The sun had just risen, signaling the beginning of a new day for the residents of Ponyville. Everypony in town was glad to see the sun rise, more so than ever. Not out of joy of a new day but out of fear of that night. Last night was not the only night the citizens feared, two months ago two ponies had disappeared near the Everfree Forest and they have not been seen since. Since then the residents have heard strange sounds at night, not only that but pets and other animals have gone missing. What was most terrifying was that whatever animals that have been found were ripped to pieces. To keep eveypony safe, Mayor Mare had declared a curfew for the whole town. It was obvious that everypony was now afraid to leave their homes at night.
Fluttershy who lived closest to the forest was afraid for all of her animal friends so at night she had them all sleep inside her cottage which she had bored up. Applejack and the rest of her family were on edge, taking turns they watched from their home for anything strange that they might see on the farm. The only one who did not seem to be afraid was Rainbow Dash since her house was in the sky. Twilight Sparkle had placed a force field around her house and around the houses of her friends. She had also been spending her nights researching on what creature could be causing the animal attacks. She felt that it was her responsibility to find out what creature could cause so much fear, not just as Princess Celestia's protégé but also as one of the Elements of Harmony. Twilight had woken up late that morning from another late night of researching yet she was no closer to narrowing down what the culprit could be.
"Morning Twilight" Said Spike setting breakfast on the table.
"Good Morning Spike" replied Twilight.
"So have you figured out what's been eating the animals?" asked Spike nervously.
*Sigh*"... no Spike, I went through all the books on known predatory animals, and to the best of my knowledge it could be any creature in the Everfree Forest that could do the same damage that this one has. The only pattern I noticed was that the disappearances of the two ponies and the animals had occurred within only three days of each of the last two months" said Twilight.
"Well maybe you just don't have the right book?" said Spike.
"Spike we live in a library how can I not have the right book?" snapped Twilight.
"I'm sorry twilight I...I just wanted to help" said Spike.
"No I'm sorry Spike, it's just that I've been on edge since those Ponies went missing and those animal attacks... *shutter* I almost don't want to know what animal could do something like that" said Twilight.
"Don't give up Twilight I know you can figure it out, you're the smartest pony I know" said Spike.
"Thanks Spike" said Twilight with a smile.
After eating breakfast Twilight decided to follow Spike's advice and go to the book store to see if there was anything that might have the answer she was looking for. As Twilight was walking towards the bookshop she thought of the dates of the disappearances, three days for each of the last two months. Something about those dates seemed so familiar to her, but she couldn't quite place it. She was deep in thought until her concentration was broken when she heard a blood curdling scream. She rushed towards the direction of the sound and when she arrived there was a crowd of ponies that had gathered at the scene. She saw some of the ponies run away from the location with the look of horror on their faces. Twilight pushed her way through the crowd to see what the commotion was about. When she made it to the front of the crowd she saw the most horrific sight she had ever seen. They were inside an alley way, the ground and walls were painted in blood and on the ground laid what was left of a body. Its throat was ripped open and so was its belly and the organs appeared to be mostly eaten. Twilight couldn't take it anymore and ran away from the scene, that image was forever seared into her memory, and she will never forget what she saw for the rest of her life.
Spike was rearranging the bookshelf while humming a tune when the door slammed open, which almost caused him to fall off the ladder he was standing on. He was surprised to see Twilight back so soon, she could spend hours looking at different books before she found the one book she was looking for at that shop. But when he took a closer look at her, he noticed that she was not her normal lavender color instead she was pale almost like she was sick.
"Twilight ... are you o.k.?" ask Spike.
Twilight didn't answer, instead she ran towards the waste bucket and vomited inside it. After a couple of hurls she wiped her mouth off and turned to Spike.
"Spike... take a letter" said Twilight.
"But-" said Spike.
"Now!" yelled Twilight.
Spike did what he was told and grabbed a letter and quill. Twilight took a moment to gather her thoughts.
"Dear..." she began "no wait scratch that, Princess Celestia something terrible has happen in Ponyville... somepony has been killed."
"Killed!?" said a shocked Spike.
"It had to be done by some animal... before this happened I have tried to identify what it is on my own but now I need help, please I need your assistants before somepony else gets hurt!, your student Twilight Sparkle."
After writing the letter Spike burnt it with his fire sending it to the princess. The two just stood there silently. Twilight stood there shaking, of all the dangerous enemies she and her friends had faced; Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, even dragons. None of them had ever made her felt as scared as she was now. After a few minutes Spike burped out some green flame from it materialized a new letter. Twilight grabbed the letter with her magic and quickly read it.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I am glad that you have brought this tragedy to my attention, unfortunately I have other pressing matters to attend to. But I promise I will assist you in anyway I can, I will send members of the Royal Guard to help protect the residents of Ponyville. In the mean time, until my arrival, I appoint you to assist in leading the investigation. The Royal Guards have been already been instructed to follow your command. Until further notice I ask you Twilight, please be careful don't take any unnecessary risks and keep a guard with you when necessary.
