Green Eyes in the Night
Chapter 7; Dark Woods, Darker Heart
Twilight finally managed to get herself under control, having cried as much of her pain away as she could. At this point she didn't care if he didn't talk to her, she was goin to take Spike a blanket as apologize to him. She should never have questioned him in the first place, dragon or not her was her Spike, he would never harm anyone unless it was to protect someone else.
The trip to the dungeon was going to have to wait as it would seem. The sound of pounding was heard from the front doors of the castle and when she spared it a glance Twilight was shocked to see the hard, magic laced wood being deformed slighty before bursting in open, litterally.
Rarity stepped threw the shattered remains of the once pristine entrance, a stern and serious look on her face. "Hello Twilight." she said in a calm and in control voice as she took several steps towards the enraged princess.
"Rarity," Twilight said with as much venom as she could muster. In Twilight's mind this was all her fault, she was the one to start to turn the town against Spike and all for her own selfish reasons.
"I assume you know why I am here," Rarity said as she locked eyes with Twilight, almost daring her to make a move.
Twilight's face hardened as she said, "I won't let you take him."
Rarity let out a harsh bark of a laugh as she said, "Oh Darling, you really don't have a choice in the matter. You can hand him over to us now or we can go in and take him."
"We?" Twilight asked, already fearing what the answer would be. All her fears were realised when the majority of Ponyville, as well as the royal guards she had asked for, were now standing in the middle of the lobby in an angry mob.
With a sigh Twilight steeled herself as she squared her shoulders and said, "This is an act of treason." She was somewhat glad to see the looks of uncertainty on several faces, she wasn't pleased that she was but she was none the less. "If you leave now I will over look this trangression however if-"
Before she had a chance to finish her speech Twilight was blasted by a beam of energy, struggling to even get back to her hooves. When she finally did she looked over to the window to find the pegasis guard Night Wing and a red unicorn by the name of Tight Bind. "Magic neutralized." Tight Bind said as his horn powered down.
That one phrase scared Twilight in more ways than she'd like to admit, Tight Bind was the unicorn that had made the spell that sealed away all magic during the Equestria Games. There was only one word in all of the Equestrian language that could accurately and eloquently express the thoughts running threw her mind at this moment. "Shit..."
Spike sighed as he curled up into a tighter ball in his dark and cold cell. 'Really should have taken that blanket,' he thought to himself sardonically. In his short time in the cell Spike had come to regret the cold shoulder he had given Twilight and Fluttershy, both were in a hard spot and just had no idea how to handle it.
The sound of something shattering above him drew Spike's attention upwards, and considering he was at least two floors below gound level that had really suprised him. Jumping to his claws Spike listened as hard as he coud trying to hear anything of what was going on upstairs.
Before Spike had a chance to do anything, mainly braking down the door and checking on Twilight, a slip of paper slipped down from a small window on the celling. Picking it up with more than a bit of trepidation Spike read the note, eyes widening more and more as he did. 'They'e after you, you need to get out now! I'll stall as long as I can but you need to run now!'
While his first instinct was to ignore the note, he really didn't need to get into more trouble, his second seemed like the better idea. Run, run like a bat out of Tartarus. He may not have fully recognized the hoof writing but Spike was more than smart enough to take good advice her he heard and or read it.
That unfortunatly lead to another problem, actually getting out. Getting threw the metal bar wouldn't really be an issue, dragon strength and fire breath making it child's paly, no the real issue woud be dealing with who ever was out there ready to take him down and probably out. In the end his went with the good old dragon failsafe.
The doors to the dungen exploded out ward with several Ponies running down and flying the stairs. Rarity had Night carry her down to the cell, she wanted to be the first and lest thing he ever saw. Unfortunately all the group found was an empty cell and a few melted bars.
For a few breif moments Rarity's face turned a bright scarlet before she was able to get herself back under control. "We didn't see him when we came in," Rarity said as calmly as she could, "He has to still be here somewhere. Look around for any sign of him."
The group began to scatter all around the small room and cell, turning up nothing. While the bars had been broken down nothing else seemed to be out of place. 'Where did you go you filthy piece of...' Rarity's thoughts were stopped when she noticed something odd.
Walking into the cell Spike was using Rarity noticed that the dust that was on the floor next to the bed and night stand was disturbed slightly, as though it had been moved away then back. Using her magic Rarity threw the night stand against the nearest wall, smashing it to pieces.
