It was early the next morning, I had just started to wake up and was still feeling rather sluggish. I was still somewhat tired, last night was one hell of a night, and my head is killing me. The room I was in was dimly lit from the faint light shining through the curtains covering the window. In front of me laid twilight who was resting up against me. She nuzzled her head into my chest and I could feel her warm breath rolling down my stomach. I placed a hoof around her and pulled her in to me slightly. Her warm soft fur brushed up against my own and she shifted around and buried herself deeper into my chest placing both hooves on my stomach. I smiled and closed my eyes, but suddenly i felt something else start pressing up against my back and my eyes shot back open.
I felt something warm and soft start brushing up against my back, it felt like a pair of hooves...was there somepony else in the bed with me? I slowly turned my head to see what was behind me, and to my great surprise there was another pony in bed behind me. She had silvery hair and a dark grey coat. She moaned and stretched her hooves. When she stretched her hooves she ended up pushing them up against my back, and the whole time I laid there frozen in shock and surprise. When she stopped stretching she let out a small yawn and slowly opened her eyes. She looked up at me and her deep blue eyes connected with my own. I stared into her eyes for a second and suddenly I knew who this was. She gave me a smile which showed her fangs and I was certain that the pony laying in bed next to me was Rena. Knowing this I might have jumped back in surprise and toppled over twilight as we both rolled out of the bed and fell the the ground.
"Ow! Crimson what the hell?" Exclaimed twilight who I had just abruptly woken up and pushed out of bed with me. "What did you have a bad dream or something?"
"Uh, twilight... Sorry, I... I just." I stammered helping her up. When we both got up she looked up at the bed and just froze there and stared at Rena who laid in the bed with her head resting on a pillow and a smile across her face.
"Uhm..." Twilight murmured.
"Rena? Did you sneak into bed with me last night?" I asked.
"The cold night air made my flesh shiver, and the scent of your blood warmed my soul... I could not help but linger my way towards you. The chains connecting our shadows pulled me towards you."
"What the...? Crimson, who the hell is this?" Asked twilight.
"Uh, twilight... This is Rena... She uh, she tagged along with us yesterday when me and snowbelle went to take care of the shadow cult. I should probably tell you right now that she's a vampire... A Malkavian to be specific."
"What? What is she doing in the bed with us?"
"Apparently she got cold!? I don't know?" I said. "Rena why are you here?"
"The frost bitten king beckoned my presence last moon. I offered him the company of my shadow and we traded words." She said rolling over in the bed onto her back and looking at the two of us as she laid on her back and perked her head up to look at us. "I enlightened him of the boat that we sail together... And he offered us a bigger boat."
"What is she talking about? Crimson what's going on?" Asked twilight obviously confused and somewhat startled by Rena's presence.
"Well, see Rena and her kind suffer from the same problem that we do, it's about the stuff that's been happening to Neverspring." I said. "She and the other Malkavians came here from their homeland but now they want to return but they can't so they want to help us out." I said. "At least that's the short end of it."
"What the hell is a Malkavian?"
"They're a special breed of vampire... They, uh... Well I guess you could say that they're all completely crazy. They see visions and often have some kind of mental disorder. Some of them, like Rena, speak in weird riddles." I said.
"Uh..." Twilight murmured.
"I so apologize if the rhythm of my words is tangling the strings of your brain." Said Rena.
"Alright, but again... Why did you sneak into bed with us?" I asked.
"I stole the bed for the dragon tongued angel... Not you." She said. "The scent of his blood is the sweetest to ever grace my snout." She said. "I ask for you to let me partake of it." She said.
"Wait... You want to suck my blood!?" I exclaimed to which she just nodded and smiled showing her fangs. "NO!"
"There will be no sight of pain, but in fact, everything but... I give these words to you and hope they ring true." She said.
"Pain or not, I don't want you to suck my blood."
"You will not become more than what you are already." She said. She must be referring to how she gave me her blood and made me some kind of halfling.
"The answer is still no." I said.
"Your words attack my heart." She said placing two hooves on her chest where her heart is. "I have given to you a crimson gift, why do you not return the gift?"
"Wait... What did she mean by that?" Asked twilight.
"Uh... Nothing." I said.
"I may not be able to understand her as well as you can, but I definitely am starting to catch on." Said twilight. "What does she mean by crimson gift? Is that her blood, did she give you some of her blood?"
"Well...uh, maybe?" I said guiltily.
"Crimson? What the hell happened yesterday?"
