“Ummm . . .” Pinkie Pie jerked her head back and forth to hear better, “Anypony else hear that?”  She suddenly gasped, not without drama, “Maybe Rarity's right! Maybe there is a monster in those woods! We gotta do something! We need nets and traps! We need to save Fluttershy! Who ya gonna call?!”

Nocturne moaned as the dark shapes swimming in front of his eyes slowly came back into focus.  He didn't know how long he'd been out, and he was even less sure of how he was knocked unconscious in the first place.  He slowly stood up, instinctively felt the top of his head, and relaxed when he felt the reassuring fabric of his fedora.

The last thing he'd remembered, he'd heard three voices babbling at the edge of the woods.  None of them could be Fluttershy; by now, he'd remembered what she sounded like, and those three voices sounded too young for one of them to be her, anyway.  He'd started moving toward them, ready to punish them just as he had done to everypony who trespassed in his territory.  He had flexed his wings to their full span, ignited the glow in his fiery eyes, and . . .

Been knocked out cold.

Whatever it was that had ambushed him was good.  It was strong, stealthy, and managed to get the drop on him.  Nopony had ever gotten the drop on Nocturne before (physically, anyway).  Now, whatever it was must've scared his intruders away, for both it and they were gone.  There was no longer a reason to take defensive measures.  The interlopers were gone now.

But if that thing that blindsided me returns, it will be sorry it ever crossed me . . .

Nocturne suddenly heard a noise, and he strained to listen.  It sounded like screaming, so it wasn't difficult to hear.  Sounded like two—no, three voices, under extreme distress.  And they were approaching the edge of the woods.  Whoever they were, they were the next ponies to trespass on Nocturne's territory.

And this time, he would not be taken by surprise.

Nocturne made his way toward the disturbance, sure to keep himself hidden.  Was this the thing that attacked him earlier, returning with the intruders?  It sounded like the screaming came from young ponies, so it was entirely possible.  But if that were true, then what was the screaming about?  Had they, like Nocturne, run into something they weren't prepared to deal with?

Had they found a monster in the woods besides Nocturne?

He would be sure to find out.  And to show his attacker what a real monster looked like . . .

Angel wore a coat of sopping-wet white fur and a deeply annoyed expression; he backed up and pointed over his shoulder.  In the back, curled up on a pillow and sobbing, was Fluttershy.

“Oh, dear!” Rarity gasped and raced in, leaving Angel in a daze, “Oh, Fluttershy! What happened to you, darling? Are you quite all right? Oh, this, this vicious, inconsiderate brute! And to make our Fluttershy cry like this! It's just . . . . so very impolite!!”

Rarity's already upset enough about Nocturne, Spike thought as his little legs pumped harder and faster toward Carousel Boutique, How is she going to react now that there's a Lamia loose on top of it?! Before, it was Fluttershy, but now it's her own sister! And I couldn't do a thing to help! Oh, she'll never forgive me!!

He reached the front door of the boutique in record time and burst through the door without bothering to knock, “RARITY!! RARITY, WHERE ARE YOU?! WE NEED YOUR HELP!!”

Noisy hoofsteps sounded off from the staircase, and they bore Rarity into the ground floor.  “Spikey, darling!” she gasped when she saw him as he was now bent over and gasping for breath, “What's happened to you? Are you all right, dear? Are you hurt? Tell me what's wrong, and Rarity will make it all better, I promise!”

“No . . . not me . . .” Spike heaved, still gaining his breath back, “. . . . . Sweetie . . . Belle . . .”

Rarity gasped again, “My sister? Oh, what's happened to her, Spikey? Is she all right? Please, tell me!!”

Spike fought his exhaustion with all his might, “She . . . and Scootaloo . . . . and Apple Bloom . . . Everfree . . . . . taken . . . monster!”

“WHAT?!” Rarity screamed, “A monster in Everfree?! And it took my sister?! Was it that beast Nocturne? I WILL END HIM!! Oooh, when I find him, he'll rue the day he hurt my baby sister!!”

“Not . . . Nocturne,” Spike heaved, “No time . . . to explain . . . we gotta get the others . . . now!”

“Say no more, Spikey-wikey!” Rarity replied, swiftly lifting Spike up onto her back and racing out the door, “We'll have to split up! I'll find Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash! You get Twilight and Applejack!”

“Twilight can't!” Spike explained further, “That thing broke into the library and attacked Fluttershy! Twilight's staying with her!”

“Oh, dear, no! Fluttershy hurt, and Sweetie Belle and her friends gone?! Oh, this is terrible! But we mustn't give up hope, Spike! We have to do whatever it takes to save them!!”

