat, he raised his hand, guiding his daughter to my arm. With that, I gave him a thankful nod, and off we went to the party held in the main halls of the church.

On the way, Fluttershy's nose twitched in the air for a second before she said something about the smell eradicating off me. “You used ketchup, didn’t you?”

“Too much?” I winced.

“No,” she said softly. “No, my nose will adjust,” she mumbled and gave her muzzle a quick rub.

Luckily, it was a short walk to the church. A crowd of monsters crowded the front doors, covered in spider webs and snakes. Each one was as fake as the monsters themselves.

We arrived just in time. With a wave of her hand, Princess Twilight herself greeted the crowd and announced

“Welcome to Nightmare Night! I hope you all have a wonderful time here in the halls. We have plenty of candy and a few drinks of alcohol, so no minors this season, I’m afraid.” She giggled as she noted the head of her young assistant, the dragon who was dressed like an old knight.

“Rules are rules, Spike, but feel free to trick or treat,” she said with a grin. “I’m not gonna drink; I just want to hit the dance floor—”

“Fine, you may serve drinks, but have none yourself,” I said with a chuckle.

The doors glided open, and there at the front was none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle herself, dressed in a rather good knock-off of Star Swirl the Bearded. With a wave of her hand, she greeted the crowd and announced

“Welcome, my friends! I hope you all have a wonderful time here in the halls. We have plenty of candy and a few drinks of alcohol, so no minors this season, I’m afraid.” She giggled as she noted the head of her young assistant, the dragon who was dressed like an old knight. With a flash of light and a puff of magic, she disappeared. Probably went into the church, I presumed.

The party was underway. With a clap for the princess's trick and the sound of stomping hooves, the crowd quickly gathered in the main hall, finding an array of sweets that you wouldn’t believe scattered across tables. Punch and wine, all red, flowed out of a fountain, looking like blood.

The sight of bones and skulls, goblins and gargoyles decorated the gothic cathedral-like church, with plenty of spider webs to finish the spooky ambiance. Coupled with a foggy, snowy screen that was magically made, sliding across the dance floor, which had a few fake headstones, I do believe this was one of the near-spookiest places I had ever seen. Definitely the second unfortunately. But now was not the time to think of the first.

As the crowd of witches and wizards, knights and goblins, and all the other monsters the ponies and other creatures dressed up as filled the room, it wasn’t long before the music began playing.

The next song began to play and the crowd cheered as Rarity appeared and took my arm.

“Oh, Fluttershy! I’m glad you could make it, and Dr... ummm.”

I could tell she was trying to be nice, but the fact that she actually thought my name was Dr. Nuts and not Hooves caused my eyebrow to furrow as I presented myself. “Whooves Dr. Whooves. It’s nice to see you again, Lady Rarity.”

“Likewise,” she awkwardly smiled before turning back to Fluttershy.

“Didn’t Pinkie and Twilight do such a great job with the place? It actually looks like a graveyard in here!” she giggled.

“Mhm,” Fluttershy lowered her head under her hair.

“Oh, come now, dear. Remember, everything here is fake. There is nothing scary at all, understand?” Rarity encouraged her friend.

Fluttershy only gave a nod but tightened her grip on my arm. She was indeed scared. And part of me wanted to say something, but I couldn’t help myself. The fact that she was holding onto me so tightly only brought a smile to my face instead.

“Oh, and before I forget, you know Sir Aragon, he is my date tonight.”

Aragon, dressed like a golden medical knight, smiled before interjecting. “My lady, if I may,” he said, raising a hoof. “A dance, my princess.”

Rarity’s face went red as she giggled to herself, squealing, before clearing her throat. “You may, my knight in shining armor.” She pulled him not by his arm but by the collar of his suit and dragged him to the dance floor just as the next song began to play.

Fluttershy softly looked at the sight before noticing I had my gaze on her. With a blush, she nodded and quietly shifted in front of me.

Clearing my throat, I gave a little bow and asked her the same question in the same over-the-top fashion as Sir Aragon. “My lady, if I may, a dance, my princess, of the fangs.”

The little adaptation brought a giggle out of her, and with a little curtsy, she handed me her hoof, at the very least. With it, I began to lead her onto the dance floor.

Now, the music of today’s youth, I’ll admit, was quite a bit more bouncy and upbeat with the guitar solo and the violin along with that claps, if not creepy vibe. The way it intertwined, I must confess, was quite a delight to the ears, if not louder than I would have liked. But once we made it to the dance floor, I was able to pop and lock, as the children say. To my surprise, the very second she began dancing, it was as if a bird in a cage was finally let loose. I quickly found myself outmatched by her moves. She was a fantastic dancer who, to my surprise, began leading me instead of the opposite. But I had to admit I didn’t mind at all. The fact is, once she noticed how uncoordinated I was, she was kind enough to step down to my pace, keeping within the groove as she led me through it.

“There you go, you got it! A bit rusty, but you got it!” she smiled innocently.

“I had to admit, I found myself dumbfounded. Here I was, wanting to be the one to impress her, to win her heart, and yet I was the one being led on. I should have been furious; I should have been humiliated, but her smile and sweet voice left me only with a grin as we danced beside each other and soon within each other’s arms.

How many songs we stayed together just having fun alongside each other and the crowd around me, I wasn’t certain at all. Though I was happy to see her smile at least. But I was sure she kept looking over her shoulder at her friends around the room, who were mostly busy with their own partners but often gave her a wave of encouragement. But it was clear, despite her smile reassuring them, the more we stayed on the dance floor, with the crowd, the more she began to close up, shy as always, and growing more uncomfortable by the minute.

“Woo! You sure can dance, but I’m afraid I can hardly keep up. Mind if we go catch some air? Perhaps a drink?” I smiled, though the truth be told, the air was not for me but for her.

I could see her lips twitch into a smile before she nodded, clearly relieved and thankful for the suggestion . “I don’t really drink much,” she softly said, her voice almost drowned out by the music.

With that, we headed out onto the porch. Only a few were outside, and with our arrival, it seemed they were ready for more fun, leaving us alone with no one around. With a grin, I knew this was my chance. Now was the time to ask if she would be willing to see a possible future with me. And so, once we settled ourselves against the stone towers of the church, I leaned in and put on my best smile.

“Having fun?” I asked. She only nodded, and to my enjoyment, didn’t try to walk away or undo how close we were. Not too far from her face, I looked into her eyes and took her by the hand, bringing it up to me. I was going to place a kiss on it; however, it was clear I needed to tread lightly with her.

She didn’t fight it, but I could tell how nervous she seemed that I had her hoof so close to me. Instead of kissing it, I nearly opted for holding it. It seemed to work, as she did not try to remove her arm from my grip.

“Fluttershy,” I chuckled as I began, “I am glad you agreed to come with me. You see, I must say I do rather enjoy your company, and believe me, like you, this too is quite out of my comfort zone.” I laughed a little harder.

She smiled but didn’t do much else, except blink from time to time.

“Fluttershy, I know I’m not the very best-looking or the richest pony, but…” I fluttered my eyes, trying my best to flirt with her. “I do indeed have the financials to support you, my dear. You want to be a vet, and that takes some hefty cash, I as. A doctor can easily provide if…” I paused, letting the air grow silent, and awaited her to speak. She seemed to be mulling it over in her head before finally speaking.

“Dr. Whooves,”

“Time Turner,” I corrected her with my first name.

“Time Turner, you are very kind, but—”

“But what? Come now, you’re a fine mare of marriageable age; certainly a future with me isn’t the worst thing. And I only ask for another date, not your hand yet.”

“I know, but…” she winced and then pulled her hand away from me, turning her back to me.

“I know you have better options, or so you think. But I can assure you, perhaps not strength, but wisdom comes with age. I’m far more intelligent than them, I can assure you.”

Turning back to me, she nearly whined. “It isn’t your age nor your intelligence that has me concerned.”

“My looks, then?”

“No.”

“Ah, so are you just looking for a rich cash cow? But I can assure you otherwise; I am plenty wealthy.”

“It isn’t your money either.”

“Then what, Miss Shy? Tell me, do you just not like me? Do so, and I will walk away, I promise.”

“I just want to enjoy myself, alright? I don’t want to think of this right now—marriage, children—the future. I just want to enjoy this moment right now.”

“This moment, huh?” I mused as I drew closer to her once more, bringing my face closer to her lips. She didn’t back away, letting me nearly kiss her. But it was clear by her expression that she didn’t want to, and had I forced it, I would have lost her for good right there and then. Instead, I backed off with a nod. “Alright, alright.”

“I’d like that drink now,” she stated in a tone I had never heard from her before. It wasn’t one of anger or rage, but it was in its clearest sense—it was an order. Raising my head, I knew that the only reason she requested it was to claim her space from me. Still though, it wasn’t a direct no, but if I didn’t at least obey, I knew I would never be given a second chance. And so with it, I asked, “Wine or spiked punch?”

“Wine,” she replied, watching my every move. Suddenly, I felt her father’s eyes the way she gazed at me. Something I clearly overlooked was how strong she truly was, instilled no less by her old man.

“As you wish, my princess of fangs,” I lightly bowed and headed inside, leaving her to her own thoughts.

chapter 9

Chapter 9

It was seconds, perhaps not even that long. The very moment I was out of her sight, Fluttershy dashed inside the party crowd, on the lookout for her friends. One in particular. Finding her eating a candy apple, Applejack smiled and asked, “Where’s Dr. Charming?” She snickered.

“It was a mistake coming with him. I should have never done it.” She shook her head before grabbing a glass and dunking it in the spiked punch, beside Rarity, who turned at the sound of her words.

“Dr. Nuts! Trouble! Where is he?” she smiled.

“I told him to get me a glass of wine.”

“Ouch, you were that mean?” Applejack said, impressed.

“I hate wine,” Fluttershy sighed as she took a large gulp of her punch, finishing the cup in one go.

“What was it that started this?” giggled Rarity.

“He’s just like all the rest. Sure, he has more decency than them, but his kindness only lies in what he can get from me, just like all the Mane in this town.”

“Hey,” Argon interjected.

“Sorry, Argon, girl talk. Mind getting me some wine?” Rarity assured him, to which he only rolled his eyes, setting his helmet back on, and leaving at her request.

Once her man was gone, Rarity turned back to Fluttershy. “First off, thank you for ruining my date. Second, Fluttershy, you’re far too picky. But I must admit, Dr. Nuts—I never thought he was your type.”

“It isn’t his age nor that ridiculous story. I wish people would stop teasing him over it. It’s just mean.”

“Then what is it, then?” Applejack asked, half-interested, as she grew bored of the conversation, diving back into her candy apple.

“I just don’t feel comfortable. If I don’t feel comfortable, then what’s the point?”

“Why, You don’t feel comfortable with anyone; you’re shy,” Applejack interjected. “Hell, it took you three years in our friendship to actually start coming out of your shell. Remember, we’d include you and all you would do is remain quiet unless we directly asked you something.”

“What, you want her dating Dr. Nuts?” asked Rarity.

“All I’m saying is she needs to be a little more open to the idea. But no, Dr. Nuts I think is nothing but a coward. You can do better than him.”

“But that’s the thing! In this town, there are no better than him; they’re all the same.” She stomped her hoof. “I’m going home. When Dr. Hooves comes looking for me, please tell him I felt ill,” and retreated from the party. “I hate Nightmare Night anyway. Such a stupid holiday.” She groaned before taking out her fake fangs and tossing them on the table.

But as she began her leave, she bumped into another figure. A tall one, in a riled-up pumpkin orange suit, matching hat with a horn and antler sticking out, a purple bow tie, and claws for hooves. But the face was a scarred pony. He also had one weathered-looking hoof and a lizard-like leg and tail.

Fluttershy gasped in shock at the sight of him, before realizing it was nearly an impressive costume. After all, everything was fake tonight. “Wow, you look amazing!” she said at him, as did the others who turned their heads to see him.

“Thank you,” he said in a deep, gravelly voice. “Happy Nightmare Night.” He grinned wide with a writhing grin. One tooth was a sharp fang that slid out of his mouth, looking too real.

“Never seen you before,” Applejack tossed in.

“Ah yes, I’m afraid I’m from out of town. Just here to visit a family member.” He nodded before looking around the room. “But it’s a party and I just got here. Why are you leaving so soon? I couldn’t help but hear something about date trouble,” he interwove. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

“No, it’s okay; it’s not that big of a deal,” Fluttershy smiled as he took in his height once more. He was secretly tall, standing nearly twice her size.

“Is that so? Well, I don’t know any ponies, and I’m looking for a bit of fun. Care for a dance?” He raised an eyebrow. His eyes were a haunting blood ruby red, while her amber eyes almost glowed.

Rarity and Applejack exchanged glances and then turned to Fluttershy, who sat with her mouth shaped in contemplation, pondering if she should or not. “Umm, well, it is a party.” She turned to her friends for support.

They both gave a nod, and Rarity shooed her away with a flick of the wrist.

