Marehunt: The Ghost Warrior

by Dexidus

Rating: mature
Tags: Crossover, Human, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Original Character
Length: 5401

The Everfree Forest. An inhospitable place. A dark, gloomy wasteland. The perfect hunting grounds.

[This story takes place after ending #1 of A Visitor From Beyond]
In the wake of their best friend's death, the Mane Six find themselves face to face with a newcomer. One from another world, another universe, another dimension. One who looks just like their recently deceased friend. One armed with stealth armor and a sniper rifle...

...He isn't exactly the friendly type.

Published 2012-11-18 11:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-18 11:40:02 UTC

The Hunt

Marehunt: The Ghost Warrior

By Dexidus

The moon's glow cast it's light down on the leaves of the trees in the Everfree Forest, patches of light dotting the cold dirt. An ominous gloom seemed to reach out and grab you at every turn. The slightest twitch would make anypony jump in surprise and think someone - or something - was following them. The dangerous predators that call this place home would no sooner sit down for tea with you than they would rip you limb form limb. The point is, you don't want to be here.

"Twilight, why are we here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Because, Rainbow," the lavender pony answered, "I think a relaxing walk in the forest is just what we need after... well... you know..."

Dash rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say..."

What Twilight was talking about was none other than their new human friend Ben being killed right in front of their eyes. Celestia had found out he was a vampire and sought to end his life. The tragedy left them all in a deep depression. That was a week ago, and now Twilight was trying to cheer everybody up with a nice moonlit walk in the forest. Some would question the tranquility of a moonlit walk in the Everfree Forest, however, with its gloom and doom. Nevertheless, the lavender unicorn insisted that all her friends come along anyway.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash and the rest of the Mane Six continued walking down the path. Everyone had an uneasy feeling about being in the Everfree Forest at night. Even so, the rest of the group realized Twilight was right - a nice walk in the forest was pretty relaxing, if by 'relaxing' you mean 'not depressing.' As they trekked on, the uneasy feeling grew, and some were getting worried. "Twi," Applejack said, "I think we oughta turn back now. I got this itch that somethin's out there."

Twilight giggled. "Oh, Applejack. Stop being so worried. I'm sure it's fine. Besides, if there is something out there, I'm confident we can handle it."

Applejack nodded and they went on. After a while, Applejack spotted something in the distance, something she'd never seen before - nothing. "Twilight, you see that? Right up there. You see it?"

Twilight sighed and looked around in front of her. "No, Applejack. I don't see anything." She responded.

"It's right up there. Look." The orange pony pointed out in front of them with a hoof, right square in the middle of the path.

Twilight sighed. "Applejack, you need to stop being so paranoid. There's nothing ther-- wait... what's that?"

The two looked forward at the shimmering air about ten feet away. As they grew closer, the shimmering air grew taller. Then, a small electric sound filled the air as the shimmering air revealed a figure. The figure was wearing a black skin-tight suit with an orange full-face visor. Wires ran across its body and were held to the suit by orange tape. The wires were all connected by three black squares - one on the chest and two on the hands. What drew most of their attention, however, was that fact that he was a human. "B... Ben? Is that you?" Twilight asked, amazed by what she had just seen.

"Yes. I'm Ben." The human said. "But I'm not the Ben you knew, oh no. I am someone entirely different, yet the exact same. You will find out in due time that I also lack all of the good intentions that the Ben you knew had."

"Wait... What?" Dash said with an aggressive tone. She trotted up to the man and poked him with her hoof. "What do you mean, 'entirely different, yet the exact same?' You aren't making any sense!"

"That's not important." Ben answered. He pulled a silver-plated .44 Magnum from his side, spun the cylinder, and placed the barrel square on Dash's forehead. "The point is, the hunt is about to begin."

Dash quivered slightly, feeling nervous. The rest looked confused. "What do you mean by that?" Rarity asked, rubbing her chin with a hoof.

"What do you think it means?" Ben asked in a louder tone. "It means I'm going to kill you all!"

The six ponies gasped in shock. Ben pulled the hammer on his revolver back, and Dash was trembling in fear. "Don't you worry, though," Ben added in a cheery voice, "I'm not going to kill you right now. Where's the fun in that? I'm going to give you a sporting chance. Oh, and before you think about it, don't try running. I surrounded your escape with mines. Now, I'll give you some other pieces of advice before we begin."

