Pumpkin's Struggle (Part 4): The Darkest Hour

Downstairs in Sugar Cube Corner, everyone was being busy, quiet and a little on edge… even Pinkie Pie. Things were just getting a little tense in this place, especially Pound who couldn’t get a terrible feeling out of his head. He couldn’t confirm that something bad was about to happen, but something in his mind was telling him otherwise.

At one point, Pinkie noticed that Pound had stopped with his chores and was eyeing the doorway to the upstairs level again. She quietly walked up behind him to where he didn’t notice her and she spoke up with an arched eyebrow.

“What’s up, Pound; is there something on your mind?”

“Everything seems… too quiet around here, Aunt Pinkie,” Pound responded in a troubling tone, “Something is going to happen; I just know it.”

“You’re worrying too much,” said Pinkie with a sigh, “does Aunt Pinkie have to draw away your attention again?”

Pound suddenly turned towards Pinkie with a slightly annoyed expression and shouted, “I’m serious! Your mind is not connected to Pumpkin’s like mine is, so… you could never understand why I’m so worried.”

Pinkie could understand how stressed Pound was feeling as she went forward and gave Pound a big hug, “Pound, don’t say that; I was just saying that worrying about something too much isn’t healthy for your self-sanity. Trust me, I should know.”

Just then as if on cue, they suddenly heard hoof steps rushing from upstairs; it sounded like they were heading downstairs to where they were. Pound could also hear a little bit of what sounded like sobbing; deep, regretful sobbing. Then there was a loud bump, and falling down the stairs all the way to the floor… was Pumpkin.

Seeing his sister suddenly fall down from the stairs before them alerted him, and he and Pinkie rushed to her in an instant.

“Sweet crumb cakes, what was that!?” shouted Mrs. Cake nearby.

“Something crashed?” said Mr. Cake.

“More like somepony!” Pinkie Pie corrected.

Pound nudged his sister to see if she was okay, “Pumpkin, are you alright; and where’s Acer.”

Pumpkin suddenly raised her head to look at her brother, but her eyes were filled with tears and no words could be released from her bowels. Pound could see it; he could see that something did happen, just as he feared. Pumpkin quickly got up and immediately started heading towards the door without a word.

Pound used his wings to quickly fly ahead of his sister and landed in the doorway before she left, “That’s far enough, Sis! Tell what’s going on, now!”

Pumpkin quickly stopped but couldn’t make complete eye contact to her brother as she continued to cry to herself.

“Easy on her, Pound,” said Pinkie feeling worried about Pumpkin’s other side, “easy.”

Pound came closer to Pumpkin tying to get her to look at him to confess of what was going on, “We’re not letting you leave this place, not until you tell us what caused these tears to appear in your eyes!”

While still not looking at her brother, Pumpkin softly said back to him, “It’s hopeless, Pound; it’s all completely hopeless.”

Mrs. Cake wanted to comfort her child and walked up behind Pumpkin feeling deep concern for her, “Honey, what’s wrong? If something bad is going on with you, we can help you.”

“You can’t help me, Mom!” Pumpkin suddenly shouted in angst as turned around to her mother, “You… y-you just can’t, okay; none of you can.” Pumpkin could feel her sorrows taking over her emotions, “I just can’t take this torture anymore; I tried to, but it’s just too much to bear!”

Not caring what his sister said, Pound came to her and wrapped his hooves around her to give her a hug, “Pumpkin, just listen to…”

Suddenly, Pound could feel his sister’s hooves grab onto him tight, and she was suddenly sporting the dreaded red eyes that signified her curse coming out staring at him intensely, “Don’t… touch me!”

In one move, Pumpkin threw her brother in the air behind her and Pound lost his momentum and was causing him to fall. But just in time, Pinkie Pie caught him and was relieved that he was alright.

“Nice save, Pinkie,” said Pound nervously.

After a few seconds, Pumpkin snapped out of it again, and realized what she did; she thought that it was enough proof to prove what she was talking about as she scowled and turned away from her family, “Let’s just face it, what’s going to happen to me is going to happen… no matter how much we try to delay it. However, I myself am not going to allow it; I’m going to go and end this curse… right now!”

Her family was suddenly confused of what she was saying. There was a way to stop her curse? If so why didn’t she tell any of them about it?

“End the curse,” said Mr. Cake, “but how are you going to do that?”

Again, Pumpkin stayed silent; that usually meant that she was hiding something, and that was usually not a good sign.