"Alright...I'll tell you the truth." I said. And so I told twilight about all the things that happened yesterday and all the fights and the battle. I told her how Rena had given me her blood so that I could be quickly revived so that I could save snowbelle, but I left out the fact that I'm now a sort of halfling. At least... I planned to leave that part out, but Rena had spilt the beans on that part and told twilight. So after all the explaining I sat there with a guilty look on my face and twilight looked at me with a strange look of worry and disappointment.
"You shouldn't keep these things from me." She said.
"I suppose that you're angry with me now?" I asked.
"Well, I am a bit... But I suppose if it was all done to save snowbelle in the end, then I guess there's no harm done." She said. "But what about these visions that you have now? They aren't going to cause you to go insane are they?"
"His mind isn't as twisted and tangled as my own..." Said Rena. "If anything happens at all then he'll find treasure in his new found eyes."
"That means he could just benefit from this?"
"Yes, that's true... I could, and I'm starting to get it now. There's a lot of symbolism and stuff, I can hear voices sometimes, but they aren't nearly as loud as the ones in the real world... And i can definitely tell the difference from what's real and what isn't." I said.
"Well... I guess it's all in good faith... I suppose." Said twilight. "But honestly crimson, sometimes I just don't get why these kinds of things happen to you."
"I've learned that there's no helping it." I said. "I wake up every day expecting something to go as wrong as possible... And so far it's helped out quite a bit, but These visions might help me predict when something's about to go wrong." I said.
"So dragon tongued angel... Will you return your gift to me after I've given you mine... All in good tidings." Said Rena. I blushed a little and look over to twilight who stared back at me.
"Well... I suppose that if she's a vampire she has to feed." Said twilight. "I guess no matter how weird it may seem she did give you some of her own blood, I guess you should return the favor." Said twilight. "But I don't need to see it, besides, I told Runestar I would meet him in his tower early on so that we can discuss som things before we leave for the docks. He told me yesterday that the ship will be here sometime around one, so we still have plenty if time."
"Alright, you go see Runestar... And I'll... Well, I'll fine something productive to do." I said.
"Alright, crimson... Have fun with your... Well, yeah." Said twilight with her eyes darting between me and Rena. "Just don't take too much of his blood... Today is an important day and we've got lots of work to do." Said twilight eyeing Rena.
"I promise no more than a sip or two." She said smiling. Twilight just looked at her with a serious look as she stood in the open doorway. She moved her eyes over to me and gave me the same look. She let out a sigh and her brow sagged down and changed her gaze to a concerned look. I gave her a look of confidence and she managed to smile a bit before turning around and leaving the room. She closed the door behind her and it was just me and Rena now. I felt her crawl over the bed and place her hooves on my back, sending a shiver up my spine. She wrapped her hooves around the base of my neck and giggled as she pulled me back into the bed. She pulled me on top of her and then spun us around until she was on top.
"So...uh, how does this work?" I asked. She smiled and pulled me closer to her. Our noses both touched and she peered into my eyes. I could feel myself blushing.
"Don't worry little fly." She said. "I promise that you will not know pain in these next few moments, but instead, pleasure... Like the kind you couldn't dream of." She said.
" wait...what?" I asked. Before I could get an answer she moved her mouth to mine and planted a deep kiss on my lips. My eyes shot open and shrunk into my head slightly. I don't know why she had kissed me, but soon I could feel my body starting to loose all senses, It was like my whole body had now just become completely numb. She pulled her lips away from mine and moved them down my neck, I was a bit nervous, but I couldn't move. She gave me a small kiss on the neck before opening her mouth and showing her devious fangs. She hissed as she brushed the, up against my neck and rested them in place. She closed her eyes and started blushing and I closed my eyes waiting for the rush of pain. She bit down on my next as her fangs broke through my skin and stabbed through my neck. I was ready to cringe in pain, but there wasn't any pain...in fact I felt the exact opposite of pain.
I felt pleasure, not sexual please, I wasn't exactly getting off on this... But it felt amazing. I felt like I could lay there forever and have her suck my blood for the whole rest of the day. I was putty in her hooves, just laying there and melting. I could feel her sucking the blood from my body slowly, savoring every drop. With each passing second I felt more and more relaxed. I figured that this must be what it was like to be doped up on tons of drugs. It didn't even feel like she was jabbing into my neck with her fangs and sucking the life from my very being. If I close my eyes it's as if she was personally massaging every inch of my body all at once. At this point I wouldn't much care if she did suck every ounce of blood from my body. Being the god that I am I could easily recover from that, but she doesn't know. It wasn't much longer than a half minute that she pulled her fangs from my neck and all of the pleasure started to fade away. She placed her hoof over the holes in my neck and a faint black glow shone beneath her hoof. When she lifted her hoof there were bite marks there, but they were no longer open.