Spike started feeling a pang of guilt, and found himself confessing without even meaning to, “Rarity, I . . . I'm sorry. I couldn't stop it . . . . I wasn't strong enough to save them . . . . it's . . . it's all my fault!”

The two came to a crossroad, and Rarity stopped, setting him down, “Don't you take one bit of blame for this, Spikey-wikey. It's this beast who's to blame, not you. We'll set everything right, I promise. Now go! Get Applejack! Now!”

“Right!” Spike raced down one road, while Rarity sped down the other, each of them setting their sights on uniting their group.

The Lamia finally set down in front of the Everfree Forest, and Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo still screamed and struggled against its gripping tail.  The Lamia slithered into the woods, and the darkness they all remembered covered them head to toe, hiding them from anypony that might be on the way to rescue them.

Scootaloo was the first one to summon up enough courage to speak, “Wh-what . . . what are you gonna do with us, y-you freaky . . . cat . . . snake . . . thing?!”

The Lamia gave a chilling hiss of a snicker before responding, “I'm a Lamia, my little pony-bite. Pity you didn't learn about us in school. Not that it would help you to know that you'll be today's lunch!!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” Sweetie Belle squealed, 'fear' not nearly enough to describe her distress, “Please! Don't eat us! Don't eat us! We're ponies! You don't want us! We don't taste good! We . . . we taste like glue!!”

This only served to make the Lamia salivate, “Mmmm . . . . delectable . . .”

“Way to go, Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo admonished, “You wanna grab a twig and give us a garnish while you're at it?!”

“Calm down, y'all,” Apple Bloom settled them, “We can get outta this. We just have to stay positive and work together!”

Scootaloo sighed and relented, “Apple Bloom's right. If we turn on each other, there won't be anything left for that thing to eat! We gotta keep it together! We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders! When we're together, we can do anything!”

Sweetie Belle whimpered as the Lamia's tail constricted tighter around them, “I don't even care if we get our cutie marks today! I just wanna be able to try again tomorrow!”

“There is no 'tomorrow' for you little sweet treats!” the Lamia hissed, “Your end is today!”

The girls continued to struggle as they passed tree after tree, dark bushes, broken twigs, a pair of glowing red eyes, scattering animals—

“What was that?!”

The Crusaders and their captor did a double-take, and saw that they had indeed passed a pair of glowing red eyes.  Their owner stepped out from under the cover of the foliage, but was only clearly defined in shape; the shadows hid him well.

“Everything you just said,” Nocturne greeted the Lamia, “can easily be as true about you.”

“What? You again?” the Lamia roared, “You wanna get in my way again? I only brushed you aside before, Pegasus! Get lost, or fear for more than just a bump on the head once I'm through with these fillies!”

Nocturne merely scoffed, “You think you know fear?”  He crouched down low, and his eyes glowed even brighter, reaching blinding levels, “I AM FEAR!!”

The Lamia hissed back defensively as Nocturne charged.  She swiped at him with a paw, but he ducked and launched his right front hoof into her face.  The Lamia retaliated by slashing at Nocturne with the other paw, nicking his shoulder.  Knocked back by the hit, Nocturne bounced back and tackled the Lamia, making her grunt in pain.  She bared her fangs and attempted to sink them into Nocturne's neck, but he pressed his hooves against her lips to stop her.  Seizing an opportunity, she swung her paw into Nocturne's stomach, knocking him back into a tree, but Nocturne pressed his back hooves into the tree and sprang off of it, ricocheting back toward the Lamia and catching her in the neck with his front hooves.

Finally, Nocturne had her pinned to a tree by her throat, and the creature struggled and sputtered, swinging her paws at him and flailing her wings.  She was panicking, losing control of the situation, and within another few seconds, her body.  Her tail slowly relaxed, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders fell from it and onto the forest floor.

The Lamia wasn't the only panic-stricken creature in the area; the Cutie Mark Crusaders stared in awe as Nocturne struggled to keep the Lamia contained.

Nocturne glanced down at the girls with his luminous eyes, “Go. Now!”

“Hey, twist my hoof!” Scootaloo quipped before running, her tiny wings buzzing behind her.

“Scootaloo, wait up!” Apple Bloom shrieked as she followed suit.

Sweetie Belle ran with them, but stopped and turned around for a minute, “Um, thank you.”  Nocturne answered her by swiping his hoof and sending the Lamia crashing into a bush, a motion similar to how he threw Rainbow Dash three days before.  Sweetie Belle was speechless.

“Sweetie Belle, come on!!” Apple Bloom returned long enough to grab her friend by the tail and drag her away from the carnage that was about to unfold.