Yours truly, Princess Celestia
Twilight had found herself a new motivation to continue her search after finishing reading the letter. After she grabbed her saddlebag and placed the letter inside Twilight headed towards the door.
"Wait Twilight where are you going?" asked Spike.
"To find answers!" said Twilight as she left the Library.
Just as Princess Celestia had written, members of the Royal Guard had arrived in Ponyville. She was nervous at first at the idea that they would be following her instructions, that is until she realized when saw them that almost half of them she knew from when she lived at Canterlot. This was huge relief to her, after telling them that they would patrol the town at night she dismissed them to continue her investigation. From what she had learned from her investigation was that the victim had died early that morning while it was still dark, before anypony had woken up. Since then, Twilight had spent the last few hours asking her friends and other ponies in town if they had seen or heard anything that might help find the monster responsible for that morning's attack. She was about to quit for the day until she started hearing rumors around town that there was another victim that night. Only that this one survived and was said to be at the hospital recovering. While on her way towards the hospital, Twilight ran into Applejack who was buying supplies for the farm. After telling her what she had learned Applejack decided to go with her.
When Twilight and Applejack arrived at the hospital they spoke to the doctor to see if there was any patient who had survived a vicious animal attack in the last twenty four hours. The doctor was very hesitant to reveal any private information about the patient. That was until Twilight showed him the letter she received from the princess which had the royal seal on it. He told them that there had only been one patient to come in with severe injuries from an animal attack. The doctor lead the two mares into the room where this patient was staying in. When they entered the room they saw only one patient inside. The earth pony was a young stallion laying in his bed eating his meal. He had a blue coat and a green mane and if it wasn't for the bandages around his right foreleg and torso, he would look like a completely healthy pony.
"Hey Doc came by to check up on me again?" said the stallion.
"No Swiftleg you have some visitors who wish to speak to you" said the doctor.
"Visitors?" said Swiftleg.
Both mares walked up to the stallion to introduce themselves.
"Hi um Swiftleg is it? I'm Twilight Sparkle and this is Applejack" said Twilight.
"Howdy" said Applejack.
"Hi, so what is it you want to talk to me about?" asked Swiftleg.
"It's about what happened to you last night, you know... the attack" said Twilight.
Swiftleg went silent, the look on his face told them that he still remembers what happened.
"Please, you need to tell us what happen so that we can stop it" said Twilight.
The stallion didn't reply he just sat there silently, then Applejack spoke.
"That thing that attack you is still out there, two ponies are miss'n and another dead, what if the next pony it attacks is a little foal."
"O.k. ... I'll help, *sigh* I don't know what it looked like, It moved so fast and it was dark so I couldn't see what it was. All I remember was hearing a growl and then getting knocked down by something big, It bit down on my foreleg and it slashed my chest up pretty bad" he said.
"How did you get away?" asked Twilight.
"I was lucky, it was really strong but I was able hit it in its yellow eye and it let me go, it almost ripped my leg off. Then I just ran for it, I'm not called Swiftleg for nothing." He pointed at his cutie mark it was a horse shoe with a cloud of dust over it. "But that's all I remember before I passed out."
"That's when he was brought in here, he was in critical condition and had lost a lot of blood, But I was able to patch him up, he's lucky to be alive" said the doctor.
"That's terrible are you feeling o.k.?" asked Twilight in a very sympathetic tone.
"Actually I feel great" said Switfleg.
"What?" Said Twilight and Applejack at the same time.
"Yeah I never felt stronger in my life, my wounds don't even hurt that much anymore" he said.
Then Twilight got an idea, if she could look at Swiftleg's wound, the bite marks might help identify the creature that attacked him and the others. She asked Swiftleg if she could look at his wounded foreleg and after getting the doctor's approval the bandage was removed. But they all gasped when they saw what was underneath. Although the bandages were stained with blood the wound itself other than some bruising was otherwise healed.
"That's not possible I treated this wound myself hours ago" said the doctor.
"Does this mean I can go home then?" asked Swiftleg.
"No... not yet, I think it best you stayed just for the night for observation" said the doctor.
Twilight didn't know what to think, this was their best lead and she was no closer to solving this mystery. Also how could a wound afflicted just hours ago heal so fast without the use of strong magic. Just then they were interrupted by two stallions, they were members of the Royal Guard.