Turning back with a grin, she gave a curtsy and handed the colt from out of town her hoof. With it, he kissed it and pulled her to his side and over to the dance floor.

With the sound of the next song playing, a rather upbeat jazzy one with a hint of piano, he effortlessly took the lead, swinging his hips in tune with the music and guiding her along with him, to which she did not mind.

Meanwhile, after squirting her glass of wine, I turned about to travel back to where I last left her, only to find her on the dance floor with a man I had never seen before. Accidentally, I broke the glass with one twist of my wrist, as I furiously watched her.

She giggled and laughed as he spun her around, holding onto her with such ease. Her hands on her hips—something I didn’t even get to do when I danced with her. Imagine my rage when the mare I brought to the party was dancing with another colt. The red wine staining my jacket, looking like blood, was the least of my worries. “Who is he?” I growled, caring not for the glass on the floor or my good jacket.

I sat watching like a hawk, no more like a lion, as I encircled the two like prey. Every step I took around the room, among the cheering crowd who clapped for the two, was more precise than the last.

He effortlessly spun her around, making her giggle, and when the song came to an end, he dipped her with ease. All the while she had a smile on her face, giggling as she went until she saw me from her dip. Her eyes widened for a moment but soon narrowed as he brought her back to her feet.

“Oh, there you are! Ha! I’ve been looking all over for you,” the stranger announced as he lowered the brim of his hat, shading his eyes.

“And just what is the meaning of this? Who are you?” I nearly barked.

“Time Turner!” Fluttershy shouted.

“That is Dr. Hooves to you!” I snapped back, my hoof clenched in a fist. “And you, care to answer my question?”

The man chuckled. “Really? Do you not remember me? We go way back, don’t we… Father.” He growled the last word as his red and amber eyes glowed from the shadows of his hat.

It was right there and then I recognized him; how could I not? Looking into his gaze, the horrible nightmares of the last twenty years played into my mind. The sight of those eyes. The way he rose from the table. Soon, a chill ran down my spine, and sweat began to pour out of every fiber in my being. Raising my hoof, I visibly shook, lunging for Fluttershy, pulling her away from him just in time, as a burst of magical energy so strong, the entire occupancy of the party, was nearly blown away.

“Father! What does that mean?” shouted Fluttershy as the wind tore through the hair.

“It’s him,” I stuttered, nearly falling to tears. “It’s my monster, come back for revenge.”

With a powerful gust of magical energy surging through the air, it blew back the crowd in shock and horror at the sheer strength. The creature then reached for its bag and began walking up and down the table of sugary sweets and wine.

“Please!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. “Don’t hurt them; do what you want to me, but lay not a hand on the innocent.”

A small chuckle came from the creature's throat, only to rise to a glorious evil laughter that froze all in the room.

“Oh, you father,” he continued to chuckle as he swayed left and right. “I have come for no such reason. I am here only to do two things. First,” the monster quickly snatched a plate of chocolate muffins and set them in his bag. “For each piece of chocolate offered to me, I will spare each pony. And look,” he grinned viciously. “There is plenty here for the entire town! Haha,” he laughed as he began snatching every piece of the substance and set them in his bag.

“And two, to ruin your good reputation. Haha, think of it, father,” he snapped back towards me. “Twenty years go by, and you constantly warn about the monster of the forest, but for no one to believe you.”

And then just like that, he clapped his hands. “I appear before the crowd as a warning. Those who from now on offer me chocolate, I shall not harm, but even better, think of what they will think when they learn your little secret.”

“What’s the secret?” asked a terrified Sir Aragog.

The creature's smile only widened as his eyes narrowed. “You want to know why you now must live in fear of me? It’s because of this cursed soul.” He pointed his eagle-like claw at me. “What will they think when the public knows you grave-robed the body parts of different species, strapped them tighter, and used dark magic to bring to life a monster, all because you wanted to see your little friend again?” He laughed harder.

He then reached into his bag of candy and pulled out a large leather book I recognized as the same one I used so long ago.

“This here is a spell book, but not just any. It is known as the book of chaos and harmony, for it has some of the most powerful spells in all of the world. Such as…” He flipped open a page. “Ah, one of my favorites! Haha," he raised his hand and cast a mighty spell. What he uttered, no one could tell, but from the stone ground of the church sprang thousands of mighty black roots that whipped around the crowd and forcefully held them for dear life. Many tried to run or struggle out of them, but the more they struggled, the tighter the vines held, trapping them in the embrace of the monster's twisted control. Amidst the screams and gasps of horror, terrified of being caught herself, Fluttershy dashed under the tables. Once there she crouched down, holding onto a table leg for dear life, and began to mutter to herself. “There’s no monster; it’s all fake, it’s all fake, just a scary prank, just a scary prank.” She cried and whimpered.

“Just a little taste of my power,” the monster chuckled ominously as he showcased his subsistent ability. He then turned back to the book in his hands, delicately stroking its pages. “This book is my mother, and you, Dr., the man of science, are my father,” he chuckled as he rose to his full intimidating height, as a vine snatched my leg and held me dangling from it upside down, until I was face to face with him. Its face was scarred and gross, skull-like as I remembered. Stopping his hat, he revealed his horn and antler, as his amber eyes glared into my very soul, full of malice.

He seemed to size me up for a moment as he took in my features before chuckling again and stroking his beard.

“Although I must thank you for my good looks. After all,” he flexed his manticore lion arm, “look at these guns. The other arm, not so much,” he shrugged his shoulder. “But the face sure looks good. The scars do give me quite the rugged look, would you say, father?” he laughed again as he scratched my face with his eagle-like claw. I could feel it, like a blade scraping across my cheek.

“I dare say, father, you could use a few to match. Perhaps then people would see how ugly you truly are inside,” I growled before letting my lips falter to a grin again. “Hmm, but after tonight, there will be no hiding, will there? So I suppose there’s no need. No one will ever trust you again after tonight, for now, it is because of you they must live in fear, just like you do. Haha, and you thought my visits were just in your dreams. As if! Hahahaha!” He cackled as my entire body shivered under his gaze.

“This was clearly his plan—waiting for the right moment to strike dread into my soul. His taunting words were true in every sense. I had done everything he said. As I listened to the crowd around me, I knew it was my fault, and that I could do nothing but listen to his laughter echoing among the cries for help. There and then I pleaded for mercy by any god willing to hear me. For the things I’ve done, a mere atheist for years, now on my hands and knees, if I could beg for this to stop.

“They’ll come after you; they’ll destroy you,” I warned, trying to sound stronger than I was. But the shiver in my voice gave away my emotions.

“Hmm, perhaps they’ll try, but with my newfound powers, I, the Lord of Chaos, will not be defeated so easily. And besides…” He leaned closer to me and set his arm around me as if we were old pals. “My life was ruined the day I was created; now it’s your turn.” He patted me, if not slapped me on the cheek, before turning back and began ransacking the place for as much cash as he could get his hands on.

The princess, though, sounded the alarm, and with it a set of guards began breaking down the door into the church.

“Oh darn, guess it’s time to go,” he mused, opening the book to another spell. With a wave of his hand and a single word of which I could not pronounce, the air itself cracked and crumbled away, leaving a doorway into a different space. The space I recognized. It was none other than the old throne room of that dark castle in which I brought him to life.

“Ahh, home sweet home. Well, I am sorry to leave on such short notice, old man, but you know how these things are. Ta-ta for now, but don’t worry, I will be back next year, and every Nightmare Night, just to visit you,” he patted me on the chest before heading through the portal. “Oh, and here I was, almost forgot my candy, haha,” he snapped his fingers and held out his hand.

His candy bag then floated upward into the air, flipped around, taking not just the candy but the entire set of tables full of food. As if it were a vortex with mighty winds, it pulled whatever he wanted within the confines of the bag. The strange thing was, the bag itself did not grow, but seemed to be an endless black hole, never taking. Never did anyone suspect at that moment, nor did I, that Fluttershy, due to how frightened she was, hid underneath the table, would get sucked right into the bag too. Once all of it was gone, the bag returned to its owner’s hand along with his hat. With one last dark chuckle to himself, he entered through his doorway just as the church door broke through, and the guard glided into the room.

But it was too late at that point. With a simple snap of his fingers, I watched as the doorway closed, leaving nothing in its path, as if it never existed in the first place.

Chapter 10

It took another hour for the guards to clip the hostages, partygoers, out of the vines with a pair of large guarded clippers. The strangest vines and roots were far stronger than initially anticipated. Out of everyone there, however, I was left hanging—if not in the vines, then in my own regrets.

As they came to clip the vines from my leg, one of the crowd shouted out, “Wait, don’t cut him down; he started this mess.”

The crowd of terrified ponies and creatures gasped and turned to Aragon's declaration. “Yes, didn’t you hear the monster? It is because of him this happened. We’re all cursed, cursed to live in fear because of his black magic!”

“But he is an earth pony,” Applejack, to my surprise, was the one who came to my defense. “I may not like him much either, but earth ponies can’t do magic; that’s a unicorn thing.”

“On the contrary,” I replied in a hushed, silver voice. Every strength I had named was gone, and it showed in my vocal cords. “The old ways say all those with love have magic in them. And the monster, cruel as he may be, was right.” I winced as tears ran down my face—because I was still hanging upside down.

“No, no, I don’t believe you!” shouted Applejack, who snatched the clippers out of the guard’s hooves and cut me down herself. As I fell, to my surprise, it was her brother who caught me—the red colt I remembered from years past.

“Why do you defend what’s true?” I winced harder. “After all I did to you. If I hadn’t been messing with science and evil magic, then perhaps I would have been able to save your—”

“Momma died with faith in you, you coward!”

Applejack’s words nearly pulled my eyes from their sockets. Just as her brother began speaking, sounding just as his father once did long ago, he said, “Momma, with her dying breath, begged us to pass on that message to you. But you never came near us to tell you that.” He shook his head.

“But… but aren’t I, uh—”

“Yeah, a coward, because after that, you never tried again, did you? You may claim to be a doctor, but all you did was bandage an arm. A real doctor, the doctor I knew long ago as a child, was a colt willing to put everything on the line to heal the sick and wounded!” Applejack stomped her hoof. “That’s why you’re a coward.” Her eyes teared up quickly. “If that monster truly is your making, then are you going to stand a coward under it, or face it like a man!” She shouted at the top of her lungs as she lunged toward me.

“What am I to do?” I shouted back, leaping from her brother's arms. “It was I who caused this, and for what? Because I missed my friend when he died. It was my selfishness that brought this before us!

“And it will be your selflessness that will save us all. Think of it, doctor; he is your creation. You must know some way to stop him. Or are we truly all doomed?”

My mouth flew open to retort, but then I felt the eyes on me. Feeling their weight, my breath became heavier as they looked to me for a solution. I could only lower my head in shame, for I had none, and I fell to my knees with a thud that echoed through the halls of the church.

“Coward!” Applejack yelled.

“Coward he is, but I for one will not stand for it. Why don’t we give him as a sacrifice along with a mountain of chocolate? Maybe then the monster will go away,” Aragon called out.

“Or maybe we can set a trap for him and destroy the monster for good,” shouted another from the crowd.

Murmuring among themselves, the crowd began to form a plan and discuss what to do when suddenly a cry rang out among them all, one that made my blood run cold.

“Fluttershy! Where’s Fluttershy?” cried out Rarity.

“That’s right; last I saw her, she was dancing with that thing. Did he take her?” Applejack questioned.

My jaw dropped as my head rose. “No, no, no, it can’t be…” I whispered.

“Has anyone seen her?” Rarity asked, but no answer came.

“The mare I love is in the hands of the monster I created,” I winced, lowering my head into my lap. Losing my mind, a laughter I never knew I had erupted from me—one of insanity that left the crowd nearly as terrified as the monster’s own cackle. Once I inhaled and calmed myself, I felt a strange sense of guilt, rage, and fury fill my body, giving it strength I had not felt since the day I first got the idea to redirect Stygian in the first place.

With it, I carefully got to my feet and rose from the ground. Lifting my head high in the air, I rightfully declared, “Coward I may be, but unlike your mother, I will not let my mistakes take away Fluttershy; that I promise. We must go after the beast, and I know where he hides. In the dark castle of the forest, long forgotten by many. The way to it, though, is fraught with more danger than I can express. I will go alone.”

“Yeah right! There’s no way I’m leaving this up to you alone; my brother and I are going. We’re going to get our friend back!” Applejack declared as her brother stood by her.

“Count me in,” Rarity declared.

“I will send as many guards as I can spare,” Twilight confirmed.

“Well, if that is so, then I will go as well to make sure I keep an eye on you!” Aragog growled.

“So be it,” I nodded before tightening my grip. “Let us make haste then; gather what weapons you can and follow me.”

…

Meanwhile, as the Lord of Chaos returned home, he stretched out his back, taking in the sight of his grand surroundings.