"Thank you..." She said running her hoof slowly down my chest. "My lips have never met such a sweet and savory meal, your blood spoils even the blood of an untouched princess."
"Uhm... Thankyou?" I said. "This is... Uh, kinda weird."
"Don't worry, I didn't over excerpt my gift, you're hooves should be able to carry you to whichever places the road of fate leads you to." She said. She then poked my nose with her own and then quickly rolled off me giggling and hopped off the bed. "Thank you, dragon tongued angel... The meal is appreciated, maybe some other time you'll let me dine on you again, until then my shadow is called to other places, I'm no longer here." She said disappearing in a puff of smoke. I could feel my body starting to gain its strength back and I rolled off the bed and onto my hooves in no time. I rolled my neck to get the cracks out and placed my hoof over the spot where Rena bit me. I'm probably going to get asked about this a lot. I decided to ignore it and just started making my way out of the room and into the hallways. I wandered around for a bit and see if maybe I can find some breakfast or something, because I'm starving.
I wandered around for a while and found myself at the kitchen, where all the guards went to grab breakfast before they start their day. Since I was an invited guess they let me eat here, plus the cook here is a really great guy. I got in line for breakfast behind two other guys and soon enough it was my turn. The cook said hi and we exchanged a few words and laughs before he gave me some breakfast and I went to go sit down and eat. Once I sat down and started looking around I could see that the room was not only full of guard ponies, but wolves too. Every guard had some kind of wolf next to him sitting down and just looking around, some of the wolves even talked into the open air. One guard had walked over and sat down next to me, looking at his armor, I determined that he was a she. A lady guard had sat down next to me and with her was also a wolf in partial iron coverings and grey fur with red war paint. I glanced at the guard and she glanced at me.
"I can't believe I'm sitting next to him." Said the wolf who sat by the guard. I knew she couldn't hear it, but it could. I did find that a weird thing for the wolf to say out loud. "He's the guy that fought those ice snakes, maybe I should say hi to him... I'm gonna do it, I'll say hi." Said the wolf. I didn't want to stare at the wolf because that would make me seem weird but I was definitely paying attention to it.
"Hi!" Said the guard.
"Oh, uh... Hi." I said back.
"Yes he said hi to me, I'm so excited." Said the wolf. It sounds like the wolf was saying her thoughts out loud, if this is true then this Malkavian madness thing is amazing.
"You're the pony from Equestria, right?" She asked. I could see that she was blushing through the open part of her helmet.
"Uh, yeah... Is there something I can help you with?" I asked.
"No , not really. I just wanted to say hi. That's all."
"Alright... Well, it was nice meeting you, but...uh, I've got some stuff that I need to get to, so, have a good day and all... Bye." I said quickly dropping the conversation because it was already awkward from the beginning. I quickly finished up my food, returned the tray to the kitchen, and left the mess hall. I walked down the halls and I was starting to see the visions more clearly now than I was before. I kept walking down the hall trying my best not to stare at the visions that passed me by, but I found it difficult not to. I thought that maybe some fresh air would clear my mind, so I made my way to the outer ring encircling the palace. I stood there under the overhang looking out to the garden staying right behind the stone mid fence. When I looked to my left I saw the same white fox from last night sitting there on top of the mid fence looking at me with his deep purple eyes.
"Are you coping well?" He asked. I looked around and there was nopony here so I could speak to the fox without seeming mentally insane.
"I suppose, I'm doing better. I've learned that some of the visions will speak the thoughts of the ponies they shadow." I said.
"That's common, unless a pony's mind is strong you could listen to their immediate thoughts."
"What are you doing here." I asked.
"I'm here because twilight sparkle is thinking about you." He said.
"She is?"
"Of course she is, why would she not be?"
"I don't know, you tell me." I said.
"Oh, tricky. I almost said something I shouldn't."he said.
"So if you're twilights shadow that means you know literally everything about her." I said. "Which means you must know all of her secrets."
"That's correct."
"But you won't tell me any of these."
"Yes, it is not of her own volition that I keep these secrets safe, I'm keeping them safe merely because I want to." Said the fox.
"Alright, I think I'm getting the hang of it." I said.
"I'll be off then, back to miss twilight sparkle." He said. "If you need to find her just think of her and I'll find you and lead you to her."
"Uhm, okay..." I said, and with that he leapt off from the fence perch and scurried away into the palace.
"Is that white fox the shadow of your high thinking friend?" Asked a familiar voice behind me. I jumped quickly back and turned around to see Rena in her leather armor covered in a mist of shadows standing upside down on the ceiling of the overhang.
