V. 's Story
Not everything is as it appears to be with lies and deception everywhere, even in the land of Equestria there are still secrets and lies. The biggest secret in the world is about to take residence in the land of friendship and harmony. Chimera is coming home.
Chapter 1: Homecoming
Deep in a long forgotten forest, a glowing purple aura overcame the over grown vegetation to clear a weather worn path of cobblestone. A few small purple buds of flowers where popping up in a few of the cracks, only to be crushed under a set of dark hooves that clacked loudly on the cracked, stone path.
The forest floor was pitch black, with only the strange purple glow slightly guiding the way as it brushed away piles of old dead leaves and overgrown tree roots to expose the pathway of stones. The forest seemed peaceful with only the song of cricket's filling the night with the occasional hoot from an owl breaking the still silence. The wind blowing at the tree tops above created some soft noise with the leaves.
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
Came a voice form the shadows of the forest floor, sounding rather annoyed before it could be heard again. "The East Gate shouldn't be much farther." The voice said with some reissuance as the purple glow pulled a near solid wall of tree limbs out of the way, exposing a tall, mossy stone wall that was only dwarfed by the trees trying to topple it. The stones held strong with the help of a thick, rust colored iron gate that dug into the ground as ivy climbed the vertical and horizontal bars.
"It looks closed, how are we gonna get in?" came a small childish voice asked, glowing green eyes with wide vertical slits where low to the ground shifted upwards where a pair of half closed gray eyes looked at the gate before a dark hoof taped the rusting bars.
"Hmm." Came a much more mature sounding voice as the gray eyes grew unfocused with thought. The green eyes came closer to the bars to look at the over grown grass on the other side of the gate, and nothing else.
"Can't you just open a portal?" the green eyes asked, looking at the gray eyes as a sliver cross on a necklace floated towards the gate as it glowed purple. "No. The whole place was built to prevent any transport magic inside the gates. It's why we ended up so far away in the first place." The gray eyes responded as the glowing cross was pressed to an identical indent in the stone arch way.
The night was then filled with horrible screeching as the rusty gears shifted for the first time in many years, slowly lifting up the rusty gate and pulling up the ivy along with it. A full moon's rays of light hit the legs of the two at the gate, a set of light gray legs belonging to a rather short pony with green slit eyes, a brown bow tie collar around his neck and a red fez on his bald head, no markings where in his flanks, just a small little tuff of dark green tail.
Then the gate stopped climbing and the horrible screeching stopped.
"Huh? Doesn't look much different from-hey!" the gray pony complained as the long black hooves shoved him under the gate as it trembled. The hooves bent as another pony quickly made their way under the heavy gate nearly getting their tail cut off by the sharp looking spikes that impaled the ground again as the gate slammed shut once again.
The gray pony looked up at the other pony as they stood back up to face the gate.
Even in the moon light it was hard to see them; their coat was pitch black and blended in well with the shadows, only a wavy pi-salmon and gold colored mane and tail to distinguish them from shadows. A pair of black and gray bat wings that where pulled against their side relaxed as the danger was presumably over. A dark horn in the middle of their head glowed with the same purple light form the forest, the same glow that covered the cross that was still on the other side of the gate. Slowly it floated through a small hole in the gate, along with the chain, only to be secured around the dark pony's neck.
Gray eyes looked down at the small companion who was looking around at the tall grass that was nearly as tall as the Dark Alicorn, pouting as they could see nothing but grass.
"Hey, where is the Dungeon you where talking about?" the gray pony asked curiously as the dark Alicorn looked above the grass to see a silhouette of a castle in the moon light before sighing. "It's not a Dungeon, Snake. It's a Castel, like the white one we used to live in." the Dark Alicorn informed the gray pony called Snake.
Snake looked a bit disappointed as he trotted quickly after the Alicorn as they walked through the tall grass.
"What's a castle without a Dungeon? Where else are you gonna keep the bad rebels?" he asked innocently as the Alicorn shook their head. "Snake, this castle doesn't come with a kingdom to rule over. It's just some land and a building, maybe a few heirlooms." The dark pony explained as their gray eyes took in the state of the eastern lawn, their hoof steps becoming slower as they gazed upon the neglected and rotting yard.
An old swing set with the rusted chains fallen to the ground with no wooden seat, a pond that was green from all the allege collecting on the surface, broken statues of Earth ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns where scattered threw out the yard, covered in moss and broken, even a large tree that had fallen down was slowly rotting, growing mushrooms that didn't look very safe to eat.
The dark Alicorn stopped as they closed their eyes, taking in a slow, deep, and shaky breath as tears started to well in their eyes. The little gray earth pony came up next to them, looking up at them with concern.
"Chimera? Are you okay?" he asked unsurely as the dark Alicorn opened their eyes again, having suppressed the tears.
"Y-yeah. I have a lot of memories of this place but..." The Alicorn sighed, looking ahead and starting to walk towards the remains of a stone patio that was connected to the house. It shared the same fate as the statues, moss covered, cracked, and broken. "It's been a while... and I've never seen it this bad of shape before." They admitted and Snake blinked up at the in confusion.