“Hmmm, nothing beats home,” he chuckled to himself before his lips drooped for a moment. “Yeah, nothing beats an empty giant room where you stand alone and sit in your throne, king of no one,” he bitterly muttered as he sat down in his throne. But the sound of a spider crawling down from the webs to greet him caught his attention.

“Ha, yeah, you’re right; who needs anyone when I have you guys?” he patted the spider on the head.

“All five thousand of you creepy, eight-legged bug-eyed, fanged beasts. And those ponies call me a hideous monster! I mean, look at you,” he chuckled as he handed the spider another bug it wanted to eat. It took it, rolling up its string of web, leaving him to his own devices.

“Yes, well, I better get ready for dinner—a quick shower to cheer my spirits.” Getting to his feet, he continued, “After all, did I not just gain my revenge on the Doctor for banning me? I should be happy; I should be thrilled; I should be…” He pouted and slumped as his arms went limp.

“There was a longing in his body he could not escape from. The memory of the mare he had in his arms, the warmth she carried, and the laughter they shared as they danced together. ‘I never felt that way before,’” he blinked before taking a deep breath. “A shower, yes, I need a shower to wash that mare's face off me and forget. That is what I need to do,” he demanded as he stepped into the other room, undoing his tie in the process.

…

Meanwhile, deep in the bowels of his candy bag, sat in a strange foreign space to her, Fluttershy drifted alongside the party food and table. Inside the bag, it was clearly a leather sack, but it was impossible for everything to fit in it—yet it did. And yet here she was. Above her at the very top sat a soft moonlight shining down, letting her see her surroundings nearly as clear as day.

“I must be dreaming,” she thought to herself as she struggled to stand up among the pile of chocolate. “This is all just a crazy, weird dream, and I’m probably at home right now, rising and turning in my sleep.” She argued with herself and used her strength to move the table, so it came down like a ramp.

“Yes, that’s it. My bunny rabbit is probably laughing at my absurdity right now.” She told herself as she hopped on top of the table and ran up it, jumping at the end, trying to catch the bag’s string that dangled down like a rope into its contents.

“Whoa,” she squealed as she swung from one side to the other, hanging on for dear life. Clenching her eyes shut, she held on tighter. “Climbing was never my strong suit in gym class, but I’m now glad I had the lessons,” she winced and took a peek up above her to the opening of the bag. “Yes, there we go. All I have to do is—” she encouraged herself to move upward.

Finally, after a moment or two, she had made it to the top and looked over the mountainous area, finding that she was, in fact, two inches tall in what seemed like a massively sized cavern compared to her empty dark throne room. She gasped at the sight of it. Despite its cobwebs and overgrown foliage, it was actually breathtakingly beautiful in the moonlight that shone through not only the holes in the room but also the ancient stained glass windows depicting both the sun and the moon. She had never seen anything like it. It was so vast and eerie yet quiet and calm.

With a few steps trying to get a better look, she wasn’t watching where she was going and began to slide down the side of the bag, landing on her bottom on the hard stone ground. “Ouch!” she groaned just as she heard the twinkling of a soft, watery sound just in the next room. Curiosity piqued, she decided to explore what on earth could be making that sound.

“Hmm, perhaps I’m dreaming about being in a wonderland, like my favorite book, Alice in Wonderland,” she giggled to herself. “Maybe I’ll find my rabbit if I follow that sound.”

Taking as gentle a step as she could, out in the opening, hoping that no wild beast would come to snatch her, she quickly crossed the base stone floor of the throne room and headed through the cracks of a massive wooden door.

The sound was like a grand waterfall or a rushing stream. Whatever it was, she hoped she could find some sort of help. But as she looked into the room, lit by a small fire that hung in the corner, she stopped wide-eyed at the sight of a giant creature who let out a loud shiver as the cold struck his fur.

“Whooo, I really need to fix the heating in this place,” he chuckled at his own joke as he began to wash away the grime and muck off his hat and face. His backside, long scaly tail fully exposed, as water ran down every curve in his body.

Fluttershy sat both intrigued and terrified at the look of the strange naked creature before her.

It had a lion-like right arm, an eagle left, a left lizard leg, a skinny deer-like leg, a scaly red tail, and an unusual body with a pony head and face, if not skull-like. Despite its skinny exterior, it actually showed its muscle structure to be quite toned, especially its back and lean arm. Its butt, thighs, and calves made it stand as a strong beast of a creature despite their oddity in shape and size.

A mix of horror, fascination, appeal, and disgust ran through her mind as the monster before her seemed to hum to itself in the cold water rushing down its back, lathering itself in a soapy bubble substance. But as she noticed it was about to turn her way and expose its front, all the mixed feelings stopped, leaving only dread and terror. With a blood-curdling scream, she shouted, catching the monster’s attention.

…

The chaos lord, enjoying the self-massaging of soap in his fur, came to an abrupt stop as he quickly covered his ears at the blood-curdling sound. His eyes dashed to the creature below, wondering what it was and how to stop it.

But to his surprise, he found a tiny pony who quickly began screaming and running away from him. But it wasn’t just any pony. It was the pony he danced with earlier that evening—here, not only in his lair but in his shower with him in the nude. In a sudden, shrieking realization, he shrieked as he tried to quickly cover up in a bright pink bathrobe. Turning off the water, he groaned at his own fury as his mind began to think, “What in the hell is she doing here? Wait, she’s here!” He set his claws to his head. “And she’s running away! Dammit; she’s only two feet tall! There are endless traps I set and monsters out there; she might get killed!” he shouted before leaping after her.

To his surprise, Fluttershy was extremely fast on her feet, and even more so when she spread her wings, taking off for dear life. Her wings and legs were tracking pure instinct, a fight for survival. She did not care for the strangeness of the world or find beauty in the creepy exterior of the castle any more. All she found was horror and wanted to be as far away from it as possible. “If only she could keep running, keep flying; surely somehow, some way she might make it through this horrific nightmare. Please be a dream, please be a dream, please be a dream,” she begged her sun pendant again and again. “Oh may Celestia save my soul,” she squeaked as she began to take off into the light, only to come to the edge of a building. No problem; she could fly—until she looked down and saw how high she was. Her eyes growing wide at the sight, she instantly felt the fear of heights freeze up her wings, and without their support, she began tumbling to the ground, screaming for dear life as she went.

The monster, on the other hand, saw just a glimpse as she began to fall. “Uh-oh!” he claimed as he tried and fell on a branch, sending himself over the edge. Due to his height and weight, he fell faster than Fluttershy, catching up to her quickly.

The sight of him after her only made her blood-curdling scream rise in pitch.

“Uh-ha, there you are!” he chuckled and snapped his fingers.

With a quick snap, she went from two inches back to her full height. Even so, it didn’t quiet her down as she was now plummeting faster to the ground.

Momentarily, the Lord of Chaos winced due to his ears, which felt like they were on the verge of bleeding. But even so, he opened his eyes with a look of determination. Suddenly, Fluttershy, who was more concerned with falling than the monster after her, instantly stopped when she felt two arms—one mighty and strong, the other strong but not muscular—grip her tightly. Once she was in his arms, the chaos lord spread his wings wide, catching the swift updraft of air, sending both him and the mare up into the air.

Amazed by the sudden save, she looked up to see her savior, only to find the monster with its many scars and odd body configurations carrying her to safety.

At that moment, she didn’t know what to do, feeling a rush of emotions. On the one hand, it was a monster—a real, in-the-flesh monster—made up of body parts and scars all over. She would be terrified of him, and yet he saved her. A little part of her thought, “He only saved you to hurt you,” but that voice telling her that was far in the back of her head. Another thought came to the front of her mind: Saving her was the kindest gesture she had ever experienced.

“What do I want in a man?” Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation she had with her friends.

“True strength lies in action; he doesn’t have to be muscular for me to see his value… but he does have to be kind.”

“Kind,” the word echoed in her head. “He is quite kind.”

With that, as the monstrous chaos lord retreated to his home, Fluttershy softly set her head against his chest, falling into a deep slumber, worn out by the rollercoaster of emotions from the night.

chapter 11

Chapter 11

Once back inside his domain, the chaos lord set the sleeping pony down on his throne, as she softly murmured in her sleep. With her safe and sound, he took the chance to inhale and catch his breath, stilling his rapidly beating heart. “Alright, what’s next, what’s next?” he turned to the room, finding his candy on the floor.

“How did she—? That’s it! When I activated my shrink spell,” he cursed as he picked up the iron in his sights. “She must have been sucked in with it by accident,” growled the monster as he momentarily paced the room.

“When they discover her absence, they’ll blame me, thinking I kidnapped her. A kidnapper? No, never,” inhaled the chaos lord as he looked out the window toward the town in the far distance.

“I only went there to scare my father and trick-or-treat for some candy. She can’t stay here. I must get her back home, but…” He froze in place, his eyes widening. “If I dare show my face in that town right now, they’ll have pitchforks ready for my return; granted, with a twist of the risk, they’re nothing more than silly twigs.” At the same time, he looked over his shoulder at the back of his throne, where the smallest glimmer of her hair shined in the moonlight through the shadows of the chair.

“But right now may not be a good time. They might, for all I know, be coming to save her, and if so, they could be here in either a minute or a month from now.” He turned back, stroking his beard. “What to do, what to do, hmm?”

As he pondered, the sound of her shifting in her sleep caught his attention, drawing curiosity from him. “Hmm,” his nose twitched as a scent of nuts and flowers tickled his senses. “It’s rude to watch someone sleep,” he inquired as he crept around the throne to get a glimpse of her. There she softly lay with her head on the armrest, gently sleeping on her side.

A loud, grubby snore erupted from her throat, making the monster chuckle. “I suppose letting her sleep here wouldn’t be the worst thing possible,” he murmured to himself. “She might be hungry when she wakes up, and setting the dining table for her would be a good idea.” He stroked his chin as he took one last glance at her. Then, rising to his feet with his power so he didn’t wake her with his steps, he effortlessly glided into the next room, intending to do just that.

…

After an hour or so, Fluttershy woke up with the feeling of something crawling on her shoulder. Immediately, she leaped, shivering and wondering what it was, with a quick, “Ahh!” But she nearly calmed down when she noticed it was just a little spider crawling in her hair.

“Oh haha,” she giggled, removing it with ease. “You scared me, little one,” she cooed before placing the spider on a nearby web and going about her business. She once again found herself in the grand halls of the castle, but was relieved that she was not two inches tall this time. As the memory of the monster saving her from her fall came back to her, a small blush and a bump in her heart brought a smile to her lips as she quickly decided to search for him.

She didn’t have to go too far, finding a dining area in the dark shadows of the next room. It was a dining room by the looks of it, with a table set up with different berries, nuts, a half-thrown together salad, some freshly hoof-squeezed orange juice in a pitcher, alongside a punch bowl and all the candy and goodies from the costume party.

…

Licking his fingers and lips as he devoured a piece of chocolate, the sound of her footsteps alerted him to her arrival. Cleaning his hands on a handkerchief, he quickly dashed deeper into the shadows before acknowledging her presence with a bow, lifting his hand as if to present the table's food as an offering to her.

She giggled at his mannerisms before adding a small curtsy in return. The sound of it struck his ears as it echoed through the deadly quiet halls, bringing a sense of something he could not ever remember experiencing before.

Even so, he dared not approach her, opting to float and retreat through a window.

“Don’t leave,” she requested, to his surprise. But he refused to turn back to her.

After a moment of silence, he could hear as she took a seat on one of the creaky old chairs before grabbing a berry. “Where did you get these?” she asked with happiness in her voice.

“From the forest. I often scavenge for nuts and berries, and I’ve been collecting them for the winter,” he answered softly.

Popping one in her mouth, she then grabbed a cup of punch. He could hear her as she filled her cup. “Come now, don’t tell me you’re shy,” she giggled. “Please, come sit with me at least; don’t just stand there.”

“You actually want me to dine with you? Don’t move, silly… I mean, aren’t you frightened by me?”

“Terrified, if I’m being honest, but you saved me… didn’t you?”

“Oh, that… well.” He rolled his head. “Don’t worry about it.” He cleared his throat. “Honestly, I didn’t mean to—I mean—"

“I know. After all, you were just after the snacks and candy, which were free. So despite hoarding it, technically, you didn’t steal it, I guess. It wasn’t your fault. I ended up here by accident. I know that.”

Her soft and well-spoken declaration of understanding left the chaos lord dumbfounded. Finally, he turned to her, his eyes glowing in the darkness. But he still refused to approach.

She did gulp at his gaze and could feel her nerves running down her arm, but ultimately decided to push the feeling away. “All you really did was scare everyone senseless on a night dedicated to scaring people, so… so no crime there.”

The chaos lord stared at her for a moment before speaking, confused. “You’re awfully understanding for a pony.”

