My Little Monster (What Happened?)
"So, is everypony here?" Looking up from her bag, Twilight scanned over her small, but incredible selection of friends. They too were wearing bags on their sides.
"Rainbow Dash isn't here," Rarity said with a head shake. The six friends shot a brief glance to the sky. Aside from their princess' sun, they couldn't see a single thing in the air, be it clouds, birds, or pegasi.
"I think she's gone to go get rid of the clouds. They have to go somewhere when they're not hovering over Ponyville." Twilight thought out loud. "I gave you all a letter last night, didn't I?" Her friend's nods sparked a hint of hope in Twilight's voice: "Good. Then Rainbow Dash should have gotten it too. That means she'll be here in no time."
"Yeah, about that letter, Twilight," Applejack reached into her bag, quickly producing a crumpled up newspaper, the banner at the top read: "Equestria Daily," the way it was folded obscured the headline below, even after Applejack spat it out of her mouth and to the floor. "This also came with it, You didn't assemble us all here to say that we've been drafted into some sort of Newspaper delivery service have you? Cuz honestly, I've never been a fan of the daily paper." Applejack gave a small, dismissive nudge to the paper at her feet, putting a few small crinkles in it. Twilight sighed.
"Did you read the front page at least?" Twilight asked, getting small shrug from Applejack in response. "Did anypony read the article?"
"I did." Rarity and Fluttershy began to say simultaneously, with the shy yellow pegasus deciding to cut herself off halfway through, letting the pale fashioneesta continue on her own: "I did, Twilight. It was something about a town being destroyed, right?" Twilight gave a solemn nod. "It was a horrible article, almost made me sick."
"Wait a second... what?" Applejack said in disbelief. "What happened?"
"The short version? Some creature has been terrorizing Equestria for months. Attacking towns all over and reducing them to rubble." Twilight explained, struggling to hold back a slight shakiness in her voice.
"Well, at least no pony got hurt, right? Applejack smiled nervously. A few seconds of dead silence later, and her already weak smile dropped quicker than the apples from a freshly bucked apple tree. "W-well? Didn't they?" Applejack stared directly at Twilight.
"... I'm sorry, Applejack. There were no survivors. In any of the attacks." Twilight forced herself to look away from Applejack, fearing the horrified reaction she'd need to gaze upon otherwise. It didn't do much to soften the sound of Applejack's startled voice though:
"What? You're honestly saying that not a single pony managed to get out of dodge alive? And how many times has this happened exactly?" Applejack couldn't stop herself from fidgeting on the spot.
"So far, six towns have been destroyed, Applejack." Rarity levitated the dusty, slightly ruffled newspaper off the ground, unfolding it so that her friend could have a closer look, not that she particularly wanted to.
The headline read: "THE HORROR CONTINUES!" Accompanying that , there was also a picture of what looked like a town square of some kind, only all the buildings for as far as the eye could see had been replaced with burnt cinders. All the greenery had either been fried or forcibly pulled away. Various carriages, items, and debris littered the ground. The entire town looked dead.
Applejack wanted her stomach to betray her, she didn't want to be able to look at such carnage without feeling even the least bit ill, but alas, she was made of stronger stuff, an resorted to angrily swatting the paper out of the air instead.
"That's... that's horrifying! Who in Equestria would do something like that?
"That's just it, Applejack," Twilight's head swung around, revealing a stone cold expression. "We have no idea."
"Isn't it supposed to be a creature?" Fluttershy said, speaking up for the fist time in a while. "Th-that's what you said a minute ago."
"Well that's what I'm hoping to find out, Fluttershy" Her exprssion lightening a little, Twilight turned to face the path out of Ponyville. "I'm going to go to the nearest destroyed town; which is Fillydelphia, to look for clues. Something that the authorities might have missed."
"And you want us to accompany you?" Rarity said thoughtfully. They all saw the back of Twilight's head bob up and down a few times.
"I plan to leave as soon as Rainbow Dash gets here." She said.
"Is this an official mission from Princess Celestia?" Rarity asked.