"He dug a tunnel..." She hissed as she looked into the hole burrowed into the floor and wall. Turning to the now frightened crowd she said, "We need to go, it has escaped!"
The angry mob ran threw town following the track left behind by the fleeing dragon, tracks that lead them to the edge of the Everfree forest and right into the path an a very, very angry Applejack. "Where is he?" Night Wing asked in indignation.
"Where do you think you damn coward?" Applejack hissed as she turned to them with tears in her eyes, "He ran off into the forest. He found out about what ever it is that you all were planning and he ran away and I... I don't know if he'll come back..." Towards the end he voice hitched slightly and the look of sorrow was quickly replaced by rage at the look of relief on all but a few faces.
"Let's get ready everypony," Rarity said as she squared her shoulders, "we still need to find him and bring him to justice."
Everyone, Night Wing and Applejack included, looked at the mare as though she had lost her mind. Eventually Night was able to regan enough composure to say, "Are you out of your ever loving mind?!"
"He has killed ponies we all know and care about, we con not simply allow him to escape justice!" Rarity retorted.
"Look," Night said, "I understand he has taken somepony important from you, really I do, but there is no way in Tartarus you'll be able to get me or anypony else to follow you into the most dangerous forest in Equstria, in the middle of the night, to case down a dragon you have lost it and bad!" Everyone behind him nodding along with him.
Rarity narrowed her eyes and began trembling as she snorted, "Fine... I don't need you! I'll hunt him down on my own!"
"I ain't gonna let you go by yourself," Applejack said. When Rarity gave her an incredulous look she contenued, "Oh get over yourself, I'm going to try and find Spike and if possible prove he didn't do any of this. If I let you go on your own you might die and then Spike will be in even more hot water." Rarity glared at her once good friend before sighing and agreed, she may not have liked it but it was a good plan. Besides she could use this to get in her head and maybe turn her against Spike.
It was about an hour into the trek and Rarity was tap dancing on Applejack's last nerve. "How on earth can you still defend the beast after everything he's done?" Rarity asked.
Applejack snorted slightly as she said, "Easy, he hasn't done anything. I keep trying to tell you it couldn't be him. It would be just about anything else. Like say a timberwolf."
This time it was Rarity's turn to snort. "Oh yes beacuse there are just so many other creatures around with glowing green eyes that it could be, like... oh what now?"
"Timberwolves, unreformed changlings, someone possed by Sombra again," Applejack said without turning around, "you... just to name a few."
Rarity snarled and could feel the light of the dark magic enter her eyes, she could feel the old urge rearing it's ugly head again. How easy would it be to just change her mind by force, in truth not very, she had done it once before.
The sound of Applejack stopping drew the unicorn's attention back to the hear and now. "I need to ask you a few things Rarity." Applejack said as she jumped on top of a small ledge and looked up towards the moon, "I know why you've been tyring to turn the town against Spike but why are you trying so hard to pin all this on him?"
Rarity rolled her eyes as she said, "For the last time dear, I know he's the one responsible. I saw him attacking Trenderhoof. The only one left who still believes he's innocent is you. Even your own family has turned against him so why do you hold on so badly?"
A small laugh escaped from the apple farmer as she said, "First off, ain't nobody in my family that has turned against Spike, it was all an act so that the town wouldn't turn against us. Secondly you never actually saw Spike, you saw a shadow that has glowing eyes, something I still don't even know if Spike can do."
Hearing this, that the Apple clan was still on his side, Rarity finally snapped, "He has to pay Applejack. After all the work I put into Trenderhoof, having to manipulate his mind so that he'd stop being attracted too you and start seeing me in the right light. To use my magic in such a subtle way for so long just to have it taken away in such a way. He was my ticket to a proper life in the Canterlot elite and now because of him that's gone!"
"So that's all he was to you then, arm candy?" Applejack asked, still not turning to look at the other mare, "After all is said and done all you think about is yourself in the end. Though that does lead to another question, just why did you tell me all this. You've been braking a serious law by messing with someone's mind like that."
"Oh that's easy Darling," Rarity laughed darkly as she walked towards Applejack, a menacing look in her glowing eyes, "In a few moments not only will you not remember any of this but you'll be walking back to Ponyville in tears over how Spike tried to kill us."