“You haven’t met very many nice ponies, have you?” she nervously giggled. She could tell by the light of his eyes that he shook his head. “Well, I can’t blame you. I’m not exactly the biggest fan of many ponies being around me either.” She clutched the tablecloth tightly. “Still, we’re not all ba—”

“You are definitely the minority. Even so, fear not, my dear; I will not harm a hair on your head. After you have had your fill, I will reopen a door to your town and get you home safely; I promise.”

“Oh, but I don’t want to go back,” she grinned.

That did it. The shock of her words sent the monster into disbelief, yelling out, “What!” startling her in the process. But she recovered quickly with a smile and said, “This is technically my first time out of the city. Other than my trips to visit my grandmother in Cloudsdale, my father never lets me leave town.” Observing the room once more, she gleefully settled into her seat. “It’s kind of adventurous; I’ve never experienced anything like this castle before. Please, you must show me around! Oh, and I’d love to see the forest—”

“Absolutely not! Do not be absurd!” He barked. “The forest is filled to the brim with dangerous animals and magical traps—some placed even by me. And this castle is no place for a mare. You need to go—”

“No,” she flung her nose up in the air defiantly. “I will not go near that town, not now that I have a chance to escape, if only for an evening. Please, you don’t know what it’s like to live among society.”

“Oh, I have a pretty good idea,” he groaned, crossing his arms. “So, you really want to stay then, if only for a short time?”

“I’d love to,” she smiled brightly.

A moment of deadly silence spread through the room as he seemed to ponder her as well as the idea before adding in a hushed tone, “Very well, but…” He raised his voice again. “On one condition: that you do as I say. This place can be rather dangerous if not careful.”

“Oh, of course,” she smiled before raising her cup. But before taking a sip, she once again tried to invite him. “Please, come take a seat with me; you don’t have to be afraid.”

“It is not fear that keeps me here, at least not mine,” he replied.

“Oh, oh no; I’m not afraid. Well, if I got used to you a little, I don’t think you’d be that scary.”

“Is that so?” He rolled his eyes, and then with a raise of his hand, a fireball burst into existence and then flew from him and lit the fireplace, illuminating the room, if only a little more. With its light, he stood floating mid-air in all his glory.

She jumped at the sound of the burst of flames, shaking in her cup so much she spilled a little before gulping down her fears and returning her gaze toward him again. “Please, a little warning next time would be nice.” Taking in the sight of him once more, he stood in his pumpkin-orange suit. His eyes burned amber, and his profile was as ruby-red as she remembered. He was easily the most frightening creature she had ever seen.

“Gah, guess my mantra from the party isn’t going to work,” she said as her gaze drifted over him. But unlike when they first met, the sight of him in the shower came to her mind instead. The strong lion-like arm and sharp talons gave him quite the interesting build in his suit. His right arm was far too slim for the suit, yet his left showed muscle even among its curves. However, it was his face that caught her attention the most. Skinny, skull-like, with a rough jawline of a horse and a sharp scar on his right cheek and left jaw, it looked as if at some point there were stitches, but it had healed over time, leaving him looking weathered. The antler and goat horn that stuck out from the top of his skull gave him such grand height, and the tuft of his mane that stretched between them and flowed down the back of his long neck was pitch black, contrasting sharply with his white bushy eyebrows and goatee. His lizard-like red tail, with white tail feathers, swished around in the air almost crookedly, twitching like a car would when stressed.

“Ahem,” he cleared his throat, catching her attention back to the task at hand.

“Oh, uh, yes, of course. Just let me have a piece of candy and you can show me around,” she said, taking some chocolate.

But before she could, he snatched the bar she was about to take, startling her. She was about to shiver when she noticed he quickly unwrapped it for her before holding it out towards her.

“Oh, tha—thank you,” she said, reaching for it. As she did so, the slightest touch between their hands sent warmth through her, bringing a smile to his face. As she ate hers, he took another piece of candy for himself before grabbing a torch and using the fire to light it.

“Follow me,” he insisted as he led the way, never touching the ground.

Down the main hall, there were several doors—one leading to the dining room, the biggest one to the throne room, the one on the left to the bathroom, and another leading to a set of stairs. “I guess we’ll start upstairs, then,” he chuckled before holding out his hand to her, landing his feet slowly on the steps.

With a wiggle, she took his hand and followed him to the second floor, containing an armory, a few more bedrooms, and a few more bathrooms. The walls of it were dark black, and the sight of old armor stood at every pedestal there. The windows, however, were shattered and broken, letting light look out into the night air. The full moon lit up the woods, giving it an oddly beautiful scenery despite the ominous fog that covered it.

Setting the torch on a hook in the wall, he leaned over the edge, being careful not to touch the broken glass as he stared out into the far distance. Despite the beauty of the land, it was him that had her attention.

Relishing her gaze on him, he let out a chuckle as he bowed his head. “With any luck, the village will have noticed your absence and are most likely on their way right now to rescue you from the dreaded monster,” he sarcastically remarked.

“Your not so dreaded after all, but I can’t deny that—”

“That you want to know more? Yeah, that figures…” he sadly sighed. “Anyway, the castle and this forest have a very interesting spell on them. You see, while only a day may pass in the outside world, if you travel through this land, the faster you run, the slower you become. It was set as a trap against the enemy. When intruders came through this ancient castle, those who lived here only had to lie in wait for the enemy to approach. As they did, they would be tired from running and could be easily dealt with. Otherwise, all you really need to do is walk slowly through, and you would actually find it a short trip between here and Ponyville.”

“Wait, so if they’re coming for me—”

“Yes, I expect it would be a few days, if not weeks, before they show up due to the traps set out throughout the maze of the forest.”

“Hah, more time to get to know you then. Will you show me where you get the nuts tomorrow?”

“Sure,” he shrugged, “but not before I share with you my favorite room. Come, you’ll love this place,” he smiled, grabbing hold of the torch once again and heading down a dark hall.

Following him, the two of them entered a wide room with a glass roof and clean, soft, overgrown grass. Grand hand-carved statues sat among the field, some broken and fallen over, but many still standing, covered with roots and vines.

“Yeah, an indoor garden, but just any indoor garden,” he said, setting the fire into an oil canal that, with a single touch, lit the whole room. “It’s a giant chessboard—the entire room,” he smiled.

“Chess? I didn’t know a thing about it, but I know checkers.”

He snickered at her. “I can teach you; it’s not too hard of a game, if you’re interested.”

“Sure, but I can’t move the statues,” she smiled

“Oh, fear not! You forget that not only can I lift them with ease, I can do this.”

He snapped his fingers, and the statues shuddered and trembled until their eyes glowed, and they began to move on their own, coming to life.

“There! Now all you need to do is give them their orders, and they shall move themselves,” he chuckled as she gasped in awe of his mighty power.

…

Meanwhile, I and the band of ponies rushed through the forest as quickly as we could. Coming to a fork in the path, I yelled, “This way!” and headed left. I remembered the way I traveled through the low place. “By any luck, making up this ground, we’ll be there by morning.”

“Morning!” Aragon yelled out at me. “How is it possible that they have gotten so far?”

“It took me three days to get there last time! We’re making better ground than before!” I yelled out as I looked up into the sky to see the castle. “It should be right—” My eyes widened in disbelief. For some reason, despite our long travels through the night, we weren’t any closer to our destination.

“We’re not gonna be able to fight that beast tired,” announced Applejack. “I say we camp here.”

The crowd behind me quickly agreed. “But she could be hurt! Who knows what that beast could be doing to her at this very moment!” I shouted back.

“Get some rest, Dr. Nuts. I may hate the mud, but Applejack's right. We need our full strength if we’re going to save Fluttershy,” Rarity replied as she set up a spot as clean as she could to sleep next to a log.

Using his impressive strength, Big Mac tore apart a tree branch and began setting up a fire as I stared into the distance, knowing he had her in his grasp at that very moment.

Chaoter 12

Chapter 12

As the sun crept through the ancient castle, the monstrous lord of chaos sat at its window seal as if guarding a treasure.

Behind him, not too far away, in an old bed, laid Fluttershy, softly asleep. The sun had not awakened her.

Last night, after a few trial-and-error games of chess using the statues, she became quite tired and rested for the night. The lord gave her this room, telling her if she needed anything, he would just be a call away.

Yet, it wasn’t long after he retreated to his own chambers that his nerves kept him awake. He would wake up every hour of that night to check on her, as if she were a baby that needed comforting, but instead, was softly asleep the entire time.

After the tenth time that morning, he opted to just stay in the room with her and watch the sun rise, his ears flickering to the sound of her breathing. With a grumpy sigh, he told himself with a head shake once again, “It’s rude to watch people sleep.” It was as he peeked over his shoulder that the fact that soon she would awake dawned on him.

“She’ll be hungry, won't she? I should go make the table and let her rest,” he argued with himself as he quietly floated out of the room without making a sound.
…
It wouldn’t be too long that Fluttershy woke up with a yawn, tossing and turning as she tried to fight to stay asleep. But soon, her body won over her mind, or her mind won over her body, and she opened her eyes a little at first, only to go wide-eyed at her surroundings.

Leaping up, she at first didn’t recognize the place. She only knew it wasn’t her home, or her bed. “Where am—" the memory came back to her and therefore to the front of her mind, and as it did, the strange monster who saved her and then showed her around made her smile. Despite how small her grin was, the warmth she felt on her cheeks told her she was blushing. A feeling of embarrassment struck her face as she got to her feet. “What is wrong with me? After all, he wasn’t a pony… was he…” she said as she remembered her conversation with her friends again. “What did I want in a guy? Kindness, I wanted him to be kind,” she smiles as she lowered her gaze to her hoof. “A mare of barely marriage age, and of all the men in my life to want to be with, could it be true that I am choosing a monster born of science and magic?”

With the thought of this, her mind remembered seeing him once in the shower. It was only his back, but the memory nearly took her breath away, and she collapsed back down onto the bed, feeling her chest tighten around her.

“If it is true, then what can I tell him? Does he even know of the concept of marriage and mating? Would he reject the notion, and return me home? Home where those brute, stuck-up asses *if* a man like Dr. Whooves would fight for my hoof, instead of letting me decide for myself.” “No, no, I never want to go back there again,” she shook her head. “Not un-taken anyway,” she whispers the words. And as she did, she could feel her entire body squirm at the words, “taken.”

A sour read (maybe "red"?) came over her face as she crossed her legs as tightly as possible. “No more, what am I thinking? I had just met him; there’s no way he’d do that. Even if he knew of the concept of love. “Ohhh!” she groaned as she settled her face down into the pillow, only for her stomach to begin growling. “Hmm, oh yes, yes, I do suppose a bit of food might clear my head of all this nonsense.” And with that, she stood up, still in the same dress from the night before, and headed down to eat and greet her new friend.

Ones on the main floor again, she found the dining table all mess up as it was last night, with the same food as before. Only the light of the sun, gave it a much brighter atmosphere giving her a better chance at vowing the entirety of the room.

The walls were made of a grand grey black and brown stone, that was carved giving it the smotheist surface Fluterhsy ever saw a rock being. It actully glistens in the sun light, giving it a shiny sparky exterior, with bits of pinks whites and purples that could never been scene at night. Along the walls, were torch hooks, candles, and paintings of knights bowing down to queen celistia, as she sat in her throne along side her sister. It was so surreal to see the place during the day. It was like a difrent castle all together. Other then the ocational, scurry of a mouse, and the sight of a cat or two, the only occupancy of the place now were the cobwebs full of spiders. Well that and the chaos lord himself that was, who she could tell by the sound of the rushing water coming from the bathroom, was currently washing up.

The sound caused the memory of his strong back and lion arm, to crash into the for front of her mind, causing once again, anger face to turn bright red.

Wanting to turn away the only thing that kept her in place was her growling stomach, and so against her felling of shyness she sat down to ate a few almonds and Orenge juice form the table.

As she ate her breakfast, every drop of the rushing water, was another reminder of him, causing her face only to grow redder.

But soon once the water was cut off a few minutes latter he emerged. To her surprise tho, he was not in his pumpkin Orenge suit, but in a black cloak, with royal purple trimmings. A set of trousers from what she could tell, was under it.

“Good morning, did you sleep well,” he asked her as walked into the room.

Her face bright red, she hid under main and replied, yes, I did thank you, before clearing her throat and stuffing her face with a plate of blue berries, in hopes of calming her nerves.

“Yes well as promised I will show you where I scavenge my food, and take you through the surrounding forest. “If we hurry thire is a lovely sight I can show you, that you won’t want to miss, so finish your meal quickly please,” he smiled.

“Arnt you going to eat as well,”

“I had already eaten before I got cleaned up. Please enjoy yourself, and come get me when your ready, I’ll jsut be in the throne room.”

As she watched him leave tho he wasn’t going very far, a part of her felt relived, but a larger part of her wished he would have stayed by her side.

…

Little did Fluterhsy know that the monster was perplexed himself, and only left do to the strange feeling he had around her. So much so he could not eat, not at the moment. His stomach felt like it was in naughts a experience he had never known before.