Ben pushed the hammer on his revolver back into position and holstered it. He then grabbed a silenced sniper rifle slung over his shoulder. "See this?" He asked, his question aimed at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. "If you try to fly away, I'll use this to riddle you full of holes. Don't think I won't." He then pointed at Twilight and Rarity. "As for you. I know for a fact you two won't try to teleport away, because if you do, I'll kill the rest of you on the spot. Nobody likes friends who aren't loyal. Now that that's all settled, let's begin. Happy hunting." With that, he crouched down, and he was once again shrouded in invisibility.

The six ponies looked at each other and tried to think of a plan. "Girls, what do we do?" Twilight asked.

"I think we should get outta here!" Applejack suggested.

"We can't darling. He set landmines." Rarity replied.

"And you believed him? I think he's just trying to scare us. C'mon, girls. Let's go."

With that, Applejack started walking away on the path they came from. "Applejack, wait!" Dash cried out.

Applejack ignored her and kept walking. The rest of the ponies looked worried, but Applejack kept her composure. After a few more steps, one of her hind legs landed in a soft patch of earth and she started to hear beeping. "Oh, horseapples." She said in disgust. After a few seconds, the ground beneath her exploded and she was sent flying through the air.

"Applejack!" The others shouted in unison as they ran after her. Applejack landed about seven feet from the blast and blood rained down around the area where the mine exploded.

As the other five ponies approached, they let out another scream as they saw that Applejack had been blown in half. she lay there, motionless, eyes closed. They feared for the worst. "Applejack, are you okay?" Twilight asked. "Applejack, answer me!"

The farm pony slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the five ponies surrounding her. Blood was gushing out of what once was her lower body. "T...Twilight... I guess he was right..." She said in a low voice.

"Applejack, we need to get you to safety!" Twilight added.

"No!" Applejack abruptly said as she reached up and pulled Twilight closer with her remaining hooves. "You need to get out of here now! It's too late for me. I don't want you all to... to die here, too... agh, the pain..."

Twilight looked back at her friends, who shared the same worried face as hers. Looking back down at Applejack, she asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes... Now go!" She released her grip on Twilight and laid back down, blood still coming out of her.

The others slowly backed away, then turned around and started walking. Rainbow Dash looked back one last time, tears welling up in her eyes. Applejack's gaze met hers as she too began to weep. Once the five ponies were out of sight, Applejack looked back down at her severed abdomen. What she didn't expect to see was Ben kneeling there. "I have plans for you..."

The remaining five ponies kept walking, none saying a word. They fought to hold back any emotion resulting from Applejack's demise. If they were to show any emotion, it would slow them down and leave them vulnerable to attack. They all knew that, but nopony knew if the others knew. They wanted to say something, but feared that if they spoke up something awful would happen to another one of them. So they kept walking, silent and emotionless. Finally, Twilight could hold it in no longer. "Alright, everypony. We need a game plan if we're going to get out of here alive."

"What did you have in mind, dear?" Rarity asked.

"Well, Rairty," The lavender mare responded, "I think we should... well, we should... we should... Oh, forget it! All this tension! I can't think straight!"

"Twilight, darling, calm down. Now, take deep breaths. You're right. We need to think of something." Rarity scanned over the group, who all had nothing to say. "Well? I don't see any of you coming up with anything."

Fluttershy ran her hoof through her mane, as if ashamed. "Well, maybe we could... um..." She started to say before looking down at the ground in shame.

Twilight perked up. "Oh! I know! we could-- Agh!"

Twilight's speech was interrupted as a bullet flew into her midsection, spurting blood onto Rainbow Dash's wing. The five let out a scream and ran away in a panic. After a while, they stopped to catch their breath. Twilight looked at the bullet wound and cringed in pain as blood continued to periodically spurt out of it. Luckily, when the bullet entered it didn't pierce any vital organs. Unluckily, nobody knew how to tend a wound. Dash looked at her now blood-covered wing and frowned.

"Twilight, dear, we need to patch up that wound." Rarity said.

"No, we can't. It'll slow us down. Besides, nobody here knows how." Twilight answered diligently.

"Are you sure? It could get infected. You could lose a lot of blood, then you'd get delirious, and then you'd pass out, and then we'd have to carry you, and that would slow us down, and--"

Twilight shoved a hoof into Rarity's mouth, cutting off her rant. "I'm fine, Rarity. Let's keep moving."