“Come on, Pumpkin,” pleaded Mrs. Cake, “you’re family is trying to talk to you; what do you know that we don’t?!”

Pumpkin sadly tilted her head towards her family and felt a sudden feeling of regret, “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you.”

She started to head towards the door again not looking back at her family; but Pound still wasn’t going to give up. He jumped out of Pinkie’s arms and started to rush towards his sister again to try and stop her of whatever she was up to.

“Come back here, I’m not letting you leave here on your own; quit trying to hide things from us!”

Pumpkin was now outside, and Pound was still inside; but when Pound got to the doorway, his body suddenly stopped as he slammed into what seemed like a magical barrier that concealed the way out. In fact, the barrier was covering the whole place; and seeing that Pumpkin was the one that cast it and she was the only unicorn in the family, there was nothing that any of them could do.

Pound was banging on the barrier while staring intensely at his sister begging her not to go, “Pumpkin, Pumpkin! Don’t be foolish, let us out!”

“Don’t worry,” said Pumpkin as she turned back around to face her brother, “Don’t worry, it will wear off after 20 minutes.” Suddenly, she clutched her head and groaned in pain as she felt the curse trying to come out again. She said to her family with the best of her abilities, “I’m… I’m… I’m sorry!”

She ran off as fast as she could without looking back, and headed off in the direction of where she saw that mysterious stallion the other day.

“Wow, she sure can create a strong shield,” said Pinkie to herself.

Pound continued to bang on the shield thinking that he could break it, but it upsetted him more knowing that there was nothing he could do to stop his sister now, “Dang it, what the hay is she thinking?! Can’t she realize that she can’t go through with this alone?!”

Mr. Cake thought that he could give it a shot a charged right at the doorway, but his body ricocheted backward and fell right on his rump.

“Carrot; honey, are you okay?!” said Mrs. Cake as she rushed over to her husband.

“I’m fine, Cup Cake,” he responded while rubbing his rump, “just thought I give it a try. My flank does feel a little sore though; wanna kiss it and make it better?”

Mrs. Cake sorta glared at her husband for thinking such a thing at a moment like this. Mr. Cake just smiled nervously and chuckled, “Um… sorry, just trying to lighten up the mood a bit.”

“Oh, this is exactly what Cheerliee and the Mayor warned us about; this is not good at all!”

Just then, they all heard a light thump sound coming from behind them. They all turned around and saw…

“Acer!”

He was on all four of his hooves but his body was badly limping, some bloody bruises was seen on his sides and his wings were still cramped up; but other than those, he was still fine. He looked around and feared he was too late.

“Wh-where’s… Pumpkin?

His body almost fell forward but Pinkie and Pound quickly caught him and was carrying him to a soft chair to relax his wounded body.

“Take it easy, Acer,” said Mrs. Cake concernedly, “you look badly injured!” She then looked over at her husband and said in a dire matter, “Honey, quickly; get the family first-aid kit!”

“I’m on it!” Mr. Cake responded as he rushed off to do his deed.

Seeing that Pumpkin was nowhere to be seen and noticing the magical barrier that blocked all openings of the house, Acer knew that Pumpkin ran away, “Heh… I guess you guys failed to stop her too.”

“What in all of Equestria happened up there?!” said Pound to Acer; expecting an obvious answer, “Why was my Sister in such a panicked state that she’d run out and trap us in here like this?!”

“Easy Pound,” said Pinkie, “give the colt some room why, don’t you.”

Acer didn’t mind Pound asking; they all needed to know exactly what happened to Pumpkin, “It’s terrible man; I think her c-curse… is now making its last move.”

Right on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, the dark stallion alicorn named Shadow Star was just sitting on his haunches looking outward in front of himself. He had a feeling that a certain filly was going to come back to him; he could feel it in his blood. But without a minute to waste, Pumpkin came running away from her town and came up to him. A small smile came on to Shadow’s face seeing that his secret plan would soon go into effect.

“I’ve been expecting you, young filly,” he said calmly, “So… what’s your decision?”

Pumpkin’s head was down as she was catching her breath and her eyes were still leaking with tears of sadness. But once Pumpkin raised her head up to look at the stallion, Shadow saw that her eyes were completely red. She was somehow able to keep back the curse from making her do anything bad… but for how long.