Once in his throne room, the door closed he knew he had to be some what quiet or she would her him. But one thire in her absence, he finly banged his head agints the wall. “What is wrong with me, damit!” He cursed himself. Ever since thire dance at the party, he couldn’t get the warmth feeling he felt from her off of him. As he stared at his arms the feeling of having her fast asleep agints his chest, lingers even more.

“Shes jsut a pony, thire all the same arnt they! He quietly yelled to himself. How many books on thire society have you read. The endless wars, the ridiculous customs. They act oh so high and mighty when infact thire no better then the common cockroach of the forest. And she, she is…” he wanted to say was no difrent but the memory of her at dinner last night, sprang in his mind.

“She was so understanding, why she wasn’t even afraid of me much. I never ment to bring her hear it was an accident.” the memory of them dancing at the party left him tewirlingnin delight.

“The way she danced and laughed in my grip, why I never heard anything so sweet. It was like a dove wining in the morning, her laughter was. He soon collapsed into his throne, placing his lion paw over his face. “I only went thire to tear apart my makers reputation, I never ment to actully ah e a good time. I nearly only danced with her beacuse I thought she looked sad, and at a party, why did I want to have fun for eminent. It wasn’t even my plan. He groaned as he pulled his lion paw down over his face scars.

Tossing his head over the slightest reflection of himself in the broken mirror, showed himself a terifying creature. “These scars,” he whisperd, why they are the scars of man, not I. This is is his fault, Dr whooves,” his fist tightens into a grip. “Never know peace, I’ll see to it he’ll never know-“

But before he could finish his sentence the door slid open and thire she was, “ready to go,” she asked.

“Oh, ya- yes, of corse, let’s go, he put on his best smile. But his ruby eyes looked anything but happy. They seemed tormented, and Fluterhsy grew a puzzled loo at him, as he passed her by, before leading her out of the castle.
…

With the morning light, I and the others spranged into action at moments notice. With our weapons in protection, we began tracking and too speed, through the twisted jungles of the foestzz with a great large knife, sir sragog beside my, sliced them rough vines and leaped through trees at my direction.

We travels what have been miles before our stomachs left us weaker then we were the night before.

“Doc,” rarity called out form behind me. “I want to save my best friend to, but I’m afraid I’ll die of starvation long before I see her again at this rate.

“You think we’re hungry? Fluttershy might be starving to death along with being up in chains made of that monster's vine magic!” I heed back.”

“Yes and if we found some food, we could bring it along with us to feed her!” Applejack called out over the crowed, who quickly agreed with her, as they set thire own appendages over thire grumbling stomachs.

“With a groan I sat back on a log, arms crossed furious.”

Thankful for the chance tho, it was applejack who stood closer to the front taking my place. “Come on now I am a farmer, and a Girl Scout, I know what’s edible and what’s not so follow me. Well scavage for food.” She orders them, and with that, my leadership was gone in a flash. All the while all I could think about was her, and what ever that monster was doing to her.

...

meanwhile the chaos lord remained mostly silent as she quietly observed both the land and him, in the fresh morning air.

It wasn’t until the two came upon a small lake that he finally said something.

“Here we are; this lake is my source of water. I often have to carry a bucket or two back a day to refill both my shower and my drinking supply.” Then he snickers. “I *say* carry, but…” he snapped his fingers, and a bucket floated in the air, dipped itself into the water, and came floating back to him with ease. “Once I learned how to do magic, things became incredibly easier. But before that, I did trudge through this land every morning and night just for a little glass of water,” he chuckled, turning to her.

As she listened to him, she watched as a deer walked out of the bushes. Its large antlers looked just like the chaos lord’s. It gently bowed its head once it was clear its surroundings were clear of threats and began to drink from the water.

A smile on her face, she couldn’t help but marvel at the sight of the peaceful atmosphere of the small lake.

“Over there, where that deer is standing, the bushes are filled with all sorts of berries: blueberries, blackberries, strawberries. I believe that at one time, those who lived in that castle before me may have used this lake as a way to grow their crops, the berries being one of them. Not just the berries, though; all the trees around here give either fruit or nuts, which the many ants and squirrels of the forest feed on.”

As he said this, Fluttershy could hear a squirrel scurry up the tree. The sound brought a smile to her lips as she gazed around the forest, finding songbirds whose gentle chirps filled the morning air.

“Of course,” the chaos lord began again, “this may seem like a safe haven, but I assure you, it can be quite dangerous. I can’t tell you how many bears and timberwolves I’ve fought off over the years. Mostly, it’s best to stay clear of this place after dusk and remain in the castle whenever possible. Manticores, snakes, and so many chimeras also travel through here,” he said while pointing at a set of animal tracks not far from where she was standing.

She nodded at the sight, shifting closer to him. She was so close he could feel her warmth radiating through the damp morning air. In response to her action, he gave a chuckle. “I promise you, it is perfectly safe, right now, though. And besides, my favorite part is just about to start,” he said as he knelt down and picked up a small stone. Giving it a light toss, it struck in front of the bushes, startling both the deer and the squirrels, as well as a whole new creature entirely.

Fluttershy at first wanted to reprimand him for his action, but gasped at the sight of wings emerging from the bushes. Blue, green, red, pinks, and purples, in sorts of glorious hues, erupted and began fluttering in the breeze.

“Butterflies,” she remarked in awe at the sight.

“Mhmm, hundreds of them, all over those bushes down there. They rarely ever leave this place, hunkering down in the branches at night. This makes for a great breeding ground for them. There’s plenty of food to feed their many hungry caterpillars who live at the base of them and feed on the berries down there.

Oh, but don’t worry, though, the bushes are plentiful and grow far more than the caterpillars could ever eat. Simply put, they and the bees make this a perfect ecosystem; it’s so fascinating to observe.”

Fluttershy didn’t know what was more surprising, the sight of the butterflies or hearing him speak in such a way, of beauty and intelligence. So caught off guard by it, it took her a moment to process what he was talking about.

“Breeding…so he does know of the concept,” she thought as her face grew a shade of red.

Luckily, he never noticed her look and instead picked up another stone, giving it a light toss into another set of bushes, seeing back, watching another set of butterflies take off into the air all at once.

After tossing a few more stones, once it was resulting in fewer butterflies, he turned to her. “I usually get about a dozen good throws in before they all fly away. But don’t worry, they think it’s a danger, and will be back by sundown when it’s considered safe for them, just before it gets too dark.”

“How do you know so much?” she asked.

“Oh, well, I have lived here for my entire life, and…” he bowed his head. “The doctor left many books, books I read.” With the mentioning of the doctor, his demeanor shifted from cheerful to a sudden sadness before picking back up, shaking his head. “Anyway, why don’t we…”

“What is it about the doctor that bothers you so?”

Her words stopped the monster in his tracks, and with a forceful intake, he turned from her with a grunt.

“Is it true what you said back there, that he is your father?” Her eyebrows raised.

“In a sense, yes,” he bitterly replied. “The doctor created me, brought me to life. I was not born of normal means.”

“I’m sorry, I do not understand.” Her gaze lowered.

“Ha, neither do I,” he smirked and returned his gaze on her. “For what does it mean to be alive? A beating heart, an active mind?”

“A soul,” Fluttershy chirped.

“If such a thing exists, I wonder if I have given one museless.”

“You must have a soul; I can see it.”

“How?” He tilted his head.

“In your eyes, I see a tormented soul, but I do see a soul, a gentle one at that,” she said as she reached for his face.

Her hands so warm as it stroked his cheek; if he didn’t know any better, he thought he’d turn to putty right there. “Then perhaps I am more alive than I thought,” he smiled as he leaned into her touch.

The two sat there for a moment staring into each other’s eyes before both noticed they were standing there far too long, and the air quickly became awkward and tense.

Removing her hand, she sputtered, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to, I…” she backed away for a moment before tumbling onto a rock and stumbling over.

He tried to quickly grab her, but it was too late. With a splash, she stumbled into the cold water of the lake. Sprinting up shivering with her mane and clothes drenched, she cried out from the shock.

The chaos lord’s eyes widened at the sight of her; the water dripping off her damp clothes that were now held down, creating her every curve.

For the first time, as his eyes drifted over her wet body, a sudden rush of heat and blood filled his skull, and cheeks for a one time, as he was stunned by her presence. But only for a moment, because the look on her face as she tried to climb out of the water brought an eruption of laughter from his throat that shocked even him.

Hearing him laugh at her, she spun around, furious at him. Only the turning her eyes only made him laugh more. “Oh yeah, think it’s funny, huh?” she shouted before splashing water on top of him.

“Hey, that’s cold!” he cried out, shocked by the remote tire. But even so, he only laughed harder as he dove in, splashing her in the process.

At first, she was not happy in the slightest, but his laughter was contagious, and soon, the two spent their time splashing one another in the lake as they tried to climb back onto dry land.

“Oh, my dress,” she half-giggled, half-whined as she shivered in the air.

Snickering, the lord of chaos came out behind her. “Worry not, where do you think I got these from? The castle has several wardrobes; I’m certain we can find you something while your original dress dries out.”

The thought did comfort her for a small moment, but the shivering took over any bit of happiness she could hold. “I’m so ca-ca-ca-cold,” she stuttered as her teeth began to chatter.

With a quick rise of his claw, a small of fire erupted from his hand and hovered above them both. He soon, in one frail swoop, picked her up bridal style, and began heading his way to the castle. “Don’t worry; we’ll get you warm up, I promise,” he smiled, and his smile brought more warmth to her than even the fire.

Chapter 13

As the chaos lord had said, finding a suitable substitute dress for Fluttershy was easy. As both their wet clothes dried by the fire, Fluttershy now stood in front of a broken mirror, admiring the clothes she found within the castle walls.

It was a dark green dress with bright green frills. A flower pattern etched into its stitching. Despite how neutral it looked, it was clear how old it was in its fashion. It was extremely Victorian in the way its sleeves puffed up and the way the dress flowered out over her hips. All she needed to complete the look was a Sunday hat, which she was glad she *didn’t* have. Either way, she marveled at it in the broken mirror, just as a knock on the door alerted her to the chaos lord's incoming presence.

"Did you find any—" he paused when he saw the dress she stood in. Turning back to him with a smile, she asked, "What do you think?"

"Princess," he stumbled in a whisper, making her giggle.

"That's quite the compliment."

With a shake of his head, he regained his lost composure. "That dress... makes you look like a princess, I mean."

Looking back to the mirror for another glance, she replied, "Yes, I do look like a princess from one of those old fairy tales my father used to read to me."

"Your father, you mentioned him before, but I have yet to hear you mention anything about your mother," the monster's eyebrow raised.

"And I've yet to understand *your* story… with Dr. Whooves."

"Teosha," he drawled, his eyes beginning to leave the room, only to stop when she replied in a cold, emotionless tone that sounded nothing like herself, "She died."

"Just before my brother's third birthday, and like all the other mares of the city."

"Yes, many, not all; Pinkie's mother is still around. But most mares die of something that mother religion or science has vanquished yet."

The lord of chaos stood emotionless, unsure of what to say or do. Turning around, she returned to her cheerful tone, but with bittersweet words that he found difficult to process.

"It is because of that sickness, and the fear of it, that many women my age grew up behind locked doors. My father, as well as many of my friends' fathers, were all frightened of us attacking it." She rubbed her right elbow.

"When I was young, I don't even remember my mother ever being well. My father says I was just like her, but all I can remember is a pale face and a bedridden woman. I dare say death was at our front door, long before I even knew what death was."

Bearing her personal tragedy, the chaotic monster could only stand and stare at her, unsure of what to say or do.

"It's ok," she warmly smiled, trying to ease him instead of herself. The mental strength she needed to do that was more than the chaos lord could understand. "Anyway, that's why my father was so protective of me growing up. I wasn't even allowed to go to the park until I was at least a teenager." She giggled. But even her giggle didn't brighten the mood. "I am thankful for him, and I know why he did such a good job, but…"

"It was suffocating at times, huh?" The chaos lord whispered in awe of her story.

Fluttershy's nose twitched, a sniffle escaping. With a quick dab of her eyelid with a piece of cloth, she wiped away both whatever tears had built up and feelings of sadness.

"Your father sounds like a great man… he cares for you quite a lot."

"Yes, yes, he does." She nodded and set the cloth away, before visibly snorting. "Oh god, I can't imagine his face when he realized I wasn't home after the nightmare night party. His little girl's directions were so clear: to Dr. Whooves, straight there, straight back, and now…" she laughed harder.

"Now you're in an ancient castle in the middle of the forest with a stranger you've never met," the monster replied in a serious tone as he set his arms over his haunches and leaned on the side wall. "Had I known about such a thing, I would have sent you home sooner!" He furiously spat, before raising his claw again in a snapping position.

"No, no, please, I told you I don't want to go back!" She pleaded as she grabbed ahold of his arm.

"You're in such danger. Come on, is it really that bad there? Why on earth do you not want to return home?"

"Oh yeah, and what is *your* story, then?" smiled the mare as she looked at the creature before her.