"No. Neither princess has commented on the attacks yet, but still, as both a proud citizen of Equestria, and as Celestia's most faithful student, I feel as though I need to help out in someway, even if it's only small" Twilight looked back at her friends. "None of you need to come along, I just thought you all deserved to know where I'd be going, if you wanted to say goodbye."
"So, you'll be gone a while then?" Fluttershy almost whispered.
"A few days at the very most. I'd hate to leave Spike on his own for too long," Twilight explained warmly.
"Oh, so Spike isn't coming you?" Applejack tilted her head, suddenly noticing the lack of a baby dragon at Twilight's hooves. The purple unicorn shook her head.
"No. He's still fast asleep in the library." Twilight's expression suddenly soured, confusing her friends a little. "The authorities have cleaned up most of Fillydelphia, but you still never know, I could stumble across a..." Twilight took a deep breath. "...Somepony, while I'm searching. I don't want to subject Spike to something like that. You girls understand, right?"
"Well golly Twilight, what kinda half baked simpletons do you take us for? Of course we understand." Applejack smiled. The orange earth-pony was wearing her kindest expression. "I for one wouldn't let Apple Bloom go anywhere near a place like that. I'm sure Rarity is the same with her Sweetie Belle." Without hesitation, Rarity nodded in agreement. Twilight sighed happily
"Thanks girls. Spike already knows where I'm going by the way, so if any of you decide to come along he'll know where you are." Twilight explained, a hopeful tinge in her voice.
All her friends were displaying at least some level of uncertainty, a fact that Twilight instantly picked up on. Not wanting to force anypony into anything, she readied herself to begin the trek solo.
"I understand completely. It was silly of me to want to take you somewhere so upsetting. I'll be back in a few days then. I'll just wait until Rainbow Dash returns, then I'll be off." Twilight turned away from her friends again, looking down the long road she would soon have to travel. She began to estimate how long it would probably take for her to get there on hoof, when without warning, she felt a firm sensation land onto her right shoulder. Looking down she was greeted by a bright, orange hoof. Initially confused, a hearty laugh from Applejack made her head snap up, and she saw that the earth-pony was now standing right next to her.
"You really gotta stop twisting our hooves like that Twilight." Applejack said merrily.
"She's right." Rarity took a step forward. "Of course we'll go with you. We're not going to let our friend wander around some derelict ghost town all by herself. Even if it is depressing." Rarity looked back at Fluttershy, who had begun to tremble a little bit. "Of course, you don't have to come along, Fluttershy, dear." Instead of a meek nod, like they were all expecting, Fluttershy stunned everyone as she let loose a violent head shake.
"No. I want to come along." Her timid voice squeezed out. Rarity flashed her a concerned look.
"You're completely sure?" Rarity asked.
"You don't have to force yourself, Fluttershy. You can stay if you want to." Twilight said tenderly. Again, Fluttershy's shook head.
"It's ok. I really want to come along." Fluttershy asserted. "I want to see if there are any animals that need rescuing." The pegasus smiled faintly. "Ponies don't care about them as much as they do other Ponies. So maybe I could help out too?"
"Well, as long as you're sure?" Twilight said gently. A final nod from Fluttershy confirmed her opinion, and Twilight's focus shifted to Pinkie Pie.
The curly haired pony, who was usually in such a perpetual state joy and excitement, had for some reason slipped into silence for the entirety of their meeting thus far. The Pink equine hadn't made so much as a peep, and she appeared to be staring off into thin air, focusing on something, but nothing that the others could see. Her expression wasn't sad or anything, in fact she was smiling, which was somehow even stranger.
"What about you Pinkie?" Twilight asked, waving her hoof in front of Pinkie's face. Pinkie turned and gazed straight into Twilight's eyes. The unicorn shook a bit from the sudden flash of movement.
"Me? I'm just looking at Rainbow Dash." she smiled sweetly.