Rarity's magic began seeping out of her horn and towards Applejack, only for it to fade before it could reach her. Rarity gaped in shock as Applejack began to chuckle, "Oh Rarity, really... trying to corrupt me like you did Trenderhoof? You're just a little villain aren't you?"
Narrowing her eyes in again Rarity tried again with the same result. "How... how are you doing that?" she asked with a slight tremble in her voice. Applejack began a soft laugh as a horrible smell began to fill the air, the smell of rotting foliage and flesh.
"Tell me Rarity, you went to magic shcool right? What are some of the magical beings that are immune to magic besides their own?" Applejack asked as the full moon rose from the parting clouds.
Confused, Rarity began to list all she could remember, "Dragons of course... Wendigos...Bubaks... Ti...Tim..!"
"Timberwolves?" Applejack asked as she turned back to the now frightened unicorn, eyes glowing a bright green. Jumping down to the grass below Applejack's hooves began to wrap around them and reach up to her body. All around the two Timber wolves began howling, as if frightened by something.
Rarity's eyes turned back to Applejack and watched in horror as she began changing. Her fur became matted and her cutie mark became distorted, leaves began to sprout out of her elbow joints and the base of her tail. The tree around them began groaning as the bark from them was torn from them and flew towards her, Some of it fusing to her back making what looked like a makeshift cape while more of it still coated her hooves turning them to claws. The last of it, as well as several limbs, covered the upper half of her face giving her the look of a timberwolf with her incisors growing out into promanate fangs.
No amountof sheer will or bluster could keep the fear out of Rarity's eyes or voice, "What... what happened to you? How did you become... become..."
"Timberjack?" she asked with a smirk as she began to circle Rarity, "That's actually kinda a funny story. See a few months agao I was in the Everfree forest looking for Winona, the poor girl was going threw a heat cycle and managed to find her way into the Everfree. Low and behold she drew the attention of a pak of timbers, try as I might I could manage to get to get her away from them but I did find out something intersting. You ever hear that old myth that if a werewolf bits you and you survive you become one? Turns out the opposite is true for timberwolves."
Instincts kicked in, instincts that Rarity had no idea she even had. Lighting up her horn to the point it was actually begining to burn, Rarity perpared to blast Applejack... no Timberjack, with everything she had; only to be tackled to the ground by the much faster Timberjack.
Pinning her head down to her chest, Timberjack quickly bent down and bit down on Rarity's horn, the hard bone like appendage shattering under the powerful jaw. Shock was an amazing thing, Rarity had never in her life been in more pain yet she was unable to scream. Timberjack spit out the horn and laughed darkly, "There we go, can't have you going around blasting me with magic."
Pushing herself back Rarity began shacking as tears began leaking down her sheeks. "All... all this time it was you! You killed Spoiled Rich!"
"The bitch deserved to die!" Timberjack hissed. "With all the shit she pulled around town, if it hadn't been me it would have been somepony else. Heh... I just might have done Filthy a favor by ending her when I did if what I heard is anything to go by."
"Stone Runner..." The fact that dirt and grim was begining to rub into her perfect white coat in that moment was, most likely for the first time, the farthest thing from her mind.
Timberjack grinned darkly, "Spike has the patience of a saint for not taking a chunk outta that bastard but a girl can only take so many insults before she has to step in for her man~." she said as she licked her lips.
Rartiy found herelf back into a tree as she trimbled out, "...Trenderhoof..."
Timberjack's grin vanished as she cocked her head to the side and said, "Now he's the one I ain't so sure about. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed tearing that pompus asshole apart, but now that you've told me how you were just using him I just don't know how much of it was your doing and how much was him just being a prick. Oh well, guess I'll never really know." Her grin returned as she began walking towards her next meal.
"It was you, you were the one attacking the town and," Rarity's eyes widened as she pointed her hoof at the monsterous pony before her, "...And you were going to let Spike take the blame for it!"
Faster than lightning Timberjack was upon Rarity, her claw pressed so hard on her throat Rarity could actually feel some of her vocal cords snapping. "Don't you dare you little slut!" Timberjack hissed as she bared her fangs, "I have fought tooth and nail to protect him, and for the record the first time was just an accident.