The Lamia stumbled out of the bushes just in time to see her would-be meal escape.  “Grrr, see what you've done?!” she bellowed, “You made me lose my lunch! I hope you're prepared to go from hero to martyr!”

Nocturne scoffed again, “See now, that's your second mistake, thinking that rescuing those little intruders was my motivation.”

The Lamia eyed him with her own vicious red eyes, “Second? And what was the first mistake?”

Nocturne's eyes were now so bright, they gave off tangible heat, “The real reason.”

“That there's the trouble, Rainbow,” Applejack countered, her face stern, the twang in her voice not hiding her concern, “Fluttershy ain't you, and y'all should know that. Ya oughta know that girl can get downright yella-bellied at times.”

“I'm afraid she's right, darling,” Rarity added, blinking with worry, “Especially when there could be something terrible in those woods. The word around town is that this particular part of Everfree Forest is haunted! The stories they tell about this pony, he's said to scare away anything and everything he sees! It must be absolutely dreadful!”

The word around town was right.  He really did scare anything and everything he saw.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders raced between trees and bushes, struggling to see through the darkness and remember their way home at the same time.  As they ran, Sweetie Belle spoke up, “Shouldn't we help him?”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom stopped dead in their tracks, making Sweetie Belle stop as well.  Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle as if she'd just gained a horrific, disturbing image as her cutie mark, and Apple Bloom answered audibly, “Beg pardon?”

“Nocturne,” Sweetie Belle clarified, “He . . . he saved us. I don't even think he meant to, but he did. Shouldn't we do something to help him? He can't take that thing on alone.”

“Look, he said for us to go, and we're going!” Scootaloo yelled, “We're lucky he didn't realize that we shouldn't have been here in the first place!”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom agreed, “I mean, what do you think he'd do to us if he wasn't preoccupied with that Lamia?”

Sweetie Belle seemed to consider this for a moment, then relented, “I guess you're right.”

All three of them turned back toward the way they'd come, hearing sounds.  The rustling of leaves, the breaking of branches, the sound of furious roaring: it could all only mean one thing.

Nocturne lost the fight.

The Crusaders screamed and continued running, not even sure where they were going and desperate just to get away.  Behind them, the rumble in the foliage grew, and the animalistic sound grew more intense.  The Lamia was gaining on them again, giving all three of the girls a horrific sense of déjà vu.  Deep down, each of them worried that the Lamia would catch them again, in the exact manner it had before.

“Apple Bloom?” came a voice piercing through the dark of the woods, “C'mon, sugarcube, answer me! Where are you!!”

“Hey, Scootaloo!” came another voice, “Is that you in there? Over here! You're almost home!”

All three fillies gasped and shifted direction, toward the voices.  “That's Applejack and Rainbow Dash!” Apple Bloom said, ecstatic, “They found us!!”

“We're saved!” Scootaloo cheered, “Rainbow Dash could totally take on that ugly snake-cat thing!”

Racing between trees and jumping over bushes, the girls ran on and on, staying ahead of the vicious din that closed in on them.  The distance shrank fast, and each filly was sure they could feel the Lamia's breath hot on their back hooves.

“There they are!!”

The girls saw movement in the green ahead, and saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash in person, climbing through the dense shrubbery and spotting them.

“Hang on, hon!” Applejack ran to her sister and swept her onto her back, “You're safe, now!”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were swept off the ground by Rainbow Dash, and the Pegasus rocketed into the sky, blowing past the canopy.  “Fasten your seat belts, girls!” Dash warned, “You're in for one awesome escape!”

“Yeah! Way to go, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo continued to celebrate as she and Sweetie Belle soared through the air with Dash.  Below, Applejack's longer, stronger legs pumped her and her sister much faster out of the woods.  In minutes, both reached the border and were back in Ponyville.

“Look, there they are!” Spike called, and he, Rarity and Pinkie Pie ran to them.  Applejack stopped and let Apple Bloom down, and Rainbow Dash landed, letting Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle touch land, as well.

“Sweetie Belle!!” Rarity shrieked and ran to embrace her sister, “Oh, darling, I was positively drowning in worry!! Are you hurt, darling? Are you quite all right? Whatever's happened, it will be all right, now! You're safe!”

“I'm all right, Rarity,” Sweetie Belle replied, barely heard past Rarity's fretted smothering.

“Thanks for comin' after us, you guys,” Apple Bloom said as she hugged her sister, “We thought we were goners for a minute, there!”

“Was there ever any doubt?” Rainbow Dash said confidently, “Yeah, I would've given that Lamia thing the old one-two hoof if I could, but it looks like you got away from it. How'd that happen?”