"Twilight Sparkle its almost curfew, we are to escort you and your friend home" said the guard.
"Alright" said Twilight.
There was not much she could do anyways they were only following orders. When she looked out the window, she was surprised at how late it was, it was almost sundown. Just as the two were about to leave Applejack stopped and turned towards Swiftleg.
"Swiftleg what were ya do'n outta curfew last night?" asked Applejack.
Swiftleg turned red.
"Well see I... I was sneaking out to see my marefriend, you know the curfew and all" said Swiftleg with an embarrassed smile.
The doctor did confirmed that there was indeed a young mare that visited Swiftleg earlier that day. With that Twilight and Applejack went their separate ways each having a guard escorting them home. When Twilight arrived at her home she thanked the guard and went inside. As she entered the library she found Spike asleep on the counter. She picked him up with her magic and walked up the stairs to her room. As she was tucking him into his basket he woke up.
"Twilight?" said Spike.
"Yes Spike it me" replied Twilight.
"Did you, *yawn* find what you were looking for?" he asked.
"No, not yet but don't worry I'm not giving up, you just go back to sleep o.k." she answered.
"O..*yawn* k." Spike said before going back to sleep.
Twilight went back to work in her study going over all she had learned today. From what Swiftleg said the creature was large, strong, fast, and had yellow eyes. Although it was more than she had this morning it still didn't help her figure out what this beast was. Twilight looked out her window and saw the moon rise, it was bright and full, then it hit her. She grabbed her moon chart and look at yesterday's date, there was a full moon last night. She looked at the three dates when the animals disappeared last month, those days were during the full moon also. Finally she looked at the dates for the month before that, where it all started when those two ponies disappeared, again the full moon. That was it she found the pattern, all of the attacks were during the full moon. Twilight also just realized last night was just the first night of the full moon for this month, making tonight the second full moon this month. That means the creature will be out there tonight, She had to let the Royal Guards know right now. So she rushed out of the library locked the door and galloped as fast as she could for the nearest Royal Guard.
Meanwhile back at Ponyville Hospital, a nurse heard strange noises. just a few minutes ago she heard somepony screaming from down the hall, they were coming from one of the rooms. She could hear clawing and growling from inside this one room in particular. she opened the door only slightly to take a peek inside. At first the nurse didn't see anything with the room being dark. Then she notices a large mass in the room, its eyes had a yellow glow and it sounded like it was out of breath. Filled with fear the nurse decided to leave before it noticed her. She walked as quietly as she could but being distracted by fear, she accidentally knocked over a tray causing a loud clanking sound. At that moment the nurse heard a roar coming from the room where she saw the creature. The nurse galloped as fast as she could but when she turned into the next hallway she hit something.
"Whoa there you need to be more careful" said the security guard helping her back up.
"Th... th... there some kind of monster here!" said the nurse hysterically.
"Monster?" asked the security guard.
The security guard walked past the frighten nurse to take a look at the scene. The guard entered the room that was open but didn't see anything but a mess. The mattress was torn and the table tray was turned over.
Whatever was in this room must have left thought the security guard.
When the security guard turned around to leave the room, he felt a strong force knock him against the wall to the left. The guard felt pain in his chest, he saw that he was bleeding badly from the claw marks on his chest. He looked up at the thing that hit him, what he saw was a large hairy mass standing in front of him. It had yellow eyes and its sharp teeth glistened from the moonlight that entered from the window.
The nurse stood by the end of the hallway, waiting for the security guard to return. That is until she heard a horrifying scream.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGG"
The nurse was frozen with fear, she can see the security guard attempting exiting the room. However only half of the guard could be seen, he was on the floor trying to crawl out of the room as fast as he could. The nurse watch in terror with her hooves covering her mouth and tears in her eyes as the guard was dragged back into the room. "NO! NO! AAAAAAGGGGGG-" that was the last she heard from the guard's screams. The nurse hoofed it into the other hallway trying get away from the scene. Then she saw a window at the end of the hall.
Since the sun went down the Royal Guard have been patrolling the town. Each pair was assigned a different route to patrol so that all of Ponyville was covered. Two guards in particular, both unicorns, have just finish patrolling a neighborhood. After seeing nothing suspicious the two guards continued on to the next location on their route. When they arrived at Ponyville Hospital, the two unicorns using magic to light their way began to search the premises.
"So what do you think it is we're looking for?" asked one guard.
"Don't know, why you scared?" asked the other.
"What? no, just curious, I mean it'll be great if we knew what we're dealing wi-"
"HELP!!! GUARDS PLEASE HELP!" said a voice.