"Well that's nice, but it wasn't quite what I was asking. I was wondering if you wan- huh?" Twilight spun her head to match Pinkie's line of sight, and pressed her face against Pinkie's, so as to be in the same position as her as well. She scanned the sky intensely. "Did you just say you saw Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah! Can't you see her? She's been coming over the horizon for a while now." Pinkie beamed, her hoof aiming off into the far distance. Twilight tried to follow Pinkie's decidedly vague directions, and was surprised when she could actually make out something in the distance. Whether or not it was indeed Rainbow Dash, Twilight was still unsure, but her interest was enough to make everypony else look over as well.
"If it is Rainbow Dash, she's moving a great deal slower than usual." Applejack squinted her eyes as she talked. Pinkie bounced forward a few steps, nearing the edge of town. She moved her hooves to her eyes, miming the presence of binoculars. Whether it was for effect, or if it actually helped Pinkie see better, the friends honestly had no idea.
"What do you suppose that means?" Rarity asked, her too trying to focus in on the figure in the distance. Like the others, she quickly began to squint. "Curse my less than perfect eyesight. Do you think she looks hurt, Pinkie?" She called out to the unusually focused Pinkie Pie.
"I don't think so. Actually, it looks like she's carrying something." Pinkie said, sounding slightly doubtful of her own deduction. The pink pony adjusted her non-existent binoculars, prompting more befuddled looks from her peers, especially Twilight.
"Are you sure?" Twilight asked sceptically, approaching Pinkie from behind. Before she knew it, they were standing side by side, both staring out at the same patch of horizon.
"Yeah... I think so." Still unsure, Pinkie removed her hooves from her face, and gestured them towards Twilight. It took the unicorn a second, but she soon realized that Pinkie had supposedly handed Twilight her "binoculars", presumably to help her see better. "Have a look see." Deciding to indulge her eccentric, but oftentimes correct friend, Twilight accepted the air that was handed to her and placed her hooves to her eyes. To her surprise; while obviously not affecting her actual vision in the slightest, the new hoof posture had somehow managed to focus Twilight's eyes, and she could see what was on the horizon a lot better than before. Her more logical side quickly dismissed it though, and she assumed that it was just some kind of placebo effect. She thought she was going to be able to see better, so she could.
"That's definitely Rainbow Dash. And you're right, Pinkie. She's carrying something," Twilight said in a highly analytical tone. Her friends lit up.
"But why would she be flying out there?" Applejack wondered.
"Do you have any idea what she's carrying, Twilight?" Rarity added.
"Whatever it is, it's big, and it's white. Mayb-" Before she could continue her hypothesis, Twilight's voice abruptly stopped. Pinkie looked over and saw that Twilight's expression was growing deeply concerned, looking back to Rainbow Dash, she instantly realized why.
Rainbow Dash had basically started to wobble in the air, looking how one might if they were either tired or dizzy. It looked like she was struggling to stay at a consistent altitude, with the front and rear ends of her body constantly rising and falling at different times, or sometimes her entire body dipping sharply by a few feet, with a rapid succession of wing flaps becoming necessary to stay airborne. On her back, the unidentified white mass was shifting with every movement that Rainbow Dash made. The aqua pegasus appeared to be taking the time to adjust her posture in the air, so as to keep her cargo from sliding off. She was doing this on top of correcting her fatigue-induced aerial mistakes, meaning that whatever she was carrying must've been very important to her. The closer she got, the more ragged and dirty looking she was revealed to be as well. Her coat was matted and appeared to be caked with something; It was too pale to be mud, but Twilight couldn't think of any thing else, mostly because she was afraid that her friend would collapse at any second. After looking on worriedly for a few more seconds, Twilight suddenly broke into a run, galloping out of Ponyville.
"She's about to fall! Girls, we need to help her." Twilight's voice travelled back to the group, where they immediately joined her in running.
Twilight was right. Before they were even halfway to her, Rainbow Dash had begun to waver uncontrollably in the air. No longer even attempting to correct herself, the white cargo fell from her back instantly. The group stared in terror as the mass unfolded itself limply in the air, revealing an instantly recognizable shape.
