Rushing to the window to inspect the commotion outside, Fluttershy quickly scanned her eyes around to determine the source of the disturbance. She quickly noticed that the eerie green glow had returned in the tree line to the forest. Knowing that the glow belonged to the cold dead eyes of an undead creature sent chills up the pegasus’s spine.

Suddenly, a blur of motion caught the yellow pony’s eye. She looked over to see a small white shape bouncing towards the forest slowly. She realized that the small white blur was in fact her rabbit friend Angel.

“Angel! What the hay are you doing out there?!” Fluttershy squeaked in a panic as she watched the rabbit hop into the forest. He quickly disappeared into the trees, leaving the yellow pony staring at the forest in a wide eyed stupor.

“I need to go after him... Tom!” Fluttershy exclaimed before rushing to her door and out into the hallway. She knew that the only hope she would have of ever seeing her friend again would be the human sitting in her living room.

The yellow mare ran through her house in a rush to get to the others. She bolted out into the room and slid to a halt before using the wall to catch herself. The others stared at the exasperated pony with a mixture of confusion and concern on their faces.

“Fluttershy what’s wrong?” Rainbow Dash asked as she watched her friend catch her breath with an alarmed expression.

“Angel’s gone!” Fluttershy gasped out in between breaths. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were surprised and shocked by the announcement, while Tom was merely confused.

“Who is Angel?” The human asked while waiting for the pegasus to finish catching her breath.

“He’s my pet rabbit… I couldn’t find him in his bed when I got back, but I saw him outside. He was heading into the Everfree Forest!” Fluttershy stated with alarm and concern. The others gasped in shock as they realized the danger Angel could be in.

“What?! Why would he go into the forest?!” Rainbow Dash asked in a panicked tone as she tried to process the situation.

“I don’t know, but we need to go get him!” Fluttershy said before turning to Tom. “Please Tom, we need to go after him!” She pleaded to the human with fearful tears in her eyes. Tom knew that she wanted him to take her into the forest to search for the rabbit.

“You want to go out there? Are you crazy?!” The boy said apprehensively while glancing to the window. Fluttershy looked to the human with a mixture of sadness and desperation on her face.

“Please Tom! Angel means the world to me. I don’t know what I would do without him. If you won’t help me look for him, then I…” Fluttershy gulped nervously while glancing out of the window. “Then I... I’m going after him by myself!” She stated in a fearfully apprehensive tone.

Tom was surprised by the way the shy pony was acting. He could tell that she really didn’t want to go out there without him, but she was willing to go anyway. He wondered just how attached the pegasus was to her pet. The boy shrugged in frustration. He couldn’t just sit by and let the innocent mare head blindly into danger alone.

“Alright… I’ll go, but you’re sticking close to me alright?” Tom instructed in a serious tone. Fluttershy nodded in determination. She was excited to hear that the human would help her.

“Thank you so much Tom!” The shy mare said with a happy smile while walking forward to hug the gracious slayer. Tom accepted the gesture before letting the pony go so she could prepare herself to leave.

“I’m going too.” Rainbow Dash stepped forward confidently to stand by the yellow pegasus.

“Me too.” Pinkie volunteered while walking over to her friends. Fluttershy was humbled to see her friends sticking with her in a time of need.

“Are you two sure? There’s no telling what kind of danger is waiting for us out there. You can just head home and let me and Fluttershy handle this.” Tom asked the two brave ponies to be certain. He didn’t want them risking their lives blindly without consideration. The two nodded confidently before turning to Fluttershy.

“We want to help Fluttershy. And besides, you two can’t just leave without us.” Rainbow Dash stated with determination. Pinkie nodded in agreement with a cheerful smile.

“Yeah, we can’t just leave and do nothing.” The pink mare chimed in eagerly. Tom was surprised by the fact that the ponies kept surprising him with their bravery.

“Alright, let’s get going. The sooner we find Angel, the better.” The boy stated while getting up and walking out of the door. The ponies quickly followed him outside before closing the door behind them. Just before leaving, Fluttershy quickly rushed to a closet in her hallway. She pulled out three flashlights and tested them before rushing to join her friends outside.

The area was eerily quiet once again. The wind had died down, and the noises and glowing from the forest had ceased, leaving only the darkened woods to stand as an ominous doorway to whatever the ponies would encounter.