“I’ve had it,” she said in an angered and exhausted tone, “I’ve had it with this crap! You were right; I just can’t take this anymore!” She groaned a bit from keeping her power back and continued, “This curse… it’s done nothing but cause me problems. It’s caused nothing but pain, strife, sadness and grief for me and anypony around me. I’ve made up my mind; if you can get rid of this… if you can truly extract this terrible and unbearable burden from my life, I would… I… w-w-would be humbly grateful. Just please… please… get rid of it now… before… I completely… lose my… m-m-mind.”

Shadow was very impressed… to think that this filly has resisted against this curse for so long. But nonetheless, its power was at its peak and it was the perfect time for his plan to be put into action.

“Wonderful!” he shouted, “I-I mean… you poor thing,” he said changing his tone, “You’ve made the right decision. Indeed this curse is nothing to shake a hoof at; Blackberry the 2nd made that mistake. You will not be sorry once I extract it out of you; and once I do you’ll finally be able to…”

Suddenly, Pumpkin grabbed Shadow’s neck with her magic and yanked him down to her level. She stared at him with her cold-blooded red eyes with a slight intent to kill, “Listen you overgrown waste of slaughtering flesh, enough of your babbling and take me to rid myself of this curse… NOW; or I will rip you open and tear out your insides!!!”

She released him and he was regaining his breath from being held by her so harshly. He looked down at her and saw that she wasn’t even looking at him anymore; she was probably concentrating on keeping the curse back again. However, he didn’t care about that too much, he just wanted her to last long enough for him to succeed in his plan.

“Very well,” he told her solemnly, “follow me and stay close; you don’t want to get lost in here.”

A dark moment was soon drawing near.

At another edge of the Everfree Forest near Fluttershy’s cottage, Twilight was just making her scene with Fluttershy; much to Twilight’s surprise, it was just as Fluttershy said. Her whole cottage grounds were cover with animals and other little critters and they all seemed to be spooked by something.

“Wow, Fluttershy,” said Twilight in shock, “when you told me everything you said, you weren’t kidding. These animals are definitely scared of something, but the question is ‘what is that something?’”

“I’m not sure if I even want to find out,” said Fluttershy while shaking in her hooves, “I think I’d rather stay here where it’s safe; I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Come on, Fluttershy, this is no time to chicken out,” Twilight protested, “I was serious when I said that I needed your help. We need to find out what causing these animals to be so spooked, it could exponentially serious!”

Suddenly, Angel, Fluttershy’s bunny friend, was just hopping out of the woods with a frighten look on his face. Once he saw Fluttershy, he rushed over to her in a state of panic.

“Angel, what’s wrong,” Fluttershy asked curiously, “did you see something in there in that… s-s-scary forest?”

Angel quickly nodded and started to point at the forest signifying them to come and see something he did.

“I think he wants us to follow him into the forest, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy just shuddered with fright, “I was afraid that that is what he was saying.”

Twilight smirked down at the little bunny and told him, “Alright Angel, lead the way.”

Angel immediately ran off towards the forest with twilight following right behind him. However, Fluttershy didn’t move an inch while nervously saying, “That’s right, Angel; show Twilight the way while I stay here… wh-where it’s safe.”

Twilight soon grabbed Fluttershy with her magic and dragged her along, “Come on, Fluttershy.”

Poor Fluttershy whimpered pitifully as they went deeper into the forest.

Back at Sugar Cube Corner, Acer had told Pumpkin’s family about what happen between Pumpkin and him. It was no surprise to them of how it happened, but what worried them was the effect that it had on Pumpkin.

“Another illusion?!” shouted Pound.

“And she thought you did what to her?!” added Mr. Cake.

Acer smiled nervously and scratched head, “Yeah, it was shocking to me too.”

Pinkie suddenly walked up to Acer and looked at him dead in the eye, “You didn’t really do that to her, did you?”

“Pinkie!” Pound protested.

“What, just making sure.”

After having his wings bandaged and his wounds cleaned, Acer still felt a deep sore instilled inside in his heart for not being able to stop Pumpkin, “I just wanted to be there for her and help her get through her tough time; but now all I  did was make it worse. Maybe… maybe I’m no longer any help to her anymore.”

Pound came up to Acer suddenly and lightly wacked him against his jaw with his hoof. Acer stared at Pound blatantly wondering why he even did that to him.

“Don’t even say that, Acer!” shouted Pound, “The curse itself is what hurt Pumpkin, not you; don’t you dare start to spout nonsense!”

“Maybe not,” stated Acer sadly, “but… what are we supposed to do now? Do any of you guys know where Pumpkin went?”