“Well, that's the weird part,” Scootaloo tried to explain, “Just before the Lamia started on us, Nocturne came in and—”

“Nocturne?!” Dash replied, incensed, “What did he do to you, kid? I swear, if he touched one hair on your mane—”

“No, it wasn't like that,” Sweetie Belle interrupted, “He . . . well, he rescu—” she, too, was interrupted, but by the sound of another break in the foliage.  Bursting from the edge of the woods, crawling out by her paws, was the Lamia.

“YOU!!” Rarity growled, shoving Sweetie Belle behind her (Spike voluntarily joined her), “You disgusting brute! Don't you ever lay a claw on my sister again!!”

“That goes for me too, you foal-snatchin' varmint!” Applejack cursed the beast, “Y'all messed with the bull, so you'd best git 'fore you take the horns!”

“I'M SORRY!!”

Everypony in attendance was dumbstruck.  It seemed as though the Lamia had just apologized for what she'd done.  That wasn't the only unusual thing about her—her words had come out in a lisp due to missing teeth, she was covered in bruises, both her eyes were blackened, her lips were swollen, and it seemed like one wing was broken.

“Oh, well, that's okay!” Pinkie Pie squeaked happily, “If you're really sorry, and promise never to do it again, we forgive you!”

“Pinkie!” Dash remonstrated before turning back to the Lamia, “You're . . . sorry?”

“Yes!!” she answered desperately, “I'm so sorry! I promise, I'll never touch your fillies again! I'll swear off eating children for the rest of my natural life! I'll never eat another living thing, ever again! Just don't let him get me!!!”

The bizarreness of the situation had reached it's peak, until everypony realized what she was talking about.  Apparently, Nocturne hadn't lost the fight, after all.  In fact, this was just the next round.

The Lamia was suddenly jerked back, as if something in the forest behind it was yanking on its tail and pulling it back into the woods.  She dug her claws into the dirt trying to stop it, but could only leave long trenches behind as she was forcibly dragged back into the darkness, “HEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEEEE . . .” her voice faded as the shadows and the trees obscured her.  Everypony jumped at a slew of new sounds: screaming, blows landing and branches (or were they bones?) systematically breaking.  There was one final blow, a sound so brutal that everypony not only heard it, but felt it, and they saw the Lamia burst up through the top of the trees, screaming and soaring hundreds of feet away.  The ponies couldn't even see where she'd landed.

There was an awkward pause, broken only by Scootaloo, who looked up at Rainbow Dash and said, “Uhh . . . I-I still think you could've taken that thing, Rainbow Dash.”  Dash simply stood, awestruck.  Even she was impressed by that.

Seconds later, the bright glow of Nocturne's red eyes shone forth from within the woods.  He eyed them all up and down, as if inspecting them for some reason.  He was silent as he did this, allowing Sweetie Belle to pop up from behind Rarity and address him tentatively, “Thanks again. You saved our lives in there.”

The eyes narrowed, and Nocturne's cold voice spoke up from the dark, “Listen up, all of you. The next time you see Fluttershy, tell her I said 'We're even'. Now stay away from me!”  And with a movement that befit a puff of smoke, he vanished into the forest once again.

Spike slowly peeked out from behind Rarity, staring out into the trees for movement, “Is . . . is it gone?”  Whether he was talking about Nocturne or the Lamia was unclear.

“Twilight, please, don't strain yourself. I'm fine, really.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight answered her as she continued to check Fluttershy for injuries.  She had come to only a few minutes ago, and was admittedly still a bit woozy, but she didn't need any serious medical attention.

Or the serious attention Twilight was giving her.

“Yes, I'm perfectly sure,” Fluttershy assuaged her, “But we should be more worried about the girls. Oh, I hope the others found them safe and sound.”

“Well, if you're okay to walk or fly, we need to join them. That thing was strong and fast, and even the five of them together might have trouble with it. Not to mention that Spike is just a kid, himself. If he's smart, he'd be on his way back here after he gathered the others—”

There was a sound at the hole where the door was, and Twilight and Fluttershy glanced toward it.  Spike and Pinkie Pie walked in first, followed by Applejack and Apple Bloom, Rarity and Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo.  Spike and Pinkie were belting out a rousing, celebratory chorus of some kind, “Here they are! The heroes of Everfree . . .”

“You found them!” Twilight gasped and ran to them, with Fluttershy following them, and all nine ponies (and Spike) converged for a massive group hug.

When the group dispersed, Apple Bloom sheepishly traced a circle on the ground with her hoof, “Heh-heh, well, uh . . . I guess that wasn't Nocturne after all, huh?”