“How are we going to find Angel? The Everfree Forest is so big… like, huge!” Pinkie huffed in frustration as she peered around a tree to view into the forest. Tom stepped forward into the trees before turning to the group.

“Well, I’m going to wager that any small animal in their right mind wouldn’t step foot into a forest filled with dangerous monsters willingly. I’m thinking that something lured him out there, so I’m going to try to find the source of these zombies. My guess is that whatever is making these things has something to do with Angel walking into the forest.” Tom explained his idea to the group. Everyone agreed with the boy’s reasoning.

“Here, take these.” Fluttershy said while tossing a flashlight to each of her friends. “Sorry I don’t have any more… I guess I’ll just have to go without one.” She sighed at her lack of good fortune before walking forward with the group.

The light from the moon that had bathed the landscape in a comforting blue light had all but vanished under the thick canopy of trees. The pitch black forest sent shockwaves of various frightening memories through each of the ponies’ heads.

Rainbow Dash remembered the day she and Twilight returned to the forest with the princess. Brief flashes of her time in the cave made the pegasus cringe before mentally forcing the thoughts from her head. While Pinkie and Fluttershy merely remembered the first time they met Tom out at Zecora’s hut. The two ponies could still hear the pounding of the front door ringing in their ears as the darklings fought to break in.

On top of their memories of the forest, the dark atmosphere created new feelings of fear and nervousness in the ponies. They swept their flashlights side to side frantically as they caught brief glimpses of shadowy silhouettes in the distance, only to realize that it was a trick being played by their own imaginations.

Tom walked ahead of the group to lead them. As he searched the area with his senses, he noticed a faraway spot where all of the energy coming from the zombies seemed to originate from. The human also tried to survey the area for any potential threats.

“Do you feel anything around us Tom?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously while glancing around through the thicket of trees.

“I can’t really tell… The energy that these things give off is so small that it blends in with the trail I’m trying to follow.” Tom replied uneasily as he listened to the many far off moans and groans that carried through the trees. Even if he couldn’t sense them, he knew that there were more undead around somewhere.

As Fluttershy ducked under a low hanging branch to get around a tree, she noticed some dark shapes around the group. Upon noticing this, she tapped Rainbow Dash on the shoulder and pointed in the direction of the shadowy figure.

“What is it?” The cyan pegasus asked curiously while fumbling her flashlight around to search for whatever was troubling her friend. Fluttershy gently grabbed her arm and guided the beam of the flashlight onto the distant shape.

“Look over there…” The yellow mare said while focusing the light. Once the flashlight settled on the shape, the two realized that it was another animal staggering in place near a tree. Upon closer inspection, the animal appeared to be a fox that had its head down and numerous cuts on its body.

“There’s one of those things.” Rainbow Dash whispered nervously while staring at the creature in the distance.

“There are more of them over there.” Pinkie stated while pointing to the side. The group looked over to see two more animals off in the distance. As they searched around them, the four realize that they were practically surrounded by the creatures.

“What do we do?” Fluttershy squeaked in a panic as she darted her eyes around nervously. She could feel her heart racing as she tensed up her muscles fearfully. Tom looked around to assess the situation before turning to the ponies with a calm expression.

“Everyone just stay calm and keep quiet. Hopefully we can sneak by without them noticing.” The human whispered calmly while trying to ease the ponies’ fears. Everyone took a nervous glance at the numerous animals around them before gulping nervously and swallowing their fear.

As they slowly crept forward around the trees, the ponies could hear a pin drop over the low groaning sounds around them. They were so conscious of where their feet were landing, that they somehow managed to avoid stepping on anything that would create noise.

Fluttershy cringed as a twig broke under her hoof. She peered over at a nearby zombie to see if it noticed, only to watch it lift its head up and look off to the side. After breathing a silent sigh of relief, the yellow mare looked forward to the human leading the group.

“Tom, are we getting close?” Fluttershy whispered just barely loud enough to be heard. Tom used his senses again to check on their progress.

“We should be getting there soon… as long as nothing happens we should get there in a few m-” The boy stopped mid-sentence and froze in place while staring ahead. The ponies nearly knocked into him as they focused on the ground to walk silently. The three mares looked at the human with puzzled expressions until they looked ahead to where he was staring. Once they noticed what had made their friend freeze up, they widened their eyes in shock and terror.