“No clue,” Pinkie responded while shrugging her shoulders, “but before she left she yelled out ‘something about getting rid of the curse once and for all.”

“Yeah, I heard Pumpkin said that to me too when she rushed out of her room,” said Acer with a light chuckle, “But it doesn’t make any sense; how can she get rid of the curse? Wasn’t it already clear that it can’t be rid of unless Pumpkin…”

Suddenly, what Acer was thinking exactly finally hit him with horror, “Oh no…”

It soon made sense to Pound, Pinkie and Mr. and Mrs. Cake as well.

“Pumpkin wouldn’t:” said Pinkie worryingly, “She wouldn’t go that far… w-w-would she?”

Just the thought of Pumpkin sacrificing herself to save Ponyville cause a deep worrying grief to ignite inside Pound. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he lost his twin sister to some ancient curse.

“Honey, we have to do something,” shouted Mrs. Cake to her husband as she shook him constantly, “our daughter is going to kill herself!”

Angel bunny had led Twilight and Fluttershy deeper into the forest, and Fluttershy stayed close beside Twilight since it was too late for her to go back alone. Eventually, Angel led them to a specific area where he suddenly came to a halt.

“What do you wish to show us?” asked Twilight.

Angel brought both of their attention to brushed path in the dirt that led in a direction that Twilight suddenly recognized.

“This path… it seems to go in the direction of Zecora’s hut,” Twilight stated.

“But what made th-that path in the ground,” said Fluttershy, “it’s like something or somepony was dragged across it.”

Just then, Twilight noticed something else that was mixed in with the dirt; something dark and moist and a bit redish, “Wait a minute… is that… blood?”

“D-d-d-did you just say b-b-b-bl-blood?!” shuddered Fluttershy.

“I think somepony was injured and was carried off,” said Twilight, “Could it be…”

Without warning, Angel hopped off in the direction of Zecora’s hut with the other two mares following behind.

“Angel, please slow down!” Fluttershy shouted.

“Where is he going,” said Twilight, “this is the direction of…”

And before they knew it, angel had brought them to Zecora’s hut just as Twilight predicted; and the dragged dirt trail with blood led straight into the door way. Both mares panicked and galloped towards the door and busted it open. Once inside, the dirt trail ended but a little trail of blood was still seen on the floor, and it led right to a badly injured Zecora. She was lying on the ground almost motionless with major bruises all over body and some blood escaping her.

“ZECORA!!!” Twilight and Fluttershy both shouted as they raced over to her.

Zecora lifted her head and moaned slightly upon hearing two familiar voices in her sound vicinity, “Tw-Twilight… F-Fluttershy… is that y-you I spy?”

“Zecora, you’re badly injured!” shouted Twilight in panic, “What on Equestria happened; are you all right?!”

Zecora tried to turn and stand, but her critical condition denied her to do so, “I’m… I-I’m fine, it’s okay; things could have been worse for me today.”

“I’ll say,” said Fluttershy, “what if you were still out there and became some creature’s dinner?!”

“Never mind that Fluttershy,” said Twilight, “we need to do something about Zecora’s injuries; they could prove later to be fatal!”

Zecora reached out her hoof and touched Twilight to gain her attention to her voice, “Twilight, if you truly wish to help me; then please… fetch me that bottle of my special healing herbal tea. I would’ve been able to get myself, but my injuries forces me to ask for help.”

In the direction that Zecora was pointing Twilight could see the bottle on the very top of a shelf that was right in front of their faces. She levitated it down and poured some of it in a small vile, and then gave it to Zecora as she slowly sipped it down.

“Is it helping you at all?” asked Twilight.

Zecora slowly rose to her hooves as she felt the tea doing it work, “It will h-heal my wounds slowly; for as you can see I-I’ve received injuries quite greatly.”

She managed to walk herself to a soft quilted rug that helped relax her body and allowed her to keep a calm mind.

“So what exactly happened?” Twilight asked as she and Fluttershy walked up to her, “Who or what did this to you?”

“D-d-did you see anything that could’ve scared  away all of the forest animals,” added Fluttershy, “Um… they’ve all gathered at my place and now I can’t even get into my own cottage.”

Remembering the dreaded treatment that she received earlier, Zecora shuddered a bit while nodding her head, “Y-yes… a stallion… a stallion with powerful dark magic, he plans to do something quite tragic.”

“T-t-tragic?” Fluttershy whimpered, “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Well hearing that he has dark magic,” said Twilight, “I can assume that this pony is a unicorn?”

