Fluttershy poured over the reply letter from Celestia. Nearly a week had passed since encountering the Thing in the Fog and the Creature in the Trees. Fluttershy had thought long and hard about what exactly to call the monsters she had encountered in the forest, but her creativity had left her.

As she had feared, her concussion had returned with a vengeance after being slammed into the ground by the Creature in the Woods. She had been released from the hospital after a three-day waiting period, but Dash had been forced to stay behind due to an unknown illness brought on by her bite. Fluttershy had been conscious during most of her stay in the hospital, and had so been able to greet her friends.

The questions asked had seemed never-ending. What were you doing there? What was it that bit Dash? Did you, you know, kill it? Will dash be okay? These and more were asked over and over by Twilight, Pinkie, AJ, and Rarity. Fluttershy had paid them very little mind. Her thoughts were focused on Dash, who had been lying comatose in the bed next to her.

Fluttershy felt utterly responsible for Dash’s fate. After all, it was she who had invited Dash to come with her into the forest to hunt for the cockatrice. Fluttershy had read over Dash’s medical report close to a dozen times: Fractured jaw (Fluttershy took responsibility for that), severe concussion, lacerations on the shoulder, and an unknown disease brought upon by the bacteria in the creature’s mouth.

With nothing to do in the hospital, Fluttershy took it upon herself to write a report to Celestia detailing the events in the Everfree forest. Dear Princess Celestia, Fluttershy wrote with a shaking hand, I know that it is usually Twilight that sends you these letters, but I felt that it would be necessary to tell you about what happened to my friend Rainbow Dash and I in the Everfree forest.

Well, it started off as a routine hunt for a cockatrice that had been turning other cute little forest creatures into stone, but, well, we found… something else. I-I don’t know how to describe it, aside from that it was powerful enough to twist my body and my mind. It made me walk to it, and it made me WANT to walk to it. I couldn’t get a good look at its body, but I did see that it has several long, black tentacles.

I managed to break free from its mental and physical grasp, with the help of Dash snapping me back to reality I think. I-I-I couldn’t just LEAVE, I mean, I couldn’t just leave without knowing what we were up against. So, I told Dash that there was something that we had to look for up ahead.

While we were searching for the Thing in the Mist (the only name that I can use to describe the creature), something… something was hunting us. I heard it a few times in the form of leaves crunching underhoof, but I didn’t really pay it any attention until it was literally trying to eat me. The thing managed to bite Dash, who is currently comatose in the Ponyville hospital, suffering from some unknown disease brought on by the creature’s bite.

We managed to knock the monster out, and I got a good look at it. It… It almost looked like a pony, with no hair and skin that was drawn very tightly over its bones. It was almost like a walking skeleton, it was so thin.

Anyway, I simply felt that it would be necessary to report these things to you, Princess. And please, if there is anything you can do to help Dahs recover, I would be immensely grateful if you would help.

Your Loyal Subject,

~Fluttershy.

Fluttershy, Celestia had written back, Thank you ever so much for reporting this to me. First off, let me say that following the Slen Thing in the Fog was very, very foolish on your part. Even with your expertise with animals, that was far beyond your ability to handle.

As for the creature that attacked you and Rainbow Dash, it is a very rare creature known as a Wendigo. A Wendigo is created when a pony, through one way or another, eats the flesh of another being (disgusting, I know). This violation of ponydom creates a ravenous monster that only exists to eat. I am very surprised that you and Rainbow Dash managed to escape with your lives.

Avoid the Everfree forest, or at least the parts of it that have not been mapped. It is for your own good.

~Princess Celestia

An overturned carriage lay in wreck outside of Appeloosa. Shards of wood had impaled themselves into the dirt as the carriage had flipped over and over. The driver had lost control while traveling at very high speeds. Night was falling, and where there should have been the musical chorus of crickets chirping, there was only silence around the fallen carriage. A tattered banner flapped in the wind, bearing the moniker: “Trixie, the Great and Powerful”.

Its black tentacles writhed in the air as It walked through the wreckage and debris. It had been simple to cause this accident; It had simply blasted the driver with pure energy, reducing his brain to liquid. Even now, It passed over the dead driver, several shards of wood impaling his limp corpse to the ground.