A large bear was slowly walking towards the group. It didn’t seem like it noticed the band of frightened ponies as it stared blankly ahead with its glowing green eyes. The sight of the ferocious animal staggering forward with such gory injuries while still maintaining a vicious look on its half-eaten face struck terror into Fluttershy and her friends.

The bear’s nose was partially missing, revealing the hole in its skull that served as the nasal passage. One of its ears was dangling off of the side of its head by a small strip of flesh. There were numerous places on its bulky legs where patches of skin and flesh had been torn. And to top off the already frightening predator’s grizzly appearance, one of its front paws was missing half of its toes, leaving only two sharp claws in place.

The bear stopped moving suddenly and stood up on its back legs. It twitched its head and crinkled up the small portion of its nose that remained, as if it were trying to sniff the air with its doubtlessly functionless flap of a nostril. It growled deeply, creating an unearthly sound that pierced the ponies’ very beings as it reverberated out of the dead animal’s throat.

“Does it see us?” Rainbow Dash whispered anxiously as the undead predator started walking forward again. It shifted its cold, dead eyes to glare at the group of ponies before groaning and walking a little faster.

“Well I don’t think it’s coming over here to tell us about the bear necessities.” Tom replied in a mixture of panic and nervousness.

“Wait… what?” Rainbow Dash took a moment to stop staring at the bear to give the human a confused look. Tom realized that his joke fell on deaf ears before returning his attention to the bear that was now sprinting at them.

“I’ll tell you about it later!” The boy yelled while running forward to meet the bear before it got closer to his friends. Tom unsheathed his sword and charged at the bear with the blade held straight in front of him. The creature reared up in preparation to strike the human, catching him off guard.

The sword went straight into the creature’s mid-section, stopping just above the hilt and leaving Tom staring up at the now incredibly angry zombie bear leering down at him. The bear swiped its injured paw at the boy. Even with the heavily disfigured extremity, the impact of the two claws across Tom’s head sent him flying sideways.

“Tom!” Fluttershy cried in shock as she watched the human collide with a tree a short distance away. Tom clutched his face with his hands and yelled in agonizing pain as he felt the huge gash in his face. Blood poured from the open wound as the human struggled to get to his feet.

A bright orange light flickered to life as the flames of Tom’s healing abilities kicked in. The horrific wound took a little longer to close up than most other wounds he had suffered due to its size, leaving Tom to deal with the added pain of the burning sensation given on top of the pain from the injury.

The ponies were horrified to see their friend in so much pain. They were even more horrified to see the bear charging directly for the wounded human. The undead predator was growling fiercely as it stumbled sideways while running to its prey.

“Tom, look out!” All three ponies cried out in unison to warn the human of the impending attack.

After the wound finished healing, Tom breathed in heavily a few times to help his body recover from the shock. He then looked up just in time to see the bear careening towards him. The boy jumped out of the way just as the bear slammed into the tree.

Seeing an opportunity to attack, Tom reached for his sword to pounce on the bear. After grasping at the air for a brief moment, the boy quickly realized that his katana was still embedded in the bear. Sure enough, the hilt of his sword was sticking out of the animal’s mid-section as it stalked towards him.

“Alright big guy… you want to play rough?” Tom asked while readying his arms into a fighting stance. He then brought out his claws and stared down the bear with determination and bravery.

“I can play rough!” The human yelled as he charged forward after the bear. The undead creature roared as it bolted forward like a steamroller, ready to plow into the boy. The ponies watched in amazement as Tom leapt over the charging bear and spun around to land on its back.

The boy grabbed the bear’s blood soaked fur and held on for dear life. The bear growled in protest while reaching its arms around its back in an attempt at grabbing the annoyance. Tom made sure to steer clear of the sharp claws that were scraping nearby as he hung in place.

“Tom!” The sound of his friends calling for him frantically made the human look over to where they were standing. The ponies were backing towards each other as a group of zombified animals surrounded them slowly.

“Aw hell… sorry big guy, but play time is over!” Tom yelled with determination as he stabbed his free hand into the back of the bear’s neck. The spinal cord offered little resistance from the sharp blades as they severed it with a satisfying crackle.

The bear groaned in pain before falling forward. Tom leapt off the dying animal and grabbed his sword from the bear’s stomach. He then pulled it out in one swift motion while stepping to the side to allow the lifeless corpse to fall to the forest floor with a loud thud.