Rarity nodded, a concerned look on her face, and they kept walking. By now nobody knew which way to go. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy couldn't fly up and look for a way out or else they'd get shot. Twilight's wound occasionally spurted some blood onto whoever she was standing next to, which was usually Rainbow Dash. With nobody that knew where to go or knew how to tend a wound, they were basically screwed. After a while, drowsiness started to take its toll on the five ponies. "Twilight, can we stop to rest? I'm getting tired." Pinkie Pie asked.

"No, Pinkie. We need to *yawn* keep moving. Ben could be waiting for us to stop so he can pick one of us off again."

"Okie-dokie-lokie, but that dart in Rarity's flank doesn't look too good."

Rarity perked up at what the pink pony said and looked at her rump. Just as Pinkie Pie said, there was a dart in it. She used her magic to pull it out, cringing as she did so, and examined it. It was mostly coated in her blood, with small traces of a green liquid. "Well this certainly doesn't look good. I wonder what this is all about."

Twilight shrugged. "Who knows? You feel any different?" Rarity shook her head. "Okay then. Let's keep going."

The group did just that, and went on their way through the forest. Rarity thought nothing of the dart at first, but as time went by, and the poison it was coated with began to take effect, the white unicorn's behavior began to change. First was the occasional twitch, then came chills. As time went by, she began to have sudden outbursts, laughed at what seemed to be nothing, and was seeing and hearing things that weren't there. The others quickly came to a conclusion - Rarity had lost it. "Eh, Rarity?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking worried. "Maybe you should stop to rest for a while..."

Rarity came up close to her, smiling creepily, eyes dilated. "Now why would I do that, darling? I feel great! Never better! Oh, my, it's soooooo cold. Anypony have a blanket? Nevermind, I feel fine now. Hahahahahahahaha!"

Dash backed away slowly, a nervous look on her face. Rarity fell to the floor and started twitching and laughing. She looked up at the sky, occasionally twitching her left eye. Drool ran down the side of her mouth, and she remained laying there, motionless except for the occasional twitch. The others shook their heads in pity and walked away, leaving Rarity laying there.

The moon shone down on the four remaining ponies as they trekked through the forest. Twilight's wound still oozed blood every now and then, and Dash's wing was by now coated with it. Fluttershy remained silent, and Pinkie Pie was still as optimistic as ever, ironically. Twilight glanced over at Fluttershy and noticed her... well... shyness, and felt worried. "Fluttershy, you okay?" She asked.

The yellow pegasus looked up slowly at Twilight and sighed. "I'm, um... I'm fine, I guess..."

Twilight wasn't satisfied with that answer. "No you're not. Now tell me, what's wrong?"

"Umm... nothing... I'm fine, really..."

"Just tell me, Fluttershy."

"I said I'm fine..."

"No you're not. You've barely said anything this whole time. Now tell me."

"Fine, I'll tell you... it's just that-- Agh!"

Fluttershy's speech was interrupted as she was struck with an arrow. The arrow pierced her wing, went through her body and pierced the other wing as it stuck out the other side. The four ponies let out a scream of terror, and Fluttershy tried to unfold her wings to no avail. They were - literally - stuck to her sides. Blood oozed out of of the entry and exit wounds, and the yellow pegasus cringed when she looked at it.

"Flutters, you okay?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"I... I..." Was the only thing she could say before another arrow pierced her abdomen and she fell to the ground. The other three let out another shriek and ran to her side. Fluttershy looked up at them and sighed. "Fluttershy, you gonna be--"

"N... No... No, I'm not... Twilight, you need to... to go..." Fluttershy responded weakly before coughing.

"But Fluttershy--"

"I said go!" Her voice rose. "Leave me... I'm in no... condition to go anywhere... ack... Just go..."

The others looked about themselves, unsure of what to do. Blood continued to seep out of Fluttershy's arrow wounds. Finally, Twilight sighed and turned around, walking away slowly. The others looked at her, then back at Fluttershy, and then followed Twilight. As Fluttershy faded from view, an uneasy feeling settled on everypony. Dash, Twilight and Pinkie didn't say a word for quite some time, only focusing on the road ahead. Each of them wondered who would be next, but nothing happened. Even so, they feared that as soon as they slowed down to decide what to do next, Ben would strike again. The silence was deafening, and the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Then, as if out of nowhere, Ben appeared seemingly out of thin air in front of them. This time, he had a sword sheathed at his side. "Congratulations," he said. "You made it to the halfway point. Three down, three to go, eh? Heh, heh. Gee, that bullet wound doesn't look too good, Twilight. You better get that checked out."