His gravelly voice chuckled as his gaze rose to the sky, peeking through the holes in the roof. "No one wants to hear that story."

"Oh, but I do," she said, causing the creature to blink in disbelief. The sudden scrunch of his nose brought a giggle from her lips. The laughter, odd as it may be, danced across his ears, bringing a strange, calming feeling to him; one that he knew not how to explain, let alone express. "You're pretty smart, I mean…" she lowered her eyebrow, "That is to say, your intellect is far more than most of even the men I know in town. Tell me, lord of chaos, how did one such as you come to be so intelligent anyway?" She tilted her head like a puppy at him, causing another chuckle to escape his throat.

"You're quite intelligent yourself, lady Fluttershy."

"Oh, I'm… umm, I'm actually not that smart. Actually," she giggled once again, causing the same sensation to the beast as always. "I actually don't like many of the town folk. Which is a horrible thing to say."

"Horrible, how so?" the monster tilted his head in the same way she did before. "Why is the reason you don't want to return home so badly? Because, from what you told me, you have a good home with a good father, who's now letting you go out and explore a bit more, but is keeping you perfectly safe. What else could there even be that is so bad you want to never return home?"

"Oh, you know… *there*… boys," she rolled her head.

"I see, so you have a problem with the opposite sex. May I remind you of my own? Should I leave now too?" He instituted, growing furious with his last statement.

"Oh, oh, that's not what I meant."

"Then what *did* you mean?" he barked and awaited her answer.

"Oh, just, uh, well," she lowered her head and hid her face, growing quiet for a long time before stating, "As are most boys, they are gentlemen in hopes to secure *their* future. They see me, a prize, especially since I'm a rather young mare who has yet to be touched by a man yet."

"That's not true. I saw my father touch you," he spat innocently. "Hell, I've touched you multiple times since we've been together."

Her face grew red at the thought of the doctor. "Na, no, I don't mean just hold hands. I mean—well, I mean—" she stumbled as her hands rubbed against each other awkwardly.

"Spit it out, then!" The monster cried, already tired of her stalling.

"I'm a virgin, alright!" She yelled furiously, before gasping at her own words and covering her mouth.

"Ahh," the creature rolled his eyes. "Now I get it."

"Ga—get *what*?" she stared.

"Oh, nothing," he just bones his head."

"What are you then?"

"Ha, hardly, no!" He growled back. "I just understand that you're tired of those men fighting for you. Well, sweetheart, a little advice for you, my dear: get used to it." He chuckled. "It is simply nature, is it not? Animals do it constantly, fighting for their right to breed. And the females only give in to the one that suits their fancy, the strongest, at will, do they not?"

"Ponies are not animals," she yelled, catching both of them by surprise. Quickly though, she lowered the intensity and shrunk back to the wall. "I am not just here for that, everyone has a purpose to *their* life, as do I, and even if I do, I can choose who I love. I will not be forced into any of it."

"Big deal," he rolled his eyes. "What, is it not true that you are only looking for the best qualities in your mate? After all, you are a mare of marriage age, isn't that correct?"

"No, I mean yes, I am of marriage age, but I am not just looking for qualities in men. I am looking for someone to love."

"Love?" The monster raised an eyebrow at the mare's words.

"Yes, love. You may know a lot, perhaps more than me, I'll admit, but there's a lot more you don't know. Like a mare's heart, for one." She snootily tossed up her nose at him.

Apparently, he chuckled and turned back to the skies above, watching as the wind carried them along the breeze.

"Come with me."

She heard him say, just before he began heading back inside.

"Where are we going," Fluttershy asked, as she got to her feet.

"To answer your question, follow me," he stated, running inside, with a step she had come to know.

…

She followed him through the hallways of the old castle, growing more curious of the strange creature as she did.

At the end of the hallway, though, she could see him dash through the doors of the chess indoor garden.

"This way," he called back, as she approached the door, and right across the garden to another dark hallway she had never noticed before. But it was now clear as day thanks to the bright sunlight. Chasing after him, she led them down one more hallway and up some steps. Finally, at the end of their travels—wherever he was taking her to—she watched as he entered through a set of old curtains. Following him, she took in the sight of the old castle stone walls. Its gothic-like architecture, and rustic attire seemed to actually complement the overgrown nature that had claimed most of its walls. Unlike most of the rest of the castle, that had smooth, glossy, black-like stones, she could tell this part of the castle seemed to be once vibrantly painted. The remnants of blues contrasted the curtains that hung from the ceiling. Entering through the red, torn veils, her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets at the sight of a grand room. It wasn’t bigger than the throne room, but it was definitely not small. Instead there, she stood in what must have been a three-stories tall, book shelves with inside an even greater hall. With a gasp and a flutter of her eyes, she took it all in.

"Yes, I know," he sighed. "Welcome to where I grew up." He shrugged, before leaping on top of a tall ladder. Once he landed on top with ease and grace, he mumbled "hmm let’s see," before swinging himself down the rack until he found what he was looking for. "Ah ha, here we go," he said, pulling a book from the rustic wooden bookshelf. Its wood falling apart and nearly turning to ash as he did.

"Careful where you step this place is quite old," he instructed her as he flipped through the pages until he found a page he was looking for. "Ah ha, yes," he smiled before doing a backflip and landing perfectly next to her. To say he was nimble would have been an understatement.

"This place, long, long ago was actually an old castle grounds and stronghold, of Queen Celestia herself, the sun diety. One of many castles constructed in her name, but some time in the seventh or eighth century after her reign began, a great battle took hold of it, and many of the horses fled this land, giving it back to the forest. Half this library was left untouched for centuries; no one knew it was here." The monster shrugged. As he lifted his bird claw and presented the land around.

"Wait, half-filled, so…"

"Yes I have filled the rest myself with my journeys across the world," he said as he showed her some photos of him.

"Oh, you been to catygpyt and zeebrafica?" she gasped before he snatched the book closed.

"Yes, there and many other places," he rolled his shoulders and darted his hips as he began to walk around the library, leading her on, once more.

"You see, in this library there are hundreds, if not thousands, of books, and I have read every single one of them, sorting them even by my favorite topics." He lifted his hand, showing a sign that said cookbooks.

His smile never wavered until after that statement, but she watched as it fell flat. "It’s all I had to do was read. And read I did. From the science books by my father, to the magic and religious texts of old. I learned as much as I could in the past twenty years." His gaze turned to her, with such sorrow in his eyes, she could not help but feel saddened for the creature.

"You see," he began slowly. "Good old Dr. Whooves, once had a friend at some point named Stygian." He then pulled out a sun pendent, from a shelf, handing it to Fluttershy, who ran her finger on the back engraving of the name Stygian unicornius. "So, so are you,"

"I do not know," he whispered solemnly. "But the book of chaos and harmony has many, many powerful spells of which I had mastered all of them. Including the one that transfers energy."

"Transfers energy?" She tilted her head, not understanding a word.

"Yes, magical energy, from one form to another. Either way, Stygian was… " he stated before removing his shirt. There on both his chest and back laid thousands of scar marks.

"I believe the doctor may have tried to save Stygian, by stitching him right, and used that spell in hopes of reviving him."

"So your name is…"

"I am not Stygian; I am whatever was created after him."

Her mouth dropped at the implications, and she dropped the pendent on the ground, making a haunting ting sound among the quiet air of the library.

"That is right, my dear, at least in some ways," his head lowered.

"What do you mean, some ways?" she asked in a shivering voice.

"Wa- well, think of it this way. You know blood renditions or, or organ transplants."

She softly nodded but stood deadly still, waiting for an answer.

"Wa- well, as soon as they’re placed on the body and the body reactivates and gets used to the new organ they function exactly the same. Once restored with enough energy it acts as it always had." He then lifted his lion claw, placing it over his many scars. "The stitches fell out eventually, and the body’s cells began to do what they had always done. Multiplying and dividing, and living so long as they had substance. In short, I am as dead as you are."

Fluttershy’s eyes drifted over the exterior of his muscles. Other than the many scars, there was no decay on him. Still, Fluttershy could not help but feel like she was staring down the undead. Her nerves began to get the better of her, and she soon began to tremble under the weight of the knowledge.

But to her surprise, just as she earlier set her hoof on his cheek, he now did the same with his sharp claw. Despite how sharp and pointy they were, he was so delicate with them that they never punctured her skin. And other than the tallness, his hand felt alive, as if she could feel his pulse.

"A pulse," she whispered as she set her head into his chest with her ear right up against his heart. There on the stillness, she could feel it. Not only his breathing, but his heartbeat.

While the chaos lord could only sit there feeling her warmth on his bare chest once more, the feeling warmed him, and choked him to the bone, leaving him stunned. After a moment of sitting there awkwardly too long, the tension instinctively backed away from another, their cheeks feeling warm.

Luckily for the chaos lord his dark fur did not show the redness to his face like Fluttershy did. If it did he would have sworn his so called life might have ended there.

"But but does that mean you have. His memories? I mean, you do have his…"

"No, no, I don’t remember anything before the day that I woke up. There is no Stygian left, not even in the brain. Still, though," he continued, clearing his throat, as if saying "Luckily for me I guess". He nervously winced. "Most babies would die, but I wasn’t made of normal means, was I?" His eyes narrowed for a moment, only to soften the next moment. "Unlike a baby, I had a full adult pony brain, with many neuron connections already established. Established yes, but unused. They just needed to be reactivated." He said turning to another bookshelf and pulling out one on brain anatomy, showing her a picture of it.

"The brain is a muscle, made up of hundreds of thousands of neuron cells, at least in an adult. Because of that, I theorize it’s the reason why it didn’t take me too long until I once again gained a quick grasp on things.

I knew how to speak, and while my body had to get used to its new structure, once the neuron paths lit up again, I learned how to walk and how to run, and soon, eventually yes," he bobbed his head from side to side, "Read.

My first few days were hard at best, but I do remember them. After he ran that night I sat and cried, terrified of the world around me, only to grow pain in my stomach, why. Well I was hungry. And there on the floor, the doctor left little pouches of sugary sweets. Once I learned that you had to peel away the wrapper, since that didn’t taste good, the first thing I ate was what I would learn later is the creamy sunset known as chocolate."

"It didn’t take long for me to eat all the candy and soon venture out into the world, like a dog. I soon found water and fruit and berries naturally grown in the wild. My brain, being an adult, already knew how to survive, unlike an infant's. It is because of this that I survived out in the wilderness—cold, damp, and alone. But that wouldn’t last long, though." He shook his head.

The animals of the forest feared me above all. And how could they not? I was a strange amalgamation of animal parts, once dead, now brought back to life. But I wasn’t a bird, nor a deer, despite sharing such features. I was a pony, or at least thought I was.

“Thought?” Fluttershy’s eyebrow raised.

“I’m too different to be a pony now. No, what I am is an aberration. And it’s his fault.” The monster quickly clenched his fist and teeth for a moment, but soon let go when he noticed her flinch back away from him.

“Sorry,” he sighed and set the book in his grasp back onto the shelf. “Anyway, it would be a few months at most, but soon after that, thanks to these books, I learned how to read and even truly discovered my magic. It too is very different from normal magic. It’s stronger. I suspect it’s due to me being part animal. Like the dragon or the deer, they’re known… for having unique magic among creatures.”

“Is… is your magic?” Fluttershy mumbled her words out for the creature to turn and face her completely.

“Magic is a tool. As is science. And, like all tools, Fluttershy, it can be used for great good and great evil. As is pure nature intended. You would say killing is evil, but if killing something means protecting or even feeding, then it’s a necessary evil, isn’t it? You ponies might act like you’re above nature, but in my studies, I find you're more like me than you realize. Especially my father.”

“Infants, they’re born extremely incapable and need to be nurtured, and all that. Many babies imprint on the first thing they see or hear. For me, though, my mother was magic, and my father was science. He was the only parent I had. And what did he do? What did the doctor do to his creation? The earliest memory I have is him running off. My creator running away from me. Abandoning me!” He seethed. “And yes, after I figured out I could do magic intervals around sure, but because of this face!” He pouted at himself. “They all ran just like him!” He raised his voice.

“I’m alone, and *that* is why I quickly decided that I would dedicate my life to making sure he was, too. To remind him of his greatest sin. Abandoning me when I needed him most!”

Fluttershy sat silent as she watched her odd friend and took in his words to heart.

“I keep my eye on him. I soon learned about his little interaction with *them*, and how the town proved him. Oh, how perfect it was,” he chuckled. “My plan, after how everyone thought he was crazy, was for me to then come out and scare the town, proving him right, and telling them his greatest secret of *why* he created it, why no one would ever trust him again. And they would live in fear, fear of me, because of him. He would be alone forever, just as I,” he spat, sadistic. “Tell me, after hearing my story, does that colt truly deserve to walk free of fear while I sat in a decrepit building for twenty years? You asked where it is that I came from? My answer: hell! And I’ll see to it that my father lives in fear for the rest of his days!” He bitterly snarled, clenching his fist once more before softly letting go.