"That's a pony!" Twilight screamed, prompting a gasp from everypony else. Then, fast as a whip, her head craned around to Applejack, who couldn't help but be a little startled by the intensity in Twilight's eyes. "Applejack. You're the fastest one here. Catch him! Catch that pony!" She cried. Applejack looked up at the falling stallion, uncertainty glazed across her face.
"Uhhh... c-can do" She said nervously. Applejack was most certainly the strongest pony in their group. She was also incredibly fast, but still, the distance she'd have to traverse in order to catch him made her very uneasy.
Deciding to rely on her instincts, which had almost never failed her in the past, Applejack emptied her mind, and went into full-on sprinting mode. She effortlessly galloped past Twilight and the others in a split-second, her acceleration and power feeling more akin to a speeding locomotive than to any actual athlete. Applejack could see both the stallion and Rainbow Dash above, but the former was still falling too quickly, as she had feared. She desperately tried to move faster, which the others could telll by the rising ferocity in her hoof-falls, that were beginning to crack the very ground she ran on, inadvertently throwing pieces of gravel at her friends. Trying as she might it quickly became clear that she'd reached her top speed. The estimated landing spot was still a fair distance away, and only a few seconds still stood between the ambiguous stallion and a messy end.
"Think, Applejack you know you can do this." she tried to assure herself. "What else can I do If pure speed doesn't work?" Applejack thought about her powerful hind legs, the ones she'd forged through years of diligent Apple Bucking and farm work. She knew they had enough concentrated force to do anything. "My strength? Might as well try." The situation was calling for a blind leap of faith and she knew it. After a token gulp, Applejack made a small hop, landing in a completely crouched position with her legs bent, looking poised to pounce at something. "Please, Princess," She tensed her legs, and extended, using all of her might to push her body away from the ground. The result looked like a rocket taking off. A rocket with a determined orange pony on its tip. She flew upwards at a steep angle, her acceleration putting her previous efforts to shame. Applejack's friends looked on fearfully. The stallion drew nearer and nearer, until she felt the soft touch of his coat against her back. She quickly noticed that he was surprisingly small for a male pony, being about the same size as her friends, if not a little bit bigger. They both collided with the firm dirt road, Applejack's legs absorbing all of the pressure. "He's safe." Thought the tired earth pony.
Rainbow Dash however, was not, as Applejack was quick to discover when she heard something else falling out of the sky. The blue pegasus had completely fainted, and was currently in the midst of corkscrewing her way to the ground. Applejack let the stallion fall to the ground, but found herself unable to move her legs when she tried for another jump. The fatigue had taken almost everything out of her, and the initial euphoria she'd felt from the previous rescue evaporated into sudden despair. Twilight and the others were getting closer, but they'd still never make it in time. Applejack averted her gaze, but continuously tried to force movement out of her weary legs.
"So much death. Not one more. Not Rainbow Dash." She wept stoically, fully expecting the sound of a soul crushing thud to interrupt her thoughts at any second.
So imagine her surprise when it didn't happen. Applejack still kept her eyes on the ground, the last thing she'd want to do is to look up at the moment of impact. No, it wasn't until she heard a familiar noise did she muster the will to look up. The noise in question was a faint twinkling sound, a bit like the clinking of small bells. A sound that, through all her adventures with Twilight, Applejack had come to associate heavily with unicorn magic. She looked forward nervously, and the relief practically exploded from her mouth as a sigh.
Rainbow Dash was only a few feet away from her. The blue pegasus was hovering weightlessly above the ground by about an inch or so, encased inside a shimmering aura so bright it almost hurt to gaze upon. He body looked like it had gone through hell, with friction burns, dust, and matted fur all over, especially around her hooves.
"Applejack!" rang Pinkie Pie's voice. "You did it!" The earth pony turned her head from Rainbow Dash just in time to see Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy skid to her side. All of them wearing wide, joyous smiles as they looked down at her.
"That was amazing." Fluttershy said quietly. Her tone was just as soft-spoken as it ever was, but Applejack could still identify a subtle layer of enthusiasm and happiness in the yellow pegasus. It left her feeling slightly warm inside.
"Absolutely splendid performance, Applejack" sang Rarity's fanciful tones.