"Uhm... Rena! Hello." I said.
"It seems that the domains of this palace are dark enough without the hue of my shadow, I've brought myself here." She said.
"Well, I'm not really doing anything either." I said.
"So we are both stray hooves, shall we wander these dark halls as one?" She asked.
"I suppose, I figured I would go and see the knight commander, then we would probably head out to the docks soon." I said.
"I Shall let your hooves carry my shadow, let us be gone." She said. I looked at her and then turned around and started to make my way across the circle and soon found myself in the west wing. Rena followed right behind me and stayed close, we didn't really talk at all. By the time we had made it to the knight commanders office we were confronted by the large Templar who usually guards her quarters.
"The knight commander is not at her office right now, she has called a meeting with other Templars at the guards quarters, if you wish to speak with her find her there." He said.
"Uhm, thank you." I said. I turned back and headed back down the hall to find the guards quarters. We walked around for a while before we found it. It was a large double doored room with lots of beds and a fireplace. We walked in and the knight commander was standing there with a line of at least ten Templars in full armor. She was pacing back and forth barking things at the Templars.
"Alright stallions, this is going to be a very important quest, and there is a very real chance that you may loose your lives, I've filled you in on all the details and finally the day has come." She said. "The first command I have of you is to head to the docks and keep watch for an airship from Equestria. Once the ship lands you are to escort the VIP's off from the ship and to the outpost, once there you will keep watch over the VIP's and await for my arival. The other guests form Equestria will be there, along with others that may tag along. Once we arrive you are to await further orders, is this understood?" She asked.
"Sir, yes, sir!" Shouted all the Templars.
"Dismissed!" Said Merideth as the ten Templar guard moved into a double line formation and marched past us, and out of the room. We pushed our way through them and walked over to Merideth. "Hello crimson, I'm kinda glad you heard all of that, at least now we know what were doing." She said.
"When are we going to depart?" I asked.
"I've got guards showering the building for any brave souls that are going to make the trip with us, it's the moment of truth and we could use all the help we need. I've got them asking Runestar and snowbelle for assistance."
"Alright,sounds good."
"Once we've got everypony gathered who's going we'll head out." Said the knight commander. "Uh, who's this other pony here?" She asked looking over to Rena.
"This is Rena." I said.
"Greeting great warrior knight, the call of my shadow is Rena, I am one of the kindred in blood and madness." She said.
"Oh great, a Malkavian." Said knight commander Merideth letting out a deep sigh and slouching.
"Does my presence cast a plague on your mind?" She asked.
"She wants to know if you don't like her." I said translating.
"No, it's not that... I just can't ever tell what the hell you ponies are talking about, you're one of the kind that speak in riddles." She said.
"So it is my voice that blurs your mind." She said. "I do so greatly ask for your forgiveness, it cannot be helped." She said.
"That's fine, I think..." She said.
"Oh, my mind has just told me a forgotten secret." She said all of a sudden perking up.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Another of my kindred, a shadow known as Ergo, will share our fate this day, she has the gift of walking of light such as I."
"Another?" I asked.
"Is she just as mad as you?" Asked Merideth.
"What twists she lacks in one brain she makes up by having two." Said Rena.
"She has two brains?" Questioned Merideth.
"So she's bipolar." I said.
"Yes, two spirits, two minds share the same host. One an ivory angel, sweeter than honey and runs from altercation." She said. "The other, not so... A black devil, her eyes burn and her nerves are hardened to steel, she not only openly invites the shadow of death, but sometimes beckons for it to come."
"Wow, so when is she going to get here?" I asked.
"About now." Said Rena.
"Are you sure it's this way?" Asked an unfamiliar female voice down the hall. "You're sure?" She asked again, even though I couldn't hear anypony else it seemed like she was talking to somepony, then suddenly a pony also dressed in leather with a bow on her back and a dagger strapped to her waist walked into the room and looked around. She as well had a cowl and hood on which only showed her eyes. She had bright purple eyes and grayish blue fur with a blonde mane. She looked over to us and her eyes stuck to Rena and I felt a feeling of happiness wash over her. "Yes, we were right, she is here... Rena, hi!" She acclaimed rushing over. She leapt over to Rena and hugged her. Rena just embraced the pony and they both giggled.
"Hello my double edged bow." Said Rena. "I suspect you were brought here with no obstacles to overcome."
"Yes I just followed Erva's instructions and I got here perfectly fine."
"Warrior knight, and dragon tongued angel, this is my double edged bow, ergo and erva."
"Uh, which one are you?" Asked Merideth.