“Then I met you. Accident…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry.” He turned his back to her. “You should not be here. It was an accident you ended up here, an accident I didn’t intend to—” The sudden warmth of a hand on his bare back left him stunned once more.

“You’re not alone. No one deserves to be alone.”

The monster could only lower his head from his long neck, unable to face her.

But unknowingly to him, her words now touched her heart, and without a moment of hesitation, she ran to the front of his face and lifted his chin to her lips. Gently she barely touched hers against his. The mere feeling of her breath on his widened his eyes. She was so close to him. And of all the things she could be doing, *probably should be doing*… Rumor screaming for help, terrified of the monster he was. Instead, she stood there, hoping for a kiss, her lips were right there, already touching his. All she waited now was for him to make a decision.

And that description was clear. He either had to back away and, if he did, lose her for good, as he sat once again in only darkness, or forge a new path with her, to guide him, giving up on his quest and anger against his father, and enjoy a new sensation that life had to offer him.

With a single inhale, he made his decision, pushing forward into her lips. Feeling himself surrender to her, she gently pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. As a groan of elation escaped his throat, she opened her mouth, inviting him in. Soon he didn’t just feel the warm sensation; he could also taste the sweetness, like candy, chocolate, nuts, and sweet berries all mixed into one delicious treat.

Scared she would back away if he went too deep, he barely licked the bottom of her lip, and yet the taste alone set a fire to his skin, burning with desire, but scared to allow a move, he sat motionless, swaying for her approval. Hearing his plea in the animalistic moans, she tilted her head back, pulling him with her, giving him the okay to dive deeper. With it, he gently cradled her skull with his lion-like arm and held her still as he twisted every inch of her mouth, like exploring some forgotten cave, just as she held onto him tighter, as if to say, “It's okay, you have my permission.”

The longer they stood there kissing, the longer all time seemed to slip away, as they both lost each other in their own slow and steady kissing.

Slowly, they both felt their own bodies began to tire of standing. They soon fell to the bookshelf. Pinning her underneath him, he finally withdrew his lips from her for a moment as they stared into each other's eyes, both of them silently panting for a moment before diving into each other again.

Again and again, each time a little longer, each time more aggressive than the last. By the fifth time, Fluttershy could feel her own skin ablaze as she let her hands drift over his senses and chest. He, however, stayed respectful, terrified that, had he dared touch her in the wrong place, she wouldn’t let him kiss her again.

Finally, after the fifth time, Fluttershy’s hands drifted down to the monster’s belt, gently tugging on it as he kissed her. At first, he thought motioning of it, thinking she just was igniting as a new place to hold onto him, but as he felt the belt begging to loosen, his eyes shot wide, and immediately retreated from her lips.

Gasping for air, he stared, dumbfounded by the look of lust in her eyes. “Fluttershy, are you, are you sure?” He questioned with a few rapid blinks. “I mean, we're both…”

“I love you,” she whispered as she once again settled across his rising and falling bare chest.

“But—but there’s so many. I, I am a—”

“You are no monster. You are my love,” she mumbled as she nuzzled further into him.

“But, but my dear, just because you don’t like anyone in your town, doesn't mean there aren't others to find, others you might find better than me. I mean, shouldn't you save yourself for one of them?”

“You, you alone holds my heart. Please, please accept my offering.”

“A-a-Accept?” He stuttered in disbelief. “But Fluttershy, I’ve only seen a few animals and bugs. I, I know nothing of love, especially how to make it. Wa-what if I, I hurt you?”

“I admit to you probably knowing even more about the subject than me, a mare barely marriage age… but I,” she used her hoof to dig into his flesh, “will guide you,” she whispered as she pulled off the rest of his belt, stopping before it finally fell off, his trousers about ready to slip. She paused lifting her head to meet his gaze once more. Unless you don’t feel the same, and I was wrong abo—”

Before she could finish her sentence, his lips covered her mouth. Not for long, as he moved from her lips to her neck, laying each kiss more furiously than the last.

With a smile of her own, she let him explore her body, gently sliding at her dress, exposing her shoulder, to which he gently nuzzled and let his fang-like tooth slide down her arm.

“Do you want to go upstairs?” he asked between licks and kisses of her flesh.

“I won’t be able to make it up there,” she purred as she pushed him to the floor. As she did so, he caressed her exposed back as he looked down at her longingly.

“As you wish, my dear,” he whispered, staring up into her eyes. The warmth and the happiness within them made his heart race.

…

Soon, all through the night, the chambers of the Ancient castle echoed a haunting roar of the monster, along with the hushed moans of a pegasus mar.

The sound traveled through the lands of the forest, to where even my ears picked up on it. "With a raise of my head and a grind of my teeth, I whisper, we're coming to save you, Fluttershy, I promise."

chapter 14

Chapter 14

After a week of travel, even longer than I ever remember trudging through the land the first time, we finally made it to the dark castle.

It was as if it were never touched since last I was there. It stood in its decrepit state, still as glorious as it did twenty years ago. Thousands of years ago, it seemed as if it were never touched.

Despite being daylight, no sun shone that morning as we came up on the lair of the monster I had created. Gloomy grey clouds lay over our heads, as the cold fog slowly dissipated. It was the final atmosphere for a final battle, and a final battle is what I had planned. As I stared down the tallest of the black towers of which I had no doubt he lay in, the others caught up quick with me.

Rarity at first, stumbled out of the woods, grumpy at her now ruined dress. But she stopped and gasped as she raised her eyes to the ominous construction before her. Applejack blinked in awe as her jaw dropped. “So the old story you told was real,” growled Arogog, as he cocked his shotgun.

“Yep, this is where the nightmare all began,” I then pointed at the top of the tower. “There, in that room, I am afraid to say is where my greatest sin took place. And I have no doubt that that is where we will find him. But be careful, he isn’t just an average being. I never saw such a display of magical power as we did last time, and he was just toying with us then.” I narrowed my eyes.

“Are you sure it can be defeated, I mean after all, he is,” Rarity shivered.

“Make no mistake, even if he is impossible to kill, all we need to do is separate the body parts so he can’t be put back together again. That’s assuming he can’t be killed with normal means.” I answered her question.

“So it’s come down to this then,” shivered Applejack, only for her brother to place a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

“Yes, today is the day the nightmare ends.”

I turned around to the crowd. “Listen here, I don’t know what’s going to happen when we get in there. But what I do know is that Fluttershy is in there. The moment she is found, take her and escape.”

“And what about you,” a guard from Twilight asked.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll take care of the monster.”

“What! They all shouted.”

“I was the one who created it, it was I who pulled it from the depths of hell. It is I who will send it back, or die trying.”

I winced as my voice began to give out, showing just how terrified I truly was.

Even so, I pushed forward with as much strength as I could.

“Applejack, if the worst comes to worst, will you… will you tell Fluttershy…?” I nearly cried.

“I will, just promise me it won’t come to that.”

With a nervous chuckle and a quick smile, I turned back to the castle, never making a promise I didn’t intend to keep.

“Alright then,” I said as I pulled out the only weapon I could get on such short notice. My medical knife.

Holding it in my shaky hooves.

Amusing it was, out of all weapons, I was going to use the very thing that most likely helped put him together in the first place.

It was the same knife I used so long ago to acquire his body parts; now I shall use it to destroy them.

Yet at the same time, the words, ‘never bring a knife to a gunfight’, came to my mind as I looked at my reflection in the blade.

The monster’s power was far greater than any gun, so what could a little dinky knife ever do to him? We were easily outmatched, and outpowered. It wouldn’t matter if we had a thousand of us with a million guns.

Still, we had to try; I had to try to save the mare I love and correct the sins of my past.

Which is why I had no intention of surviving this battle. I knew that going in, and the shiver in my hooves carrying the knife knew it too.

Narrowing my eyes, and trying to hold back my tears, all I could do at the moment was whisper to my tension growing in my chest.

“Follow me.”

…

Deep within the library of the castle, unaware of our arrival. The Chaos Lord silently slumbered among the snoring breast he laid on. His body felt heavy, relaxed, and tired. The only thing that awoke him was the soft, cold chill of the morning wind that struck his bare back. With the slightest shiver, he smacked his lips and opened his eyes, finding himself laying on top of the snoring mare.

He snickered at the monstrous sound coming from such a beautiful face. "How chaotic," he murmured as another cold breeze made her shiver in her sleep.

He could see every muscle of her bare body tense from the cold.

Using his tail, he quickly grabbed a nearby cloth from the bookshelf and used it as a blanket, covering them both in hopes of keeping her warm. "It’s rude to watch her sleep," he reminded himself as he looked down at her. She merely tossed her head over, letting out another monstrous snore, louder than the last.

With a chuckle, he settled his head down below her chin, watching her side-eyed. "So sleepy, well, it’s not like we got a lot last night, did we?" he chuckled to himself as he let his lion-like claw drift over the curves of her under the makeshift blanket. With blissful sighs, glimpses of their activities last night vividly flashed before his eyes. "The way she held him, gripped him, kissed him, shared not only her warmth but her body with him." Soon his tail began to wag like a puppy due to the memories. An uncontrollable smile, along with a love-struck gaze, settled on his face, as she once again monstrously snored. The sound echoed off the walls, causing a snicker from the beast as he watched her sleep, feeling the rise and fall of her breaths against him.

All in all, he sighed a quiet, "Heaven, I'm in heaven…"

…

Meanwhile, the rescue team led by me, trudged through the castle grounds, storming through the doors, with weapons drawn.

“This way, the towers this...” I stopped as I heard a monstrous snore coming from another direction than the tower. “Perhaps I’m wrong, perhaps he sleeps somewhere else in the building, you two,” I pointed at Applejack and her brother. Go up the tower and search for Fluttershy. “You two,” I looked at two of the guards, search for her in every room on this floor. “And you two,” I looked at Rarity and her boyfriend, “Come with me. We’ll deal with that beast, follow the sounds of the snoring.” With my orders delivered, I took off upstairs, followed by the two I ordered to trail me. Tighter we dashed through the halls, as quietly as we could. “If the beast is asleep, we might be able to kill it before it wakes up,” I whispered to those behind me, who seemed all eager to agree.

…

After a moment or two, Fluttershy's snoring came to an end as she yawned herself awake.

The Chaos Lord lifted his head and off of her as she opened her eyes. “Her eyes flew open wide for a second, and the monster groaned, prompting her to scream, but to his surprise, she only sputtered,” it wasn’t a dream.”

Looking back at her, his mouth flew open for a moment, but soon smiled. “I am sorry, my dear, I get to wake up to the most wonderful sight, and you wake up to this.”

“You act as though your face isn’t handsome to me,” she stroked the monster's chin. Surprised by her first touch, he sat amazed by the softness of her ,only to lean into it and drop to her chest. “I’m glad you said that, I have something I need to tell you,” he mumbled as he placed a kiss in her collar bone.

“And that is,” she smiled.

Lifting his head so he could look directly into her eyes, he whispered, gently, “I love you, too.” Before lowering down to her lips for a kiss.

Centimeters away from each other, the sound of footsteps caught the monster's ears, just as the red veil leading into the library was pulled back.

Their knife in hoof, I stormed in, ready to find the beast. Only for my eyes to find it, in a position I had never thought I'd see it.

Under a blanket, it sat nude, leaning over Fluttershy, who looked at me upside down, with a shocked face.

My jaw dropped in disbelief, my eyes wide, I couldn't find the words, my speech erratically deteriorated to mere grunts and sounds as I tried to make sense of the sight I saw.

The two behind me came in after me, and they too gasped at the sight.

“Uhhh,” was all the Chaos Lord could say.”

But finally, as my shock diminished, my rage took over. “You, you, I’ll kill you!” I furiously declared before diving into him one drawn.

“The creature quickly swiped its tail at me, knocking me to the side, as it pulled off the sheet and wrapped it around Fluttershy, picking her up in its arms. Then with a snap of its fingers, the sound of something moving behind us alerted Rarity,” the Chaos Lord then flew out of the window alongside Fluttershy, heading to, I assume, the tallest tower of the castle.

With a grunt, I hit the wall, hard. But quickly got to my feet thanks to the rush of rage and adrenaline I had pumping through my veins. “I’m gonna kick him, I’m gonna kill him!” I shouted as the sound of something drawing closer to us alerted us of its presence.

“Doctor Whooves,” cried Rarity, as she turned to the door. I enraged turned to it, only to drop my jaw at the sight of the moving army of statues that blocked our path.

…

As Applejack and her brother climbed the tower, the sound of a crash above their heads alerted them. Momentarily, they looked up in horror. “Let me go first,” Big Mac said as he cocked his shotgun.

“Yeah, I think you're right about that,” Applejack agreed and stepped aside for her brother.

…

Crashing through the window, the Chaos Lord set Fluttershy gently on his bed, asking, “Are you hurt?”