"Y-yeah, thanks y'all but, where's Twilight?" Applejack asked weakly. The sharp smiles worn by her three friends immediately softened, and they quietly parted, allowing Applejack to see into the near distance. There stood Twilight, horn aglow and head angled down, her painfully tensed posture neatly demonstrating the amount of effort she was in the middle of exerting. "Twilight?" Applejack called out kindly. "You can stop now. You caught her," Slowly, one of Twilight's eyes opened up, followed shortly by the other, her muscles began to slacken, and the brightness of her horn also dimmed a little.
"Huh?" Twilight bashfully surveyed the immediate area, her eyes going over both Applejack, the mysterious stallion, and Rainbow Dash. "Yeah! O-of course I can." Twilight nodded, and her horn faded completely, the aura around Rainbow Dash evaporated as well, easing her to the ground before vanishing into the magical ether. Free of any magical influence manipulating her joints, the pegasus reflexively curled up into a ball. The group all shared a concerned look, with Twilight being the first to wander over to her.
"Is she gonna be all right?" Applejack asked concernedly.
"I think she's just tired." Twilight said, stroking Rainbow Dash's colourful mane a little bit with her hoof. "We'll take her back to my place, Fluttershy can fix her up in no time." After a brief flash of panic, Fluttershy slung a semi-confident nod at Twilight. "What I'm most interested in now, however; is that Stallion lying next to you, Applejack." The orange earth pony looked down at him, taking her first proper look at the stallion she had put so much effort into saving. Applejack was already feeling a bit guilty about taking so long to check on him.
Her first feeling upon seeing him was undoubtedly irritation, irritation that she directed at herself for being so shallow. This was because the first thing that struck her about him was his amazing beauty. She was used to seeing beautiful ponies, both male and female (she herself hung out with five of them everyday), but this time it was different, he looked almost Celestian, and certainly wouldn't have looked out of place as a member of the royal family. The rest of the group had a similar reaction as well, all of them being stunned into awed silence by his flawless facial structure, his toned body, his palely blonde hair, and his gorgeous crystal white coat that they could almost swear was actually sparkling in the morning light. As Applejack had noticed earlier, he was surprisingly small for a stallion, and relatively thin as well, but it didn't detract from his overwhelmingly majestic features one bit.
Once their eyes had successfully acclimatized themselves to his almost otherworldly beauty, they began to see that the stallion was suffering from cuts, scrapes, bruises and a plethora of other minor injuries.
"Applejack?" Twilight asked quietly. She dutifully waited for her friend to nod before continuing. "Is he breathing?" The others all glared at her, silently demanding a bit more explanation. Twilight obliged. "I'm sorry for asking, it just doesn't look like his chest is moving from all the way over here." Twilight nervously began to trot away from Rainbow Dash, making her way towards Applejack. "You don't have to worry about it though, I'll check it myself." Twilight abruptly yelped when she almost walked face first into a hoof, stopping just in time to avoid it. She looked down to see Applejack, her head pressed against the stallion's chest, and one of her hooves raised to block her friend's advances. As soon as it became clear that Twilight had stopped for good, the hoof fell, hitting the ground with a loud clop.
"Well, he's still breathing, that's for sure." Applejack said. "But it's very weak breathing y'know? The type that sounds like it could stop at any moment." She rose from the stallion's chest.
"We need to get him back to Ponyville." Twilight instructed. "Can you carry him back, Applejack? Or do you want one of us to do it while you rest?" A small chuckle immediately seeped from Applejack's mouth.
"You should know me by now, Twilight." Applejack struggled to her hooves. The strain on her face remained hidden beneath a confident smirk. Twilight tried to speak but Appleack was too quick, and she hoisted the stallion onto her back in one, smooth motion. "The word rest isn't even in my vocabulary,"
"No, but to be honest I'm surprised the word vocabulary is." Rarity laughed.