Both Guards turned towards the direction of the scream. The voice came from a window on the second level of the hospital. The two unicorns could see a mare dressed as a nurse waving at them from the same window.
"MISS IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG?!" yelled one of the guards.
"THE MONSTER, ITS HERE PLEASE HELP!" yelled the nurse.
"WE'RE ON OUR WAY!, PLEASE STAY CALM!" answered the guard.
"Shoot a flare, let the others know we found the creature!" said one guard to the other.
The unicorn did as he was told and used his horn to shoot a flare at the night sky. Afterwards he followed his partner who had gone in ahead of him into the building.
The nurse was relived for the moment, but then she felt something hit her from behind. She fell on her stomach and felt herself being dragged away.
"sob* NO!, NO!" screamed the nurse.
The nurse was dragged into the dark hallway her hooves scratching against the floor. All she could do was scream.
Twilight galloped until she found a pair of Royal Guards on patrol.
"Guards!" she said.
The Royal Guard, a Pegasus and a unicorn stopped and turned towards Twilight as she approached them.
"Twilight Sparkle?, what are you doing out of your home?, there is a curfew." said the unicorn.
After a few seconds to catch her breath, Twilight then spoke.
"The creature it's out there NOW!" said Twilight.
"Are you sure? What makes you so sure" asked the Pegasus.
"It's the full moon, I just learned that the creature comes out during the full moon" said Twilight.
"The full moon?" said both guards in unison.
Before Twilight could explain further the unicorn guard pointed out something in the sky.
"A flare " said the unicorn.
"The creature must have been spotted" said the Pegasus.
"Twilight Sparkle please go back home we can handle this" said the Pegasus.
The two guards rushed towards the direction of the flare, leaving Twilight where she stood. Twilight looked at the flare and recognized that was the direction where Ponyville Hospital was. She didn't know why but she couldn't just go home. So with a determined look on her face she ran off towards the flare.
All of the Royal Guard were now heading towards the flare. The first to arrive at the hospital were two pegasi who had flown there. When they landed the two saw a fellow guard, a unicorn, standing in front of the hospital entrance shaking.
"What's wrong? did you see it?" asked one of the pegasi guards.
The unicorn just stood there nodding.
"Well, what happened? and where's Spellbind" said the same Pegasus.
"Spellbind is... dead It... it...killed him" said the shaking unicorn.
The two pegasi were shocked.
"What happened?!" said the other Pegasus.
"After I shot the flare I went in, Spellbind went ahead of me, when I got there I saw a flash of light. Spellbind must of shot it with his magic, the next thing I knew Spellbind was dead" said the unicorn.
"How did you survive?" asked the Pegasus.
"I... I shot a bolt of magic at its face, then it just ran out" said the unicorn.
He pointed at the direction the creature fled. Within seconds the three guards saw another flare shot out in the sky. It was in the same direction the unicorn had pointed.
Twilight was galloping towards the hospital until she saw another flare in the sky. This one was over the town square. Then she heard a familiar voice call out to her.
"Hey Twilight what the hay is going on!."
Twilight looked up and saw Rainbow Dash flying over her.
"Rainbow Dash?! what are you doing out here!?" said Twilight.
"I could ask you the same thing!" said Rainbow Dash with a smirk.
"The guards found the creature that been terrorizing the town, I think there at the town square!" said Twilight.
"That's awesome, this I gotta see!" said Rainbow Dash.
Before Rainbow Dash could fly out, she felt something tugging her tail. She looked behind her and saw that her tail was glowing purple, Twilight was holding her still.
"Twilight what are you doing? let go" said Rainbow Dash.
"I am not letting you go by yourself, so if you're planning on going, you're coming with me!" said Twilight.
*groan* "Fine!" said Rainbow Dash.
Twilight charge her horn and the two teleported away. When the two mares reappeared they were at town square. To their shock they saw the creature just yards away from them. The creature was larger than a pony and had shaggy fur, it had a long snout with sharp teeth and its eyes were yellow. It had large claws at the end of its front legs. To Twilight, the creature almost looked liked a large wolf, but it didn't look like any wolf she had ever seen. Because it's hind legs where hoofed, almost pony like. It was surrounded by the Royal Guard and had lassos around its neck. The guards were attempting to subdue it but the beast was very strong. The creature pulled its head to the left causing the guard holding the lasso to be thrown towards the it. The creature was able to attack the guard and bit down on his throat and ripped it open. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were horrified at what they were seeing. The residents were looking out their windows to watch as the Royal Guards struggling to capture the beast.