Rainbow Dash's expression suddenly turned aggressive. "You think that would can do all those horrible things to our friends and then just appear out of nowhere and strike up a conversation like nothing even happened? I've had enough! Time for you to pay for what you've done!"

The rainbow-maned pegasus unfolded her wings and darted at Ben as fast as she could. Ben just stood there, hands folded behind his back. Right as she neared him, Ben unsheathed his sword, used his free hand to grab Rainbow Dash's shoulder and stop her cold, and thrust the stainless steel blade through her torso. Blood splattered in the general area behind her, and after a few moments Ben pulled the blade out and sheathed it. Dash fell to the ground, clutching her chest wound with her forehooves and quivering as blood pooled up around her. Twilight and Pinkie ran off in a hurry, and Ben looked down at the wounded pegasus, shaking his head. "What a shame."

Twilight and Pinkie eventually slowed to a walk, catching their breath. The bright white moon continued to shine its light down on the forest, making shadows on the ground. Being the last two alive, neither of them knew what to do. Seeing Dash laying there, stabbed by Ben's sword, was just as horrifying as the rest of the ponies' deaths. "Twilight," Pinkie Pie finally said, "Maybe we should just get some sleep. I'm getting reeeeeeeeeeally tired, you know."

"Pinkie, are you crazy?!" Twilight responded. "Actually, don't answer that. Still, that's just what he wants. As soon as *yawn* we doze off he'll slit our throats or something. We can't take that risk."

The pink pony looked down in shame, then perked up again. "Ooh! I know! We could climb a tree and sleep in it!"

Without hesitation, Pinkie darted around the immediate area in search of an adequate sleeping tree. After finding one, she stood up and placed her forehooves on it and smiled. "Twilight! I found a tree we could use! Come on, let's g-- Agh!"

Pinkie's gleeful expression suddenly turned sour as a finely crafted spear pierced her abdomen and pinned her to the tree. Twilight gasped in terror and ran over to her. "Pinkie, are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, Twilight!" She said, smiling suddenly. "I'm just fine!" She looked down at the blood trickling down her body. "Oh, wait, no I'm not. Seems I was hit with a spear. Well, that sucks. I think you should go."

"But Pinkie--"

"Just go, Twilight. There's nothing you can really do now."

Twilight nodded slowly, frowning, and walked away.

She was now alone. Everybody but her had perished - well, except for Rarity. She kind of just fell over and started twitching - and she was all by herself. The blood loss from her wound was taking its toll and Twilight began to feel woozy. She lost track of where she was going before long. The whole forest seemed to spin. She occasionally tripped over a hoof, or bumped into a tree. It wouldn't be long. Twilight knew her time was limited. Ben could kill her in about thirty different ways right now. She hoped for the best but expected the worst.

Then, by some cruel twist of fate, she saw Applejack in the distance. Could it really be her? Twilight could've swore she'd last seen Applejack laying on the ground, blown in half. As she approached, however, her worst fears came to present themselves. The orange earth pony was nailed to a tree, the nails drove through her hooves and blood trickled down them. But the most horrifying sight of all was the fact that her innards were hanging out, flies flying around them, blood dripping onto the ground below in rhythmic succession. "Applejack, can you hear me? Applejack!" Twilight said in a loud tone, seemingly in vain.

Applejack looked up slowly and moaned in pain. "T... Twi... light? H...elp... me... please..." Was all she could say.

Tears welled up in Twilight's eyes as she continued to gaze at her. After a few moments she ran away, holding back tears. As she ran down a mysterious path, she soon found that her other friends had suffered the same fate. Fluttershy was pinned to a tree with arrows, Rainbow Dash with swords, and Pinkie Pie with spears. They all looked near death, asking for Twilight to deliver the final blow. She never could bring herself to do it, though. They were her friends, and she could never kill her friends. Rarity, though, wasn't really dying per se, but she was instead strung up to a tree, wearing a straight jacket, twitching and drooling. Either way, Twilight was unsure of what to do next, so she kept running into the uncharted forest. All of this psychological trauma, combined with the blood loss from her bullet wound and fatigue, eventually caused her to fall over on the ground gasping for air.

She noticed something shimmering in the air near her, and knew who it must be. Just as she had thought, Ben appeared near her. "So, the last domino finally falls, eh?" Ben asked. "It's a shame that you had to see all your friends like that. Oh wait, no it's not! I intended it to be that way! Ha!"

Twilight looked up at him, distraught. "I... I suppose so. So... what are you going to do to me?"