“No no, he is no Unicorn; he is… an Alicorn.”

“Wh-wh-what?!” said Fluttershy in shock.

Twilight was suddenly in shock too; what Zecora said made zero sense to her, “But… that’s impossible! Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence are the only Alicorns in Equestria; aren’t they?!”

“I guess they aren’t anymore,” said Fluttershy, “but what does this Alicorn plan to do anyway?!”

“That unicorn filly’s is what h-h-he seeks,” said Zecora while taking it easy on her nerves, “H-he aims… to gain its power f-for himself now that it is at its p-peak.”

“Pumpkin Cake!” both mares shouted at each other in unison.

In another part of the forest, Shadow Star was trotting along with curse ridden Pumpkin Cake following right behind him. She was just staring straight down to the ground following Shadow’s… well, shadow as he brought her closer and closer to his hidden hideout while trying to keep back her curse’s power from unleashing.

“Hey,” she said lowly, “how much further do we have to walk; my damn hooves are killing me.”

“We’re almost there,” Shadow responded with a little smirk, “don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon.”

Pumpkin’s eyes grew a bit redder as she was feeling easily irritated, “Yeah, it better; because if this curse takes me over, you’ll be my first victim.”

Shadow was actually quite amused from Pumpkin’s unintentional threat that she was making at him, “There’s no need to go and threaten me, young filly, for I am doing the best I can.”

“Trust me, if you don’t hurry up, I’ll do more than just speak a threat.”

They soon came to an enclosed stone wall that suddenly opened up by Shadow’s magic, and inside was quite a spectacle to behold. A huge stone room with shelves filled with books of spells and incantations, crystal gems shimmering everywhere you looked, and a single pentagram star embedded into the stone platform in the middle of the room.

“Well what do you know,” said Shadow, “we’re here; magnificent, isn’t it?”

Pumpkin slowly raised her head with her eyes still dimly lit with red and looked around in the huge stone room. She just scoffed and stated, “I’ve seen better.” However, she didn’t intentionally mean it.

“Well excuse me, miss critic,” Shadow strongly protested, “obviously you don’t know great craftsmanship from a thousand years ago when you see it.”

Before Shadow knew it, Pumpkin suddenly let out a short scream as she fell down and held on to her head feeling immense pain. Shadow Star smiled upon her drastic pain knowing exactly what was presently happening.

“Heh, the curse must sense the magical aura of my lair,” he thought to himself, “It’s trying to take full effect over this filly before extraction.”

“It’s coming… IT’S COMING!!!” Pumpkin shouted out in pain, “Pl-please, h-hurry before it’s too late!”

“With pleasure,” said Shadow with a grin; this was going to be easier than he thought it might be.

Twilight and Fluttershy couldn’t believe of what happened with Zecora. The Alicorn that she described to them seemed unreal, and his plan to take advantage of Pumpkin’s weak state to gain her curse’s power to dominate over Equestria made the situation even direr.

“Oh dear,” said Fluttershy sounding frighten, “no wonder the animals are so scared, this stallion sounds too strong and dangerously powerful!”

“And from the sound of it, it will only get worse if he’s successful in absorbing the curse’s power for his own use; somepony has got to stop him!”

“I fear th-that it might be t-too late,” said Zecora hesitantly, “that Ponyville will soon suffer its fate.”

Twilight didn’t want to give up, even though the current situation seemed critical, but what could she do? FLuttershy wanted to do something too, but how do they stop a nearly indestructible curse and a powerful alicorn who wants world domination?

“I wonder if there’s anything we can do now?” said Twilight.

“I’ve already done my very best,” said Zecora while laying her body down in a more comfortable position, “but now I must stay here and rest. The Cake daughter’s spirit is about to combust, and right now only a miracle can save us.”

Just then, a gigantic boom that literally shook the very earth sounded and alerted all of them. Fluttershy screamed and jumped behind Zecora where she was resting shaking.

“Wha… wh-what was that?” whimpered Fluttershy.

Twilight raced to the door and Fluttershy slowly crawed from behind. When they looked outside, a huge beam of light was radiating up into the sky from somewhere in the Everfree Forest. Twilight could feel the energy radiating from it and it was massive.

“Well that doesn’t look good.”

Zecora saw it herself as well from where she was and she knew exactly what was going on. Her body slightly trembled she thought herself, “It… it has begun.”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” Pumpkin screamed at the top of her lungs as she felt surge of Shadow Star’s dark magic coursing through her body.