Twilight knew this had to end now, so while the Royal Guard still had the beast tied, she charged up her horn again. She then released a bolt of magic at the creature causing it to glow purple. At the same time her horn was also glowing as she tried to hold the creature in place. The creature was resisting Twilight's spell, despite her effort to hold it still. Seeing what Twilight was doing the guards did not question it, instead the unicorn guards also began charging their horns. The beast began to rise up into the air as the levitation spell took effect. Suddenly thick metal bars began to materialize around the beast. Then in less than a second the Royal Guard had it inside a cage. At that moment Twilight fell on her knees, tired from holding the creature for what felt like forever.
"Twilight! are you o.k.?" said Rainbow Dash.
"Yes I just need rest" said Twilight.
Knowing that the creature was now lock up and eveypony was safe again put Twilight at ease. As Rainbow Dash walked her home, she looked back at the creature. The guards held their spears at it as it was snarling and striking the bars of its cage, trying to escape. She shuttered when she saw the blood from the guard it killed on its mouth. but the strangest thing was on its flank, she thought she saw what looked like a cutie mark.
It was the following morning when Twilight had received a letter from Princess Celestia telling her that she would be arriving soon at Town Hall. Twilight was on her way to town square when she ran into Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends. They had heard of what had happened last night and they wanted to know the details. As they walked towards town square Twilight and Rainbow Dash filled them in on what happened last night. When they arrived the cage was gone, the guards had moved the beast inside Town Hall to keep the residents safe.
Just as the Mane Six were about to enter a white and gold chariot had landed before them. The chariot was pulled by two armor clad Pegasi, seated on the chariot was a white Alicorn wearing a crown. Her multicolored mane and tail flowed as if a light breeze as always blowing at it. Twilight was glad to see that her teacher had arrived, especially after everything that has happened.
"Princess!" greeted Twilight with a bow as did the others "It's so good that you came."
"It's good to see you are all right my faithful student" said Celestia "I have already been told all about what has happened last night. Although you disobeyed me by taking such a great risk, I had been made aware that if it had not been for your brave actions, the Royal Guards would not have been able to capture the beast when they did, for that I am proud."
Hearing those word from the princess filled Twilight with joy. However before she was able to say anything, one of the guards had rushed over from the Town Hall building.
"Princess you have to hurry it's the monster, you have to come see" said the guard.
The princess along with the six mares followed the guard back inside the building. The cage was set at the center of the hall and was covered by a large sheet (This was to keep it from seeing). The guard grabbed the sheet with his teeth and pulled it off. To their surprise instead of a monster, the thing inside the cage was a pony. It was the same blue stallion Twilight meet at the hospital just yesterday.
"WHERE AM I?!, WHAT I'M I DOING IN THIS CAGE?!" said Swiftleg "is this blood?... WHY AM I COVERED IN BLOOD!?."
"Swiftleg?! This doesn't make sense!" said Twilight.
"Twilight do you know this stallion?" asked the princess.
"Yes Princess" said Twilight "I meet him at the hospital yesterday, he was injured by the creature. But how could he be inside this cage?. I was there, I saw the monster get caught inside this same cage."
"This can't be" said the shaken Princess "Young stallion is it true you were injured, as in bitten?"
Swiftleg was scared but still nodded.
"Twilight, You must tell me" said Celestia "was there a full moon last night?"
"Yes" said Twilight.
"Did the creature look wolf like?" asked the princess.
"Yes" said Twilight "but how did you-."
"Did it have a cutie mark?" asked the princess.
Twilight paused for a moment, she tried to remember, then it hit her "yes! it did have one, I saw it."
"Twilight, this is important, did the cutie mark look the same as this stallion's?" said the princess.
Twilight looked at Swiftleg's cutie mark and had a terrible realization "Its... exactly the same" she said.
"No this can't be" said the princess under her breath "Not again."
Twilight had never seen Celestia so shaken, it was almost as if she was afraid.
"What are you talking about? Whats going on?" pleaded Swiftleg.
Celestia walked closer to the cage and looked at Swiftleg.
"I am so sorry" she said to him with a sad face. "Guards take him as far away from Ponyville before sundown, you know what to do, the rest of you are to stay here."
"Yes Princess" said the guard.
"WHAT?!" said Swiftleg.
Twilight couldn't believe what was happening and before she knew it the cage along with Swiftleg and four Royal Guards were gone in a flash.
"Princess what's going on? Why did you have Swiftleg taken away?" asked Twilight.
The other five mares were also confused at what just happened. Celestia began to feel guilt when she saw their faces, most of all Twilight's.
*sigh* "Twilight..." Celestia said, "Swiftleg has been cursed, he has become a... lycan."
"A lycan? but that not possible their just a myth!" said Twilight.