The boy looked over to where his friends were. They were cowering in fear while hugging each other close as the animals snarled and snapped their teeth at them. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were looking around with absolute terror in their eyes as they observed their certain doom, while Fluttershy was cowering close to the floor with her face covered by her hooves.

“AHHH!” Pinkie and Rainbow Dash screamed in unison as they watched the animals jump towards them. They averted their eyes and shut them tight to prepare for the horrible pain of being ripped to shreds. Fluttershy listened while crying uncontrollably as the gut wrenching sound of flesh being punctured and torn filled the air.

The yellow pegasus strangely felt no pain, but her friends were silent. She feared that they had been devoured alive while she would be next. Gathering up the courage to take a look at the scene taking place around her, Fluttershy slowly lifted her arms to peek out. The shy mare gasped in shock as she looked around her.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were perfectly unharmed, but they were frozen in place with their jaws held open in a shocked expression. Tom was sitting on top of one of the animals with his claws buried in its head. Another one of the animals was lying motionless a few feet away with Tom’s katana sticking out of its neck. The rest of the zombies were all strewn around with four deep gashes in the back of their necks or under their chins.

“T-th... th...” Rainbow Dash stammered in shock as she tried to put words together. “T-th… that w-was amazing! I thought we were goners for sure!” She said while laughing hysterically at their close brush with death. The cyan pegasus touched her face and touched her friends’ shoulders to ensure that they were all alive.

“You almost were…” Tom spoke up with a grim tone of voice. The ponies were surprised by how gloomy the boy was. They figured that he would be happy and proud that he pulled something like that off just in time to save them.

“But… you saved us, so it’s ok.” Pinkie said in an attempt at cheering the human up. Tom got up from the animal and vanished his claws back into the flames they came from. He then walked over and pulled his sword out of the animal it had been planted in.

“Barely… I almost didn’t make it.” Tom stated gloomily while turning to face the group. “You all need to be safer if you’re going to be out here. If I can’t get to you in time, then I don’t want to think about what could happen.” He added in a concerned tone. The ponies felt bad for the human. It was clear that he wasn’t chiding them to be more careful, he was worried that he might not be able to save them if something bad would happen again.

“We’ll be fine Tom…” Rainbow Dash said sympathetically while walking over to the human. He looked at her with confusion and doubt.

“How can you be so sure?” Tom asked curiously. Rainbow Dash smiled at him confidently before putting a hoof on his side.

“Because we have each other, and we have you. As long as we stick together, or even keep each other in our hearts, then we will never let anything get in the way of our friendship. And now that you’re here, you’re part of that friendship.” The pegasus replied with an inspiring speech. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy nodded confidently while walking closer to join the others. Tom was touched to hear that the ponies wanted to include him in their inner circle. They seemed to take friendship very seriously, and to have them offer him a place in their friendship was very moving to the human.

“That may be true… but I’m still worried for all of you. Your world isn’t ready to mix with the evils that my world is capable of… which is exactly what seems to be happening.” Tom said uneasily while observing the ponies and taking note of how sensitive they were at the end of the day.

“We might be sensitive when compared to humans, but we can be brave too.” Pinkie spoke up confidently. Tom was intrigued to hear what the party pony had to say.

“There are tons of examples of ponies being brave… even Fluttershy here has a brave streak in her. She stared down a dragon and lived after all!” The pink mare praised while looking over to Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus blushed shyly as she recalled the memory in question. She didn’t think much of her experience with the dragon. It was hurting her friends, and at the end of the day it was just a big animal, so she just dealt with it.

“You stared down a dragon?” Tom asked with surprise and curiosity. Fluttershy nodded with a coy smile. The human was impressed and shocked at the same time to hear that such a gentle and sensitive pony could square off with a dragon and live.

“Ok… you’ll have to tell me about that one later, but first let’s go find Angel and get out of this forest.” The human suggested while walking forward and using his senses to get back on track. The ponies nodded to each other in agreement before returning to their search.

After a few more minutes of walking, the group noticed that the trees were starting to thin out a little bit. The ground was starting to get less grassy and obstacle ridden as well. Before they could question the strange placement of their surroundings, the ponies noticed a light up ahead.

As they drew closer to the light, they realized that there was a clearing up ahead that was allowing moonlight to shine through completely. The clearing was full of boxes, tents, tables and other pieces of equipment. And much to the ponies’ surprise, they saw a few hooded figures moving around in the camp.

