I was nervous as hell as Dash and I sped toward a rising column of smoke and flame picked out against the night sky. I could tell Dash was just as worried about her friend as I was about the possibility of losing a Bearer of Harmony, or possibly worse, the CMC.

“It's not the farm house that's on fire, looks like it may be coming from the orchard,” Dash's shout breaking me from thoughts.

“How can you tell?”

“It'll be coming up on the right in a moment and we should be able to see the flames if we were that close.” She was right as the location as a small two story farm house shot by as we angled off into the heart of the orchard. I could feel my ethereal guts clinch as the flames got closer but the wall of trees that marked the border to the Everfree stayed off in the distance.

My fears were confirmed as we rolled up on a sight I never hoped to see, the CMC club house was engulfed in flames. It took us a moment to process the sight before us and I said a silent prayer in the hopes that this was the kid's doing and not the Peach's handy work. I was back at full strength after that lightning strike but even I doubted my ability to take on the Peaches if there were enough of them, they were one of only a few things in Equestria that could put me down and I really didn't want to deal with that so soon after getting free.

“Hey, look there's some pony over by that tree!” shouted Dash, breaking me from my own spiraling thoughts, as she sped over to a lump of red lying on the ground.

My nerves were at their breaking point as I made it over to see the slightly charred form of Big Mac lying on the ground.

“Mac? Mac? What happened?” I could hear the panic in her voice and see the tear as they began to form in her eyes.

“Mmph,” was her response as the large stallions eyes slowly opened.

“Come on Mac, where is Scoots?” she was frantic by now and I could see the tears in the fire light as they rolled down her face. This wasn't good, a sleep over was one of the worst things that could happen right now. Just so long as the Peaches weren't involved this night might just have a happy ending.

“Heard a commotion... went to check it out... saw torches near the Everfree... went to check on the girls,” he wheezed, I didn't like where this heading. “I remember opening the door... and then you were standing over me. Thought I was dead when I saw your friend here, but I guess I'll live to fight another day.”

With that the bottom fell out of my stomach, my night was about to get a whole lot more interesting. It was definitely a booby trap set to throw anypony off the family's trail, at least it failed and the I'm the last thing they'll expect so I had a bit of a leg up in this mess.

“What's goin' on out here!?!” Especially now that Applejack was here.

“Which way did they go?” I asked as calmly as I could muster given the circumstances.

“Hey! Is anypony payin' any attention to me?” demanded Applejack.

“They went that way” he indicated with a shaky hoof, “into the Everfree.”

“Thank you. Now you get some rest big guy, I'll go save your sister and her friends,” I said as the stallion passed out again.

“Hey pal,” shouted Applejack as she spun me around, damn she's strong, to face her, “what. Happened. To. My. Sister.” I could feel the hate coming off of her as she starred me down for answers.

“She and her friends have been taken by a “family” of undead cannibals for one of many purposes that range from the morbid to the down right sadistic,” might as well be honest just in case she knows I’m lying.

“Wha… what?” she stammered as her hind end hit the ground and got a faraway look in her eyes. I really have to work on my bedside manner.

“Sorry, it’ll be all right I’m here to get them back,” I said bending down and placing my hand on her shoulder.

“You promise?” That look she gave me told me everything I needed to know. Tonight there would be no survivors, the Peaches were done for and if I had to burn that cursed forest down, they wouldn’t see another sun rise.

“Yeah, I do. Dash, stay here and help get Mac back to the house; I got business to attend to in the Everfree.” I said turning away from the angry mare.

“Where do you think you're going,” replied Dash as she shot up into my face to block my path. I could see the tears drying on her face and I really wanted to comfort her, but I had to catch up to the Peaches and time was running out.

“As I said, I'm going to get the girls back,” I replied stepping around her as I headed toward the forest.

“I'm going with you then.”

“No, you stay here and help the Apples. I have a date with the rest of the Peach family and I'd hate to be late.”

“If they're the same thing I helped you stop back in Ponyville you'll need my help.”

“Not really, that lightning strike brought me back to full strength, and besides I don't know what their composition is. For all we know they could have fliers and the last thing anypony wants to deal with is an undead cannibal that can fly and doesn't tire.” Besides that, what I was planning would just give her nightmares.

“But-”

“No “buts,” you stay here and I'll handle this,” I said as I left her behind in a dead sprint for the Everfree.

-----

'I really should have thought this course of action through a bit better,' I chastised myself as I ducked under another low hanging branch. The Everfree was huge they could have changed direction at any time to shake pursuit or I could just be walking in circles in this mess. I knew I was going to have to try something different and hope for the best.

Dropping into a sitting position I began to concentrate on my Sin Sense. Normally, this wouldn't help as the undead wouldn't show up since they technically don't exist in the cosmic scheme of things and kids don't show up unless they do something truly big, be it good or bad. To make matters worse, the only beings I could get permanent locations on without actively meditating on were the Princesses and Discord and for some reason Celestia was the only one of the bunch I could sense right now. Honestly though, I could use a blip, a sign, to tell me I was heading in the right direction. And, oh boy, did I get it. They were only a little ways directly ahead of me and it looked like they had stopped. I guess a bunch of big, bad monsters can't stand up to a bunch of little fillies. It was rather comical in a way.

Most disconcerting though, were the dark spots all over the Equestrian landscape. When I had last seen them they were far flung and only peaked my curiosity since I had seen that same darkness in that pegasus that I downed back in Canterlot. Now, they were smaller with a new large one only a few miles to the north of Canterlot. I was going to have to get a handle on that as soon as I could, but this little debacle was definitely going to interfere in the long run.

“I know I'm doing the right thing here,” I said to the surrounding trees as I stood back up and started walking again, “so why do I feel like I'm on the losing end of this?”

Author's Notes:

Here's a bit of filler as we head off into holidays.

As always; Comments, Questions, and Critiques are welcome below.

I think I'll send yaw out with a classic this time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXwMrBb2x1Q

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!