"Until now that's what I had hoped" began Celestia "But there was a time, a long time ago when they ran rampant all across Equestria. They slaughtered countless innocents and those who survived became one of them. I tried all I could to stop the spread of the curse, but it was like a plague."
"But what about the Elements?" said Twilight.
"They didn't work, to this day I still don't understand why" said Celestia.
"Then how did you get rid of..." Twilight suddenly stopped, Celestia just stayed silent.
All six mares gasped at the realization.
"You... had them... wiped out" said Twilight.
*gasp* "But what ah'bout Swiftleg?" said Applejack "Y'all cant just..."
"I'm sorry" said Celestia remorsefully "He's already killed four ponies in one night, two of them royal guards. He's just too dangerous, it has to be done, for the sake of all Ponyville."
Fluttershy started crying, the other four mares had a look of sorrow while Twilight just stood there speechless.
Hours have passed since Twilight had spoken to Princess Celestia. She still couldn't believe what had happened to Swiftleg and to think Princess Celestia would end a pony's life. It felt wrong but deep down a part of her believed that Celestia may be right. Twilight had forgotten that there was another one of those lycans still out there. As long as the lycan that bit Swiftleg was on the loose nopony was safe. That is why a group of guards have been assigned to go into the Everfree Forest to hunt it down. Tonight was the last full moon of this month. If they did not slay it tonight they would have to wait next month for another chance.
Twilight had spent hours researching anything she could find on lycans. Perhaps maybe a cure, but just as Celestia had said, she couldn't find anything. She did learn that fire hurts them and that there are only two effective ways to kill them. A fatal wound by a silver weapon or beheading (or any other fatal blow to the head). A tear ran down her cheek when she thought of Swiftleg, there was nothing Twilight could do for him other than hope that the guards would be merciful.
No this is wrong! Twilight thought.
No matter how much logic told her that it was for the best, she knew that it was wrong. That other lycan was still a pony inside that didn't choose to be a monster. Twilight had decided that she was going to catch that lycan. She didn't care if she was disobeying the princess's orders, the ends can't always justify the means. From her notes she remembered that the first two ponies had disappeared near the Everfree Forest. Twilight knew that those two were most likely dead now, but there's nothing she could do about that. All she can do now was to go into the forest and try catch it and study it, perhaps she can do what Princess Celestia couldn't and find a cure. After Spike had fallen asleep, Twilight filled her saddlebag with sleeping potions, and rope, then she left the library for the Everfree Forest.
The Royal Guard had split into two groups, one would enter the forest to hunt down the beast and the other would patrol the town to keep the residents safe. It was getting dark as Twilight waited for an chance to sneak pass the guards that stood near the entrance of the forest. Annoyed that the two guards had not left, she used her magic to throw a rock over them into some bushes.
"What was that?" said one of the guards.
"Don't know, we should probably check it out" said the other.
When the two guards went towards where the rock landed, Twilight made her way into the forest. She was in but that was just the beginning, she still had to find the lycan, capture it, take it to a safe place so nopony can get hurt and not get killed doing it. It was obvious that this was not going to be easy. She had already learned how to summon a cage just like the guards did when they caught Swiftleg last night. So hopefully that can hold it until she can find a good place to hide it, at least until sun raised when it turned back into a pony. Twilight wasn't searching for very long when she heard a twig snap behind her. She quickly turned around and to her amazement it was all five of her friends.
"Ha you shoulda seen the look on your face just now" giggled Pinkie Pie.
"What are you girls doing here?" asked Twilight in a whisper.
"Where here because ah you" said Applejack "we all knew you were gonna pull something like this."
"What were you thinking Twilight" said Rarity.
"Yeah we're not going to let you catch that lycan alone and hog all the glory" said Rainbow Dash.
"But it's too dangerous" said Twilight.
"Not for you apparently" said Rainbow Dash "You may have helped the royal guards last night but you barely held your own."
"Face it sugar cube, you're better off with us helping Y'a then Y'a are alone" said Applejack.
Twilight didn't want to admit it but they were right. Then she remembered that they had faced many dangerous enemies together before. She had to believe as long as they work together this plan would work.
"All right fine, but how did you girls get passed the guards?" asked Twilight.
"We all hid out in Fluttershy's cottage until night fall, although it was a bit tricky we were able to sneak pass the guards" said Rainbow Dash.
After Twilight went over her plan to the other five they were ready to continue their mission. The others were told to stay close together. Twilight had figured that since most of the victims were alone when they were attacked, they would be safer as a group. However they still needed to be careful, as Twilight saw last night a lycan can be more dangerous when its cornered. That is why they needed to use the sleeping potions as soon as possible.