She was standing in the middle of glowing pentagon that was located in the middle of the stone room; and from it Shadow’s powerful spell to rid her of the curse rose up and was causing some massive pain.

“It burns; it burns! Holy crap, I feel like I’m going to die!”

“Don’t worry,” said Shadow Star on the sidelines, “it will all be over soon.” He then chuckled to himself with a hidden smirk not seen by the young unicorn, “Or more likely, it’s just about to begin.”

Pinkie and the rest of Pumpkin’s family back at Sugar Cube Corner heard and felt the giant boom sound as well, and they were all startled big time.

“What the hay was that?!” screamed Pinkie.

Seconds afterwards, Mrs. Cake noticed something at the corner of her eye, “Hey I just noticed that the shield is gone, but it hasn’t been 10 minutes yet like our daughter said it would.”

Acer was out like a light resting his injured body, but he had no idea of what was presently happening. Pinkie and Pound went to the doorway and saw the very same pillar of light emanating from the Everfree Forest. Pinkie had a huge of what it could be.

“You don’t think that’s…”

Suddenly, Pound felt a painful twinge in his head; he made a short outburst before holding his head down on the ground with tears in his eyes. This brought immediate attention to his parents.

“Pound; sweet Celestia, what’s wrong?!” shouted Mrs. Cake.

Pound lifted his head up in the direction of the giant pillar of light; he wasn’t quite sure of what was going on, but he only knew that he was only feeling a slight dose of pain of what his sister was possibly feeling.

“Its…i-i-its Pumpkin, she’s in… terrible pain; I can feel it.”

Pinkie Pie was suddenly fed up with this and she temporarily threw away her cheery attitude as suddenly tossed Pound onto her back.

“Okay, that is it; I had enough of this mess! Come on Pound, we’re going to find her… no matter how dangerous it is.”

This sudden change in attitude brought a huge shocking expression to appear on the Cake’s faces. Pound look down at Pinkie’s face and realized just how serious she was being, “P-Pinkie.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Cake,” Pinkie said while looking at the married couple with a determined face, “watch over Acer, okay?”

“B-but Pinkie,” said Mr. Cake, “you can’t just…”

“JUST DO IT!” Pinkie shouted out.

Her sudden outburst literally made Mr. Cake jump back in shock; he just stood there with wide feeling surprised of Pinkie’s change of personality, “Oh… o-o-okay.”

As Pinkie raced out the door carrying Pound, Mrs. Cake suddenly called out to them and caught their attention, “Pinkie, Pound… just be careful… please bring Pumpkin back.”

A small little smile appeared on Pinkie’s muzzle as she responded, “Don’t worry, Mrs. Cake, we’ll try.”

And with that, Pinkie raced off still carrying a recovering Pound on her back as they went off towards the Everfree Forest.

“Don’t worry, sis,” Pound thought to himself, “w-we’re coming for you.”

After the spell was complete, Pumpkin conked out for what seemed like a while but was only a few minutes. Once she started to come to, she was feeling a little lightheaded and groggy; but something about herself felt very… different to her.

“Ugh, I feel… w-weird, like a h-huge weight has finally been lifted from my shoulders.”

Shadow Star could see with his own eyes of what he had finally accomplished; and it resulted with him feeling rather… exuberant, “Excellent, absolutely excellent!”

“Y-y-you seem quite proud, mister Shadow Star,” said Pumpkin with a slight smile as she saw Shadow’s happy mood, “Did we really do it; am I finally 100% curse free.”

Shadow Star didn’t say a word, he just stood there grinning menacingly at the young filly. Pumpkin was wondering why he was looking at her so strangely; something suddenly didn’t feel right to her. But then the unthinkable happened when she heard all weel familiar voice that she knew too well.

“Heh heh; well, don’t try to ask for a miracle, fool. I’m afraid that I am not going anywhere.”

As Pumpkin slowly turned around behind her, she saw a menacing figure that looked just like her… in a way. However, her appearance seemed a bit different with pointed teeth, a wavy orange mane, and the dreaded crimson red eyes. She couldn’t believe that she was seeing this with her own frighten eyes, but it was real. Her curse, it was finally out of her, but had now manifested in a solid, physical form in her own image.

This wasn’t happening; did she truly fall for this obvious trick? She really didn’t know, she was too shocked and scared stiff of her present situation to think at all. The curse was enjoying her face of fear and was slowly creeping towards her with blood lust in its eyes.

“Hello Pumpkin… are you ready for some real fun?”