Everypony giggled, a bit awkwardly, but it was still good to laugh after what had happened.  Still, it reminded Twilight of something that needed to be said, and she sighed before she spoke, “I'm sorry, Fluttershy. I just can't say it enough. I should've known that you knew what you were doing. I feel ashamed that I frowned on the one idea that I myself have been learning about this whole time. If you believe that friendship really will help Nocturne, then I won't interfere with that anymore. I only hope you can forgive me.”

Fluttershy's eyes grew misty from Twilight's consideration, “Oh, Twilight. You were worried about me. I understand. I don't need to forgive you for being a little protective. You were just being a good friend to me. You . . .” she trailed off for a second before continuing, “. . . you just let it keep me from being a good friend to Nocturne, that's all.”

“Hey, speaking of him,” Spike stepped in, “We saw him after we saved the Crusaders, Fluttershy. He, uh, mentioned you, too.”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked, genuinely surprised and unable to keep from smiling a bit, “Nocturne mentioned me? What did he say?”

Spike recounted, “Something about, 'We're even now'.”

Now, confusion took the place of surprise, “We're . . . . even?”

“Oh, yeah, you didn't see!” Scootaloo added, “You should've seen what Nocturne did to that Lamia! He totally crushed it! He was awesome! Not nearly as awesome as Rainbow Dash, but still pretty up there . . .”

“He saved our lives, Fluttershy,” Apple Bloom smiled warmly, “I think you were right about him.”

“I wouldn't be too sure of that, sugarcube,” Applejack shook her head, “Nocturne did the right thing, sure enough, but I'm gettin' the idea he did it for the wrong reason. He specifically asked us to tell you that the slate's clean. I'm thinkin' it wasn't out of the goodness of his heart, but just to get you to let him be.”

“And the way he brutalized that Lamia!” Rarity recounted, the memory still fresh in her mind, “I mean, surely the beast deserved justice, but it could have lost its life! What Nocturne did was completely unnecessary!”

“Hey, didn't you talk about all the horrible things you'd do to that Lamia if it ever hurt Sweetie Belle?” Spike asked, prompting a disapproving stare from Rarity.  “I-I'm just saying . . .” the dragon backpedaled gently, blushing.

If there was any doubt in Fluttershy's mind before, today's events cast it away forever.  If Nocturne really wanted Fluttershy to leave him alone, he would have left, found another place in the forest in secret, or at least would stop reacting so quickly to intruders in his part of the woods.  And if he really was so evil, he wouldn't have given the Cutie Mark Crusaders a single thought.  He would have easily ignored them, and proceeded to punish the Lamia for the same reason he punished everypony else—for trespassing.

But this went beyond a simple kind act for a squirrel caught in a tree branch.  Today, Nocturne saved lives, and he wasn't even asked to.  Whatever reasons he may have shown he had, he still did something heroic and selfless for ponies he didn't even know.  And one way or another, Fluttershy was on his mind today.

She was getting to him.  She was revealing to the world the good in him deep inside.

“Nocturne really is a good pony.”

Nocturne sneezed, almost slipping with the herbs he rubbed over his body, and continued the process.  Living in the forest for so many years had provided him with a wealth of knowledge on the healing properties of certain plants and herbs, and considering the days he had, like today, he used them quite often.  It came with the territory of being feared as the 'phantom pony of Everfree'.

Nocturne's thoughts wandered as he bore the sting of the herbs he spread on his wounds.  He thought back to the warning he'd given to the pony rescue team that had assembled to save those three fillies.  The kids, he'd never seen before, but Nocturne recognized the others as Fluttershy's friends—the white Unicorn, the obnoxious pink Earth pony, the orange Earth pony in the cowgirl hat, and the gutsy rainbow-maned Pegasus he had taught a lesson to three days prior.

Why is it always those six? he thought angrily to himself, remembering that last one, the purple Unicorn who'd told him off four days ago, They come here, they always come here . . . why? Why is Fluttershy so obsessed with me?

He could hardly answer the question anymore, but he found he was thinking more and more that the reverse was true, as well, even truer.  Fluttershy was just as mystifying to him as he was to her, and his thoughts on her no longer stopped at her reasons.  Thinking about her drove him crazy, but he couldn't understand why he wouldn't just forget about her, pick up and leave, do anything to get away from her.

He'd hoped his 'we're even' warning had been enough, but he had a feeling it wouldn't.  He couldn't explain it, but somehow, he knew he'd be seeing Fluttershy again soon.

The better question, the most consistent question, remained: did he want to? Next Chapter: Day 6 and 7 Estimated time remaining: 17 Minutes