Such a pity. It would have preferred to feed twice, and gain double the strength from this feeding, but no. Once would have to do. It walked silently, like Death, through the twisted remains until It saw it’s prize. A brilliant blue mare lay in the dirt, her leg broken at an odd angle. She moaned and tried to work some sort of magic, perhaps to heal herself. But It would have none of that.

Her eyes widened as she saw It standing there, tentacles writhing. “N-No, please!’ she stammered, “I-I have money! Is that what you want, money?” She grasped a bag of coins with her teeth and flung them at It. The bag hit the ground and ripped open at Its hooves, spilling shiny coins everywhere.

Its tentacles snapped forward in a flash, grabbing the mare on each limb. A tentacle wound itself around her mouth, muffling her screams. Without any remorse or hesitation, It pulled as hard as it could.

The ground was soaked a muddy-brown from the mare-Trixie. Her blood coated the tips of Its tentacles, and It felt alive. It felt more alive than it had ever been in the forest, surrounded by everything imaginable that had fangs or claws. Off in the distance, It saw the lights of a city. Without another word, it left the wreckage. No one would ask questions. The driver would have simply lost control, and Trixie would have been eaten by the beasts of the night. There would be no bodies to identify, anyway.

Fluttershy lay in her bed. The reply letter from Celestia sat in a locked drawer next to her bed. It was late, a little past midnight, but Fluttershy could not sleep. Dash was still in the hospital because of Fluttershy. Celestia was right: Fluttershy was a fool for chasing after the Thing in the Fog.

Her eyes drifted to sleep. Darkness took her.

In the farthest reaches of Fluttershy’s mind, she noticed that something was amiss. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, trying to go back to sleep. Then she felt the pressure at the end of her bed.

She sat bolt upright. At the end of her bed sat a figure, taller than the Wendigo or anypony that Fluttershy knew. It was facing the wall on the other end of the room. Fluttershy squeaked in fright.

The creature’s head darted to face Fluttershy. She saw small, sharp teeth as it smiled, and its hollow, black eyes peered endlessly into Fluttershy’s terrified eyes. Fluttersy screamed, and the creature dove out of the window to the ground two stories below. Fluttershy, in a burst of motion took to the wing and flew out the window after it.

She followed it further into Ponyville, where it entered a random house. Fluttershy gasped and dove down to the house and rapped on the door with her hoof repeatedly. She already heard commotion inside. An Earth-pony mare answered the door. Before she could say anything, Fluttershy said, “Ma’am, I need to know if something just came through your house.”

This question took the mare by surprise. “W-Well, our son Pipsqueak is claiming that he saw something, but I don’t know if he is telling the truth.” “May I ask him what he saw? Please, it’s a matter of great importance,” Fluttershy asked. The mare looked doubtful, but eventually allowed Fluttershy into her house.

“He is hiding in his room. First door on the left, upstairs,” the mare said. ‘Thank you very much,” Fluttershy said as she walked upstairs. As she looked at the mare, she noticed a certain emptiness to her eyes.

“E-Excuse me? Pipsqueak?” Fluttershy said, poking her nose into the very small colt’s room. He was sobbing in a corner, back facing Fluttershy. “Listen, my name is Fluttershy, and I just wanted to ask you a few questions, that’s all,” Fluttershy said soothingly.

‘This is a-about t-the monster, i-isn’t i-i-it?” Pipsqueak said between sobs. “Yes, yes it is,” Fluttershy said gravely. Pipsqueak was silent, and then he pointed at the door. “he carved that before he left,” Pipsqueak said. Fluttershy looked at the door and saw a circle with an X through the middle carved into the wooden doorframe as if by a claw.

“D-Did he say anything?” Fluttershy prodded as she walked closer to Pipsqueak. Pipsqueak shook his head. “Do you know what or who he was?’ Fluttershy asked. Pipsqueak nodded. “Well, than, could you please tell me?” Fluttershy asked sweetly.

Pipsqueak turned to face Fluttershy, his eyes red and puffy from crying.

“He is the Rake.”