“No, but,”

“Yes, your friends are there to save you,” he rolled his eyes and ran to the wardrobe.

“We just have to talk to them; we can explain–”

“Yes, but I'd rather not do it nude,” he said, tossing a dress over to Fluttershy, before grabbing a pair of trousers and putting them on quickly.

She had to agree; it was quite fitting for them to catch the two in the act of love. Without another word, she willed the dress over her bare body.

Once the Chaos Lord had his trousers, he went for a cloak shirt, but before he could grab it, a loud bang followed by a tense pain struck his lower side.

With a mighty growl, he roared in pain, stumbling away from the wardrobe as he turned to the direction it came from.

There, in the doorway of the steps, a big red pony with a shotgun, had him at gunpoint. But the gun and pony were visibly shaking as he tried to reload his weapon.

Fluttershy screamed at the sound and then noticed her beloved's bleeding wound. Quickly dashing over to him, she grabbed a piece of fabric in hopes of stopping the bleeding.

“Fine,” the Lord of Chaos cried out as he raised his claw. A burst of flame erupted from it in the direction of the adversary.

“No, don’t kill them!” Fluttershy cried out.

“I was aiming for the gun, not him!” winced the Chaos Lord before snapping his fingers. The many vines and plants already on the walls sprang to action, about to trap the two, but Applejack swung her axe, cutting them before they could be ensnared. “Run,” she shouted at her brother, and the two secured down the stairs.

The second they did, they nearly ran into the guards with guns and spears. “Oh, there you are! He’s upstairs, and he has Fluttershy,” Applejack called out.

The two guards immediately cocked their guns, leading with the spearheads on the end of them, pointed directly upwards as they headed their way.

The Chaos Lord stood up, pushing through the pain in his side, sensing the oncoming danger. Immediately, as they saw the nearest sight of him, they began their shooting. The monster grabbed a hold of Fluttershy. With a single twist of his wrist, the air behind her split apart. Tumbling through it, the two now sat in the throne room. Dodging the oncoming fire from the guards. Closing the portal behind him, the Chaos Lord threw a few blasts of fire that immediately struck its target, melting the guns' weaponry into hot, twisted, puddling metal.

A cocky smile spread on the Chaos Lord's lips at his success of dealing with the guards but harming the ponies for a moment, until another gunshot went off, nearly striking his ears. He ducked just in time and dashed his gaze at the red pony, who once again had his shotgun at the ready. This time he had another shot already to go, about to fire.

Raising his claw, the Chaos Lord used his vine magic to create cover from the oncoming blaze.

... Meanwhile, the statues descended upon the three of us in the library.

With a grit to my teeth, and an outrageous battle cry, I stormed towards the stone menaces with my fist, only to discover that that was a bad idea. They were made of stone after all. "Oww, Oww, Oww," I cried out in pain as I ducked, trying to avoid the thing's attempts to grab me.

Luckily for us, their weight made them slow, at best, and despite their increasing advancements, they were quite easy to dodge. But we couldn't sit there all day dodging their attacks; we had a monster to deal with. "Think time turner, think, damn it," I cursed myself as I lowered my gaze at the knife. And there, luckily, was an answer in this reflection. I noticed a pair of overgrown vines sitting in the wall. "That's it!" I screamed out as I ran towards them, swooping at them with my knife. However, the knife was too small to slice through them in one go, and I had to dodge another statue.

"Doctor Whooves, duck!" shouted Big Mac as he shot his rifle at the vines, cutting them from the wall. "Hope you've got an idea!" he yelled furiously.

"I think I do, thanks," I cried out as I tossed a piece of the vine over to Rarity. "Rarity, tie this to that pole quickly, I shouted at her. With no hesitation, she snatched the vine, dodging another statue, and dashed her way over to the pole as I asked.

"What now?" she cried out as she jumped for dear life from another statue.

With a smirk on my face, I tightened the vines, making them longer, and then ran around the room in all directions with them, trailing behind me.

Watching my every move, Applejack quickly picked up on the idea and shot another pair of vines down, towing the end of it to Rarity, giving her the same orders I did. She quickly tied it to another post, and both I and Applejack ran around the room with our vines, dodging the oncoming swipes of the stone hooves trying to grab us.

Once we'd finished, near the doorway, the statues were none tied in the vines and unable to move, despite their attempts to do so.

"That won't hold them for long," Rarity noted as she pointed at the vines, which were struggling to snap apart.

"Long enough," shouted Applejack, as he snatched Rarity up in his arms and ran out the door. Quickly, I followed him, and soon we dashed through the castle halls and towards the main fight.

As I did so, the adrenaline pumping through my veins made me more aware of my surroundings than ever before, including my actions. "The realization that I'd done it – I'd defeated those things – me, a crazy creature, not some grand hero scripted to put those things in their place, if only for a little while – did not go unnoticed. In fact, the victory, while small as it may be, seemed to encourage me. I whispered to myself, "I can do this; I can do this for Fluttershy, for Stygian, no, for myself. I can do this!" I yelled out as I leaped over a small bush and into the main castle once more. "I can defeat that monster! I know I can!"

"Good, because here comes your chance!" cried Rarity, snapping me out of my self-encouraging trance.

Looking up, I saw the others on the run, just as the Chaos Lord chased after them, his magical vines following suit, cracking like rope whips.

"You!" I called out, catching his attention. Turning his gaze onto me, I could see the fire in his eyes, the grit to his teeth, and the blood that was spilling from his chest.

"The others must have wounded him, and he was not happy about it by the looks of it.

"What did you do with Fluttershy? What did you do to her?"

Instead of answering me, he merely raised his hand, sending the vines flying.

"Oh dear, that's a lot of vines," shrieked Rarity.

"No, this is my chance," I called out as I sprinted towards the vines, with as much speed as I could manage within the distance of them. With a grand leap of faith, I launched myself over them and towards the monster, knife drawn, ready to kill the threat.

With an eye roll, despite my heroic efforts, he merely swiped with his tail out of the way, and towards the ground, where I quickly tumbled through the dirt as the vines quickened their pace. They soon caught their prey, snatching Rarity, Big Mac, and Applejack, leaving me and Big Mac free.

With a swipe of the place at the end of his rifle, he sliced through a vine, trimming to snatch his hoof, and soon raised it to take a shot at the Chaos Lord.

Seeing a gun pointed at him once more, he threw a fireball in its direction as it went off. It incinerated not only the flying bullet but soon followed suit, burning itself out after the one weapon itself.

Terrified of being hit, the pony tumbled to the ground, evading the fire, knowing about the helmet of his costume.

He then looked up, revealing his face.

As I watched, I didn't care what he looked like; just another good-looking ordinary pony to me. But the near sight of him stopped the Chaos Lord in its tracks. All the vines came to a halt as the Chaos Lord's eyes stood there wide.

"You," I could hear him whisper in awe, as the creatures stumbled.

"Stop!" called out Fluttershy from behind the beast, down the hall. "Now's my chance, while he's distracted. With all my might, I'll muster, I got to my feet and stormed down the beast straight forward, knocking him to the ground. With my knife held high, I was about to stab it, but his lion paw caught my arm, and tighter we struggled.

"Applegarth, take Fluttershy and run!" I shouted to him.

With his orders, the "knight" in shining golden armor ran over, snatching Fluttershy up in his arms and taking off for dear life.

"Stop! No, no, stop him; that's—"

"The ones who must have wounded him," I mumbled, not understanding the words.

"Yes, you idiot," the monster growled. "My mind originally blocked it out, but the sight of him reignited my memories."

"Star Swirl's memories, Time Turner!" he shouted.

My eyes fluttered in disbelief; my mouth opened to say something, but no words could come out of it.

Instead, the monster merely glared at me again.

"Your mother, Fluttershy's mother, Applejack's... all the deaths over the years, they were all because of him. When I discovered his secret, that he was Indes – not what we thought he was – I tried to run and warn you, but..."

"The monster's voice cut off in a shiver.

As he tried to regain his composure, he continued: "He's not the real Star Swirl; because the real one wrote the Book of Chaos and Harmony, he died long ago, and in his place, a shadow monster took his form. He's been living amongst us ever since, stealing energy from the weak, making them sick, and die, and you just handed him Fluttershy! He's going to revive Nightmare Moon!"

"What?" shouted Applejack, in disbelief. "How do you—"

"Because one day, Stygian, went to go check on and give tea to your mother! When he was there, he saw Star Swirl, lift his hoof, and suck the energy out of her weak body, killing her slowly in the process. His face became young again, and as he did, Stygian tried to back away but tripped over a creaky floorboard, alerting the monster, after which it chased him, and..."

"The lord of chaos shot his head; dropping me in the process. With a head shake, and shiver, he looked down at his own body."

"I can feel it, you know; the power drained out of me, aging me, and turning me weak until the final blow. The sound of an approaching manticore is all I remember."

"You, you what, so... so it's true, you are—"

"No! No, you see that's the thing, father. From my studies, it shows that usually, when a child is born, the magic in the mare is split between her and the growing baby; this weakling temporarily. It's the weakling that the monster preys on; he can't fight a normal mare or a colt, so he preys on the weak. 'Stygian is long gone; what you've given me is your own life energy, not his.'"

"And now—"

"You, you actually—"

"On the contrary, father, she took my virginity; I did nothing to her; she didn't consent. And he then snapped his fingers, and the vines began to shrink and unwind from the captives.

"No, no, no; she couldn't—she—"

"I spurred in disbelief, gasping for air."

"Between the two of us, she knows just as much as you and I who the real monster is."

His words cut through me like a knife. Out of all the blows I took that day, that was all I needed to hear to finally realize my spirits. My legs buckled under me, and I fell to the dirt floor, right in front of my knife, where I could see not only my reflection but his as well.

In a strange sense, I should be thankful to you, Dr., for giving me life. After all, had you not, I would never have met the love of my life. Now, stand up! He demanded. I am going to do everything I can to save her, and if you have any true love for her in you, you will join me in saving her, or was she right about you; are you just like all the other men who only saw her as an object, a prize, and not the mare she truly is!

At first, I could do nothing; all strength had left me; his words only pummeled me further into the growing sense of despair.

"Ha! Pitiful," he spat, and began limping away.

As I lay there in the dirt, I watched as the mighty beast's reflection in the blade grew smaller and smaller. The truth was too much for me to bear. No, no, it couldn't be true; how could she ever love a creature like him but not me? And what was I—a coward laying in the dirt? Was this how my story was going to truly end? Clenching my eyes shut, I winced, ready to give up and die.

But then something struck me like a bolt of lightning. Mama's words.

"“I know you will,” the mare smiled softly. “My life is in your hands, Doctor.” She tilted her head, and placed the cup down on the table, without taking one sip.

Why that memory sprang into my mind at that time, I had no idea. Perhaps it was because it was the first time anyone truly ever believed in me. But with it, like the sight of her children came into view along with memories of their own words of faith in me ranged through my head. The two came to my defense, telling me I was a coward for not facing them like a man. Should I have been? They were right; I had been a coward. I was so cowardly that I let the mare I loved become even more in danger than I had initially thought. Was I going to sit there and let her, as well as all the other mares in the city, die? "No!" I cried out, and furiously grabbed my one, before stifling to my feet.

As I stood up, the weakness in my legs made me nearly fall again, only to be caught by the arm of a big red pony. Looking up, I could see Applejack and his sister standing by my side. I wasn't alone; I was never alone. And it would take all of us to save her, this time.

The monstrous Chaos Lord came to a halt, and chuckled, at the sound of cheering from the crowd.

"Well, well, congregation, Doctor, you're finally a man! This way, I know these forests like the back of my hand, I know exactly where they're heading!" He shouted before picking up in the chase.

"So he's on our side, great," Rarity smirked, but, but that's my boyfriend! Wait a minute, I'm not just going to let you attack him; why should we trust you? You stole Fluttershy!

"I love Fluttershy, and I didn't steal her; I tried to get her to go home, but she refused!" the creature demanded. "Now, are you going to help me save her or not? We can discuss all this later when Fluttershy is safe. After all, how can I be much more of a threat when I'm currently shot and am bleeding at the moment, thanks to all of you!"

Come on, let's save Fluttershy! Applejack called out as she pulled her sleeve off her shirt and made a makeshift bandage for the Chaos Lord. "After all, I trust my best friend, and she didn't exactly seem like she was trying to get away from him, so I want to hear her story first."

With a groan, I stood up, and along with the others, quickly stormed after her, only to be stopped by the monster.

"No, stop! This place is cursed with a very powerful spell. If you run, you'll only slow down. You have to walk. If we walk, we'll catch up to him in no time," he said.

Catch up but but...

Why do you think it took you guys so long to get here?" He rolled his eyes at me.

It was insane; how could I ever have trusted him? After what he did to Fluttershy. No, it couldn't be; could she truly have chosen to love him over me? A predicament that would have to wait for later. Right now, right there, and then was not the time. So, even against my better judgment, we did as my monster had said, follow his lead.