"Didn't you visit your grandma before she passed away? This was her Castel." Snake pointed out but froze as the dark Alicorn growled lowly, bearing their sharp pointy fangs in a snarl, gray eyes quickly turned red with narrow slits, the whites of their eyes took on a glowing green tint as they narrowed at the small pony.
"Of course I did! It's not my fault they thought I was crazy enough to lock away for a few years!" the Alicorn spat hatefully as they glared down at the trembling gray pony who lay on the ground nearly curled into a ball of fear, looking up at the towering black mass of anger with wide green eyes.
"Agh. Sorry, Snake. I shouldn't have snapped at you." The dark pony admitted as the green faded away from their eyes but the red remained until they blinked, going back to being gray. The Alicorn relaxed their body and let out a deep sigh, looking away from the little gray pony.
"Its okay, Chimera. You really loved your grandma, and she left you the castle you grew up in. That's pretty nice." Snake reasoned as he saw the large pony, Chimera carefully step on the loose stone steps that lead up to the patio. Only to be grabbed by the purple glow that was around Chimera's horn, levitating him in the air until he was beside them safely up on the patio.
"Yeah, and a lot of work. This place is gonna need a large helping of elbow grease to get back into shape." Chimera voiced as they walked over to the large doors that lead into the castle's first floor. Snake took a moment to look up at their new home, the moon light giving it a rather haunting appearance as it reflected off the few windows that still had glass, other's were dark abyss with moth eaten curtains waving around in the wind. Most of the stone work was intact, despite being covered in some dark stains that smelled oddly sweet, there were only a few chips and cracks in the outer walls that could be fixed and clean to look more pleasing to the eye.
Snake's attention was then caught by the thick doors opening with a strained creek as Chimera pushed them apart with her front hooves, making a horde of bugs scramble away from the disturbance. The little gray pony blinked as he looked at what was inside the doors, barely able to see the dust covered sheets that protected some furniture inside.
"Ew~." Chimera stuttered as they grimaced, a purple glow over came their horn and a patch in their hoof, only to pull it away as the patch was really a rather large roach. "Ugh, I hate roaches." They muttered before the roach was tossed somewhere in the tall grass
"Chimera... can you turn on the lights? It's pretty dark in here." Snake asked before the Alicorn shut the doors behind them, throwing them into darkness again as the windows in the room where covered, keeping out the moon light. In response Chimera's horn glowed a brighter purple to light up the immediate area around them in lavender light.
"They cut off the power to the castle a few months ago, so we can just turn on the lights. I think there are still some candles still left over in the kitchen for times like these." Chimera informed Snake as they carefully made their way thru the dark room, their hoof falls muffled by the dusty gray carpet that covered the floor of what looked to be a living room, pasting by the dust covered sofas, tables, lamps, curtains, and picture frames.
The lavender light briefly came across the dusty picture frames that contained the images of its past inhabitances. A maroon colored female earth pony with a white and sliver mane and tail, a sky blue male pegasus with a purple mane and tail, a cream colored baby unicorn with some gold and red in his little tuff of mane, a dark brown male earth pony with a dark mane and tail dressed in light gray overalls, a green male Pegasus with a curly dark blue mane and tail with a streak of sliver going threw his mane. Then there was one that made the gray pony stop and stare at a light spot on the wall, before looking down at the floor where a picture lay in its shattered frame.
The marron mare and the Sky blue colt looked elderly in the photo but happy as they smiled along with a child that had a salmon and gold colored mane.
"Hey Chimera. Is this you when you where little?" Snake asked as he looked up at the dark Alicorn who stopped to look at the photo and cringed upon seeing it. "Yes, but tell no one of what you saw! Myself restraint will only go so far." Chimera threatens angerly as the photo glowed purple as it was picked out of the frame carefully before folded and placed somewhere on the black pony's person.
"Come on, the kitchen is this way." The dark Alicorn walked with certainty around the dark castle as Snake trotted close to their side, not wanting to get lost. "Can we get something warm?" he asked as he struggled to keep up with the long legged pony as he shivered from the nightly chill.
"We'll see. I don't know if the gas is still on or if there is anything edible in the pantry." Chimera reasoned as they made their way down a short hall way only for Chimera to stop and go silent. Snake stopped beside them and looked up confused before the eco of hoof falls reached his small ears.
"Is someone else here?" Snake perked in surprise as he tried to locate where the sound came from, judging by Chimera's response the sound was not just an eco of their movements.
"An intruder... how long have they been here?" Chimera asked quietly as the purple glow went out as it was replaced by a blueish green glow that followed the strange hoof falls that got louder as it came closer.
"Chimera?" Snake whispered to the dark Alicorn as he leaned over to hide behind them, only to realize the dark pony was gone! "C-chimera?" he stuttered out fearfully as the blueish green glow landed on him as he froze in fear, having be caught.
"What do we have here?"