The Mane Six had searched for more than an hour now and they haven't seen or heard anything. It was dark the only light came from both Twilight and Rarity's horns as they lighted the way. It was quiet, too quiet, as if all the other animals had been scared off. Fluttershy was shaking with fear as she looked from one direction to the other.
*GASP* "Oh no!" said Rarity.
"SSSHHH!" they all whispered.
"But I stepped in mud" Rarity said in a whiny tone.
She held out her hoof to show them, with her light Twilight noticed something strange about that mud. She took a closer look at it and gasped.
"Rarity that's not mud,... its blood" said Twilight.
Rarity was horrified and was frantically trying to clean her hoof. Twilight looked at the blood puddle and followed it into some bushes. She went pale as she saw a dead stallion laying on the ground. He was a unicorn and his throat was ripped open and his armor, which was the same as the royal guard's was stained in blood. He must have gotten separated from the group. Fluttershy began to hyperventilate out of fear and tried to fly away when she saw the body. That was until Rainbow Dash caught a hold of her.
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO! PLEASE I DON'T WHAT TO BE HERE!" said Fluttershy with tears in eyes.
"Fluttershy we need you and you need to be quiet" whispered Rainbow Dash.
"But I'm scared, I want to go home" said Fluttershy.
"Were all scared Fluttershy, but we need to stay together" said Rainbow Dash.
After a moment Fluttershy was able to calm down and the six mares continued on. Twilight searched around the body to see if she could find any tracks. When she did they began following them. Applejack picked up the silver tipped spear that was laying a few feet away from the died guard and took it with her. The spear looked like it was never used indicating that the guard was taken by surprise. Although Twilight wanted it caught live, Applejack decided that if necessary she will kill it to protect her friends. After about 15 minutes the tracks ended and Twilight was trying to think of a new plan.
"What was that?" whispered Rarity.
Fluttershy flinched and Applejack raised her new spear.
"What's wrong?" asked Twilight.
"I thought I heard something" said Rarity pointing at where the noise came from.
The six mares heard another sound from the same direction. They all got ready for what was coming both Twilight and Rarity charged their horns for an attack, Applejack with the spear, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had the sleeping potions and rope. The bushes rustled louder and louder, getting closer until it came out of the bushes. The Mane Six were ready to fight until they saw what emerged from the bushes was not the lycan, but another royal guard, a pegasus.
"Twilight Sparkle?" asked the guard "what are you and your friends doing here? You're supposed to be indoors."
"We came to help you catch that lycan" said Twilight.
"I'm sorry Twilight but we've been ordered to kill it not capture it, we appreciated your help before so far but this is different, already a couple of our own have gotten separated and are missing" said the guard.
Then he noticed the spear Applejack was holding.
"Where did you get that?" asked the guard pointing to the spear.
They hesitated for a second, then Twilight spoke.
"we found it near one of your missing guards... he was dead" said Twilight in a sad tone.
"Dead?!... no" said the guard "that's it you six are not staying in this forest any longer."
"But sir I know we can capture the lycan" pleaded Twilight.
"Yeah, you can't just make us leave" snapped Rainbow Dash.
"I don't care if I Have to drag all six of you out of here, I'm getting you all out of here before the lycan comes ba-"
*ROAR*
In a blink of an eye the guard was gone as the lycan attacked him in front of the six mares. Both Rarity and Fluttershy screamed at the sight of the beast. The creature ignored the screaming mares as it continued to maul the guard. Twilight was stunned at first, but then she remembered what she was here for.
"Now girls!" yelled Twilight.
Rarity and Fluttershy stopped screaming and along with the others were ready to attack. Both Twilight and Rarity charged their horns and casted stun spells on the Lycan. In seconds the beast was glowing as it was held in place. Applejack, Pinkie pie and Rainbow Dash used their lassos to wrap the lycan up. However the lycan was resisting the spell making Twilight and Rarity struggle maintaining the spell. Before Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie could throw the sleeping potion the lycan broke the spell, using its strength it pulled the lasso Rainbow Dash was holding causing her to crash into Rarity. The lycan was within seconds of attacking both Rarity and Rainbow Dash until it felt an agonizing pain at it right side. Applejack had just stabbed it with the silver tipped spear. It roared in agony and using its hoofed hind legs to buck Applejack who was standing behind it. The wound was not fatal and it was able to pull out the spear with its claw. Applejack was hit hard, she landed several feet away and was barely able to stand back up. The lycan was charging at Applejack until Fluttershy got in its way and gave it "The Stare". The lycan stopped its tracks.
"THAT IS ENOUGH! YOU WILL NOT HURT ANY OF MY FRIENDS, IS THAT CLEAR!!" shouted fluttershy.