Ben rubbed his chin for a minute, thinking of what to do next. He then realized he knew exactly what to do. "I'm going to do exactly what I read in a book once. I'm gonna kill you slow, maybe harvest your organs or something. Make you suffer."

Twilight was taken aback by what Ben had just said. "You're gonna... what?"

"You heard me. Now, before we get down to business, there's something I've been curious about."

With that, he pressed a button on the side of his helm and his orange visor retracted. The face it revealed bore a striking - almost frighteningly so - resemblance to their now deceased friend Ben. The two even shared a name, but that's kind of obvious by now. What surprised Twilight more was what he did next. Ben reached one hand under her head and pulled her in for a kiss. It lasted about seven seconds, with an awkward silence so thick you could cut it with a knife. Twilight didn't know what to do or what to say, so she just let it happen. After it was over, Ben laid her back on the ground, smiling. Twilight laid there, blushing. "Well... That was pretty good. What do you think?"

Twilight snapped out of it, shaking her head back and forth. "I... I... I don't know what to say..."

"Well, now that that's over, let's get down to business."

Ben reached for his side and revealed a stainless steel combat knife with a serrated edge on the reverse side. The grip was composed of a shiny red synthetic material. Twilight could see her own terrified face in the knife's reflection as Ben looked it over. After he was finished looking it over, he lowered it and looked down at Twilight. "I'll be honest with you: this is going to get real painful real fast. Now... prepare for the storm."

With that, he reached down to Twilight's flank with his free hand and gave it a scratch. He then lowered the knife to her cutie mark and lined it up. With a firm, slow swipe, he sliced into the skin and cut her cutie mark off. Twilight screamed in pain. Ben held up the severed skin for the purple unicorn to see. He then set it down on a conveniently placed metal tray and sliced the cutie mark on the opposite side off as well. Both of them lay on the tray, a small blood puddle forming around them.

Twilight's thighs were burning as she waited with fear for what Ben would do next. Ben flipped the knife around in his hand so that the serrated edge was in front. He positioned the knife on her leg and started sawing through her flesh. Twilight grit her teeth in pain and tried to hold back a scream. She watched in agony as the knife cut through her. After a while, the knife came out and Ben held up a severed piece of Twilight's flesh for her to see. It was mortifying to look at it, her purple fur stained red with the blood dripping from it. What caught her off guard was when Ben placed the piece of flesh in his mouth and began to chew it.

Ben swallowed the flesh after a few seconds and looked back at Twilight, her jaw gaping open in surprise. "It was pretty good, I won't lie." He said. "Must be hard watching me do that, though."

He then cut another piece of flesh from Twilight's leg and held it up for her to see. He looked over at her and asked, "Want to try it?"

Twilight was at a loss for words as Ben looked at her with a simple smile. She didn't know what to say. He has just offered her a piece of her own flesh. Ben was getting impatient, so he shrugged and stuffed the piece of meat into Twilight's mouth. Twilight stared back at him, one cheek bulging from the flesh in her mouth, blood trickling down the side of her mouth. After a few awkward moments, she began to chew slowly, shivering, then swallowed it. She started breathing slowly, tears trickling from her eyes.

Ben smiled. "So, how was it?" He asked.

Twilight opened her mouth, but the words refused to exit. After a few seconds, she spoke. "It was... It... was... weird..."

"Close enough. Now, let's bring it up a notch."

He flipped the knife back around and placed it on Twilight's chest. He smiled, she frowned, and he began to pull the knife down her midsection towards her marehood. The purple unicorn cringed as her skin was cut. Once he finished, he set the knife down and dug his fingers into the openings of the skin, and with one quick pull, he pulled her skin open to reveal her internal organs. Twilight let out another scream of agony as she looked down at her newly opened body. Tears continued to trickle down her face as Ben picked his knife back up. "A beautiful sight," he said. "The anatomy of a pony is a lot like that of a human's. Anyway, let's have a look, no?"

Ben set the knife down and reached his hands into Twilight's innards, looking around. The lavender mare could only watch in horror as Ben searched through her internal organs. However, she also began to feel woozy. The blood loss and intense pain were causing her to fade. Ben noticed this, and swiftly procured a syringe from who knows where and deftly jabbed it into her arm. He pushed the plunger down with his thumb and Twilight's eyes darted open, her breathing and heart rate increasing. "That ought to keep you awake for a bit," Ben said, smiling, as he removed the syringe. "It's a combination of Med-X and Psycho I concocted in my spare time. I don't want you dying on me yet."