"And what is that supposed to mean, Miss Smarty Saddles?" Applejack smiled assuredly. "And I suppose your massive vocabulary is what saved this poor handsome stallion then, huh?" Applejack strained to angle the stallion's body towards Rarity, practically rubbing him in her face despite how much it ached to do so. Rarity didn't particularly care, she had absolutely no qualms with looking at him for a few more seconds. She savoured every part of his body, and could only imagine how good he would look when completely clean. Upon more tentative viewing however, the white unicorn discovered something that provoked a strangely startled gasp from her usually eloquent muzzle. The outburst alerted everypony else around her as well.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked fearfully.
"It's... his flank!" Rarity said, her tone sounding a lot more melodramatic than she was intending. Her anxious friends let out a collective groan, with Applejack's and Twilight's in particular sounding the most pained.
"Rarity, please. Could you save the ogling for later?" Twilight sighed. "We all know know good his flank looks,"
"No! that's not it!" Rarity countered loudly. "Look at his flank, Twilight. Can you see anything unusual about it?" Obeying sceptically, Twilight did indeed take a long, hard look at the stallion's rear, feeling incredibly perverted while doing so too.
"I don't see anything." Twilight could only shrug.
"Exactly! Say that again." Rarity said quickly. Twilight tilted her head in confusion.
"What? I said I don't..." Twilight's eyes suddenly widened in shock. The pace at which she talked also slowed considerably, like she was carefully analyzing her own words: "I said I don't see anything." She quickly took another look at his flank, true to what she said it was completely and utterly bare, just as dazzlingly white as the rest of his body. "A cutie mark. He doesn't have one."
"You sure that's right?" Applejack asked, trying unsuccessfully to crane her neck around to have a look for herself.
"I-I've never seen an adult pony without a cutie mark before. I didn't even know they existed." Fluttershy said
"Same here." Twilight nodded, staring as hard as she could at the barren patch of fur. She felt almost positive that there was actually something there, and she just wasn't seeing it. Be it because to her own idiocy or otherwise. "It just doesn't happen. All ponies have a special talent."
"Maybe his special talent is being invisible?" Pinkie said cheerfully. Twilight found herself almost nodding in agreement. It was at that point she knew she was confused, when she was almost willing to take Pinkie Pie's suggestions seriously.
"Well, regardless, we need to get him back to Ponyville." Twilight said, aiming her gaze homeward. "There's plenty of time to discover who he is when he's healthy. I'll levitate Rainbow Dash. Applejack, you carry our guest. When we get back, Fluttershy will-"
"...an," Twilight stopped herself at the sound of a strangely frail, and tired voice. At first she assumed it was the stallion, just like everyone else did. "...han," continued the voice. It wasn't the mark-less stallion, since his lips clearly weren't moving. Twilight made her next best guess:
"Rainbow Dash?" she turned to look at the blue pegasus, who still hadn't budged from her foetal position. Her back was to the group, so they couldn't tell her expression.
"His name..." she said, her voice coming out a mite stronger than before. "... It's Johan."
"Johan?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at the strange name.
"Yes. And I need to save him." Rainbow Dash said firmly, the conviction in her weak voice resonating with the entire group. Twilight wanted to ask her so many things, but she just couldn't bring herself too, Rainbow Dash sounded too shattered. Twilight's horn began to glow, and a violett aura once again engulfed Rainbow Dash.
"Ok, We will," Twilight nodded gently. Magically, she scooped up her friend, and turned her to face them. Rainbow Dash's eyes looked incredibly heavy, but still displayed a bit of her trademark pride, which comforted everypony. They all traded smiles with her, as the pegasus couldn't help but slip into a deep, peaceful sleep. "I don't know who this Johan is, or where you found him, but thank you for saving him, Rainbow Dash. Rest well."
Many questions were starting to barrel through Twilight's head. And annoyingly, the longer she sat around thinking, the less likely it became that she was going to find out the answers. Everything she wanted to know was either in Johan's head, or Rainbow Dash's. They needed to get back to Ponyville, and Celestia help her, the trip was going to be an exceedingly swift one.
Unconscious pegasus and enigmatic blank flank in tow, the group set off down the horribly cracked road. Little did they know that a monster was approaching their town. A monster set to destroy everything.