The lycan at first felt a chill when it looked into her angry eyes. But instead of backing down it glared back at her with its yellow eyes bearing it's sharp fangs. Fluttershy intensified her stare.
"GIVE UP NOW!" shouted Fluttershy.
Instead of obeying, the lycan went for the attack, Fluttershy was about be slaughtered but at the last second the lycan was hit by several bolts of magic. Twilight had shot the creature multiple times and when the lycan turned its attention on her, she knew it was pissed.
Twilight ran for her life as the lycan chased after her, at least it was focused on me instead of my friends she thought as she ran. She ran as fast as she could through the forest, Twilight could still hear the lycan behind her. She didn't dare look back, she ran until she stopped at the side of a cliff. Twilight turned around and saw the lycan catching up to her. She stood her ground as it came closer but Twilight didn't move. The lycan leaped towards her ready to rip her apart, but at the last second Twilight teleported out of its way. The Lycan crashed head first into the side of the rock wall and fell to the ground, it wasn't moving. Twilight was breathing hard, she took a moment to catch her breath. She was so glad that it was over, with the lycan unconscious all she needed to do was summon the cage to put the beast in. Then out of nowhere Twilight felt a great force fall on her, she was pinned to the ground by something heavy, Twilight then screamed in pain as she felt something bite down on her shoulder piercing her flesh.
The other five mares were running as fast as they could, trying to catch up with Twilight who was alone with the beast. When they heard Twilight screaming they galloped faster to save her, But unfortunately they were too late. It was the most horrible sight of their lives, the lycan was on top of Twilight biting down on her. Rainbow Dash filled with rage flew at the lycan at high speed, the lycan let go of Twilight when at the corner of its eye, it noticed something coming right at it. Rainbow Dash rammed the lycan off of Twilight causing it to hit the side of the rock wall again. Applejack had recovered the silver tipped spear and when she saw that the lycan was dazed she had idea.
"Pinkie Pie bring out your party cannon!" shouted Applejack.
Pinkie did as she was told and pulled out her cannon then Applejack rammed the spear inside it and took aim. The lycan was about to retaliate until it heard the sound of a canon going off. The beast was knocked off its feet and when the confetti settled the five mares saw the spear sticking out of the lycan's chest, it had pierced its heart killing it instantly. As the blood pooled around it lifeless body, the five mares went to help their injured friend. Twilight was bleeding badly but alive. The last thing Twilight saw before blacking out was all her friends being at her side and although they were crying she felt glad that they weren't hurt.
Epilogue
News had spread that the monster was gone and it had been almost two months since that night at the Everfree Forest. After she had blacked out Applejack had Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy take Twilight back to her barn as fast as they could. Rarity then used her magic to send a flare for the guards. When the remaining guards arrived Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity told them what had happened, remembering Swiftleg's fate, together they choose to protect their friend by omitting that Twilight was ever in the forest that night. Nopony would ever know what happen to Twilight, not even Princess Celestia. That night the Royal Guards recovered the bodies of those that were killed by the lycan. The lycan's body was recovered but by then it had turned back into an earth pony, it was a pink mare with a blue mane, nopony in town recognized her. It was written on the official recorded that there were a total of twelve victims, including Swiftleg and the unknown mare so as to avoid spreading fear and paranoia. Since then everything seemed to returned back to normal for the residents of Ponyville.
It was as if it was all a bad dream, but for one lavender unicorn it was not over. Just like Swiftleg she became stronger and her wounds healed remarkably fast. She also found that her senses were far more sharper then they have ever been. However the worst change was that every now and then she would crave meat. It was almost dark and Twilight had just finished going over her check list for the third time when she finally put it away. Spike was fast asleep and with the curfew lifted Twilight was able to leave her home without suspicion. When she arrived outside of Fluttershy's cottage she saw that all her friends had gathered there also. Together they entered the Everfree Forest, they reached their destination which was a cave deep in the forest. Inside the cave was a large cage with thick metal bars.
Twilight hugged each of her friends and went inside. Applejack set each of the locks on the door and Rarity used a spell Twilight taught her to create a force field around the cave for the night. They have taken every precaution just as they had last month and so far Twilight hasn't been able to escape. Being a unicorn, she was still able to use magic but so far she hasn't used it to break free. Perhaps her other self hasn't figured out its capable of using magic yet. Fortunately Rarity is currently learning how to create a spell to make the cage teleportation proof. Twilight was glad that she has the support of all her friends. They all promised that they would protect her and also the residents of Ponyville. However as the sun went down and tonight being this month's first full moon. Twilight couldn't help but wonder who would protect them from her.
The End