Twilight looked on as Ben continued to search around in her entrails. Then, out of nowhere, a white dove appears nestled in Twilight's intestines, looking around and occasionally pecking at her small intestine. The two are equally intrigued and confused by the bird's presence. They looked at each other, then down at the blood-stained dove, then back at each other. "That's certainly... very interesting..." Was all Twilight could say before the sharp pain of Ben rummaging around inside her continued.

Eventually, the lavender unicorn decided to ask something before her eventual demise. "Eh... Ben?"

Ben looked up. "Yeah?"

"You said you got this idea from a book you read, right?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Well, would you mind telling me what book it is that gave you this idea?"

"Nah, I'm not really in the mood right now... Wait... God damnit, you passed the speech check. *sigh* Fine..."

Ben cleared his throat before proceeding to tell his tale. "Okay, so this book is about two guys. One of em's named Pink, the other's name is Rainbow. Yeah, I know. Stupid names, right? Anyway, Pink ends up kidnapping Rainbow and takes him to his basement. Rainbow finds out the Pink has brutally murdered and harvested his other friends, and he was next. Slowly, Pink began to, well, "dissect" Rainbow, if you want to call it that. Pretty gruesome stuff, if you ask me. Pink ends up killing Rainbow, and the end of the book says something about baked goods. I can't remember. Anyway, I think it's time to end things."

With that, Ben picked up his now bloodied knife and placed the serrated edge gently on Twilight's breastbone. Twilight knew what was going to happen but couldn't do a thing about it. Too weakened and in shock to use magic, she just looked up at him, whimpering. Without hesitation, Ben proceeded to start sawing through Twilight's ribcage. The lavender mare let out a cry of pain with each sawing motion, tears running down her face, mucus running down her nose, and a warm, wet feeling running down her leg. Each agonizing second felt like hours. After about 15 seconds of this, Ben stopped sawing and set his knife down. Twilight hesitated to look up at him, fearing what he'd do next. To her surprise, she found Ben wiping his leg, his face looking disgusted. "God damnit, Twilight, you pissed all over my leg!"

Twilight couldn't help but giggle, but she instantly regretted it as Ben reached for her now severed ribcage, placing his hands between the two halves and gripping both sides. With all his might, he pulled open Twilight's ribcage in one quick motion. Twilight let out a weak cry of pain, her life force nearly gone by now. With her last bit of strength, she lifted her head to look into her chest cavity. What she found was none other than her own beating heart, now exposed and ripe for the stabbing. Twilight's vision blackened as her head fell back onto the cold Earth. The last thing she saw was the moon's glow shining down on her. Then she was gone...

...Or was she?

Twilight slowly opened her eyes to find the warm glow of fluorescent light shining on her. Quickly realizing she was indeed still alive for some unexplainable reason, she tried to lift herself up, but was too weak to do so. She turned her head to examine the room. She was lying in a rather soft bed in what seemed to be a hospital room. Upon further examination of her body, she found stitches running up the length of her chest and an IV in her hoof. Her cutie marks had also been stitched on. Then, she heard something. "Morning, sleepyhead."

Twilight gasped and looked to the base of her bed to find Ben, dressed in doctor's attire, smiling back at her. "B... Ben? Wha... What am I doing here? Am I dead?"

Ben chuckled. "Of course not, silly... Well, you would be, if I didn't pass the Medicine skill check to get you fixed up. Fortunately, you'll be just fine. You'll just need some rest. Now, why don't you take a look to your left? I think you'll find something interesting."

Twilight did just that and looked to her right. To her surprise, she saw her five friends, unconscious, laying in beds next to her. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had various bandaging on their bodies, and Rarity was hooked up to a special IV labeled "Detox." Applejack's lower body was replaced with bandaging. "My word..." Twilight managed to get out. "But... Why would you do all of this? I thought you were going to kill us. Also, where are we?"

"Well, I changed my mind," Ben responded. "I realized that if I killed all of you then there would be nopony else to hunt down."

"What about the rest of Ponyville?"

"Pssh. Too boring for my tastes. As for where we are, I had noticed we were right near Ponyville General Hospital on the outskirts of the forest. What luck, eh? I looked around and found a locked hatch which I assumed led into a basement. With my epic lockpicking skills, I got in and found all this nifty medical equipment. The rest was as simple as getting you all here. Anywho, enjoy the bed."

Twilight sighed, feeling rather lucky to be alive. Not too long after, a familiar white dove landed on her chest, looking at her. Ben and Twilight couldn't resist giggling.

The End