“Everyone get down.” Tom whispered while creeping closer to a tree on the edge of the clearing. The group followed his example by huddling behind the tree next to him. The four peered out from behind their hiding spots to observe the two hooded figures talking around a pen like structure with a door.

One of them appeared to be a blue furred unicorn with tufts of white hair poking out from under his hood. While the other one appeared to be a teal earth pony with black hair. Both ponies’ cutie marks were concealed by the hoodies they were wearing.

“What are they saying?” Rainbow Dash whispered to her companions curiously.

“I can’t hear them.” Pinkie whispered back. Before the group could ponder further about the intentions of the hooded ponies, a small white rabbit hopped into the clearing from off to the side and walked up to the hooded figures.

“Angel…” Fluttershy whispered with concern as she observed the rabbit stand idly at the ponies’ feet. He seemed like he was in some sort of trance as he bobbed his head around limply. Suddenly, one of the ponies noticed the rabbit and bent down to pick it up.

“Alright, this should be enough for tonight. Go turn off the gathering charm and prep a table.” One of the ponies instructed to the other before opening the door to the pen and placing Angel inside. Through the small opening, the group could see a few other animals trapped inside the pen.

The earth pony nodded before walking over to a table and grabbing a book and a scalpel. He set the book and cutting tool down on a small table near what appeared to be a medical examination table with straps on it.

While the earth pony was reading through the book and adjusting various other vials and jars of other equipment, the unicorn was opening the pen and leading a small deer out by a leash. He walked the deer over to the table before using his magic to lift it up and place it on its back.

The deer offered no resistance as the two ponies strapped it to the table. The animal’s eyes had a strange blankness to them. After tightening the straps so the deer couldn’t move, the ponies turned to the equipment next to them. The unicorn lifted the book off of the table and held it open in front of him, while the earth pony grabbed a scalpel off of the table and examined it.

“What are they doing to that poor thing?” Fluttershy asked while looking at the scalpel with a sense of dread in her stomach. As if on cue to answer the yellow mare’s question, the earth pony swiftly drew the scalpel across the deer’s throat, slicing it open.

The ponies gasped in shock and looked on with horrified expressions as the deer gargled out a cry of pain while struggling against the straps. The animal slowly stopped moving as the wound gushed out blood like a morbid waterfall.

After the deer stopped twitching, the unicorn started reading from the book. While his partner recited a spell from the tome, the earth pony opened a vial of a white powdery substance. He took a hoof-full of the powder before sprinkling it over the deer.

After covering the animal in a good amount of the powder, the earth pony blew the rest of the powder into the air above the animal. The powder formed into a cloud of particles floating in the air above the table. Suddenly, a flash of green appeared within the cloud of dust.

Soon the green flash formed into an odd, almost fluid-like luminescent green mist. The mist slowly drifted down like a puff of smoke caught in a breeze, until it went inside the dead animal. The two ponies waited silently while observing the corpse.

Suddenly, the deer jerked upwards while letting out an unearthly howl that startled Fluttershy and the others. The animal’s eyes had started glowing the same neon green that the other zombies had. The two ponies leaned away from the table as the animal kicked and screamed against the straps.

The unicorn read off some more words from the book while staring at the deer with a disciplinary leer. After the pony had finished, the deer relaxed and lay still on the table while silently breathing, or at least going through the motions of breathing as it no longer needed oxygen to thrive.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy and her two friends were mortified from watching the scene unfold before their very eyes. The yellow pegasus had tears in her eyes as she let the event sink in. She couldn’t believe that the two ponies had just murdered that deer without so much as a second thought.

“Why would they do something like that?” Fluttershy hiccupped as her voice quivered from sadness. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie did their best to comfort the distraught pegasus while dealing with their own emotions.

The two hooded ponies released the undead creature from the table and pointed off to the other side of the camp. The deer slowly staggered its way towards where its masters had pointed. After the deer was out of sight, the two walked back over to the pen.

“Alright, I think we should do one more for the night. I’m beat…” The unicorn said to his partner, who nodded in agreement. The two then reached into the pen and pulled out another animal. Much to the horror and shock of the ponies, the unicorn had a familiar white rabbit in his hooves.

“Oh no… Angel!” Fluttershy gasped in fright as she watched the two walk away with her pet in their clutches.