"See the first few times I transformed all I did was walk into the forest and began hunting small little animals, even now some of the memories are a bit blured. As I learned I gain better control over my new form but what can I say, hearing what Spoiled was planning on doing to Filthy and Diamond I just snapped. As for Stone, well that one was planned. Like I said a girl can only take so much. And as far as Trenderhoof, I was planning on taking you both out at once. A plan I intend to follow threw on!"
Timberjack lunged forward to try and rip out her throat only to be stopped as Rarity sucker punched her in the jaw and, grabbing what was let of her horn, stabbed her in the head and ran off. Had she stayed she would have seen the horn fall from her head as the wound closed. Timberjack stood up and cracked her neck. "I do so love it when my prey runs."
Rarity ran as fast as she could, she knew she was beyond lose but she had to run. Even now she knew Timberjack was just on her hooves, she didn't believe for a second that that attack would have been enough to put her down for long, it also didn't help that she could hear the trees moaning and the leaves rustling and getting louder.
'Oh Celestia help me!' Rarity thought as she ran, 'what can I do, I need help but who? She leveled Stone Runner, who was a head guard when she was still in her pony form. The princesses wouldn't be able to get here on time even if I could reach them and with Twilight's magic sealed there is now way any other pony could-!'
A frightened and some what manic smile. 'Of course! I'll call Spike! He's in these woods some where, all I need to do is call and he'll come save me!' Knowing that her voice would be weak and probably wouldn't carry very far Rarity opened he mouth as wide as she coud before begining a shout... only for it to die in her throat as something hit her and forced her into a dead stop, somethig bad.
Spike wasn't going to come and save her. Why would her? For the better part of the last few months she had been doing everything in her power to tear him down and drive him from his home, something she knew that even with his kind heart he couldn't just over look, add that to his growing infatuation with the very apple farmer that was currently hunting her and Rarity came to haunting realization. She, Rarity Belle, was good, truely adn royally fucked.
"So, is it finally starting to sink in yet?" Timberjack asked as she walked out from the tree line, "You won't be walking out of this forest. As a matter of fact," the sounds of howling was heard all around the terrified unicorn as several eyes made themselves known. Timberwolves of all sizes began walking into the clearing, all in a ring around them to prevent their escape, "I don't think you'll be lasting more than the next five minutes or so."
"So... this is your plan, draw the wolves here and have them kill us both?" Rarity asked as she looked at the angry faces of the wolves, several of which were drooling in hunger.
Timberjack laughed a little as she shook her head as she said, "Is that what you think? Rarity when I started hunting in the Everfree my first day I ran into this pack and you know what?" She got right in Rarity's face as she whispered, "I became the alpha." Pulling back she continued, "Wasn't easy mind you. The bastard wanted me as one of his bitches and I'll admit I'm attracted to the strong, I have someone else in mind." She licked her lips again as one of the larger wolves who had a large portion of the left side of his face let out a soft whine.
"Back to buissness." Timberjack said as she drew the attention back to herself, "As tasty as they find ponies there just isn't enough to go around for the whole pack so congradulations," Timberjack waited to see the small glimmer of hope in Rarity's eyes before she finished, "You get the honor of being the cubsfirst solid meal."
Before she had a chance to register what was said Rarity felt fangs sinking into her back leg, feeling herself being pulled to the ground she felt another set on her left side. Looking ever she paled as she saw four puppies about the size of a border collie pulling on diffrent body parts.
The first limb to come off was the back leg that the first had pulled and had to watch as another grabbed an end and the two began fighting for it. A growlin drew Rarity's attention and when she turned she came face to face with another, which promanatly tore half of hers off. Screaming pain Rarity's flailing flung blood all around, causing many of the wolves began howling in excitement.
After a few moments of shear agony Rarity was eagerly awaiting the sweet release of death. She no longer had legs and most of her organs had been eaten away. She could feel one trying to dig into her chest when a growl drew them back. With her only eye Rarity watched as Timberjack walked forward. "Hold up young'uns, you can have the rest but I get her heart."
Timberjack walked up and placed her paw on Rarity's chest as she said, "It's been fun Rare... I hope you burn in Tartarus." With that said she drew her claw down and split open her chest and ribcage, exposing her still beating heart. Rarity watched as Timberjack reached in and pulled it out, as much as she didn't want to she watched as Timberjack put it in her mouth and bit down.