"I'm ergo, Rena probably told you that I'm bipolar. The other pony in me is Erva, she can get really violent and unpredictable, but she's nice once you get to know her, usually." She said.
"Well, ergo, it's uh... Nice to meet you." I said.
"What?" She asked looking up as if she was trying to stare at her own forehead.
"Well, I said-"
"Alright, I'll tell them." She said cutting me off. I don't know what she was talking about, but I think I might have a faint idea. "Erva said that she wants the blood of the muscular looking one." Said ergo.
"Uhh..."I stammered.
"The dragon fruit definitely has very sweet nectar, it's so rare that his blood is blue." Said Rena.
"Wait... Crimson, did you let this Malkavian feed off you?" Asked the knight commander looking over to the mark on my neck.
"Well,uh... Yes." I said.
"Are you crazy? Why would you do that?"
"Look, I owed her for last night, she really saved my ass and snowbelle's too." I said. "If not for her snowbelle could have been killed, so I let her have some of my blood." I said. "I don't really get the problem here, I regenerate blood ten times faster than other ponies." I said.
"Is this the pony you spoke bout Rena, is he the dragon tongued angel?" Asked ergo.
"Indeed." Said Rena.
"It's nice to meet you ." Said ergo.
"Uh, you can just call me crimson." I said. She smiled and stuck her hoof out. I grabbed it and we shook.
"So how exactly did Rena save your ass?" Asked Merideth making me jump slightly.
"Uh, well you see." I said sweating bullets. "I may have underestimate my enemy, and he may or may not have beat the shit out of me. I slipped into unconsciousness and Rena brought me back." I said. "That's all."
"Wait... Rena..." Said ergo sounding like she just realized something terrifying.
"Uh... The shadows are too loud, I can't feel your voice." Said Rena looking away from ergo.
"Rena, how did you revive crimson?" Asked ergo. Rena was standing there and I could see she was sweating too and doing everything to keep her eyes away from ergo. "Oh god... Did you give him some of your blood?"
"Well, it's why I was repaid." Said Rena sounding guilty.
"Rena you can't do that!" Said ergo shouting now seeming very disappointed. "You can't give your blood to anypony who isn't a Malkavian, Rena you know this!" She shouted. "Why did you do it?"
"Well, the circumstances were dire... Innocent blood may have stained the ground, and my flesh why busy crying, not even the soothing lunar sun couldn't save my strength... It was the only way my double edged bow." Said Rena.
"Wait... Crimson, did this Malkavian give you some of her blood?" Asked Merideth. "Is that what's going on here?"
"Well... Yes, she did. It revived me to full health and I was able to save snowbelle." I said.
"Do you know what this means?" Shouted Merideth stepping forward and getting closer to me.
"I was unconscious, it's not like I had much say in the matter." I said.
"Oh my, have you been having the visions, can you still tell the difference between reality and the shadows?" Asked ergo walking over and grabbing my face and searching around my eyes like she was looking for something. "Do you hear any strong voices in your own head? Have you noticed any difference in your pattern of speech? When's the last time you looked in a mirror? Have other ponies started to smell sweet or savory to you?" Ergo bombarded me with a volley of questions.
"What... No, nothing like that is happening. I'm fine." I said.
"His voice rings false..." Said Rena. "If the truth is the only light we have then you do good to know that he only shares in the visions... I promise." Said Rena. "He's less than a halfling, not even a quarter."
"Is this true? Can you see the visions?"asked ergo letting my face go and stepping back.
"Uh, well... Yes, I can... But none of that other stuff is happening. I'm not turning into a vampire." I said.
"I suppose that's true, if you were then your blood wouldn't smell as delicious as it does now." Said ergo. She looked at me and then looked over to Rena and then let out a deep sigh. "You know that viddico isn't going to be happy with you."
"I already linger on the darker half of his shadow." Said Rena.
"Who's viddico?" I asked.
"Isn't that the name of your clan leader?" Asked Merideth.
"Yes, he's our leader and head Malkavian." Ergo stated. "He isn't going to be very happy with Rena after this. She never did have an easy time getting on the masters good side. They say that whatever madness we suffer from, she has it the worst, worse than any of the others have seen in centuries." Said Rena.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"Well, just watch." Said ergo. "Rena, what emotions am I feeling right now?"
"I smell disappointment, with a hue of anger and resentment. Your blood flows green with some envy and you mask it all in a cloak of knowledge. I can see the wicked jester dancing through your eyes." Said Rena. She said she saw a jester but I couldn't.
"See..." Said ergo turning back to me. "She can see everything that the shadow world has to offer, I know that I can't see any jesters dancing around me, but I can see other things. Some things are harder to see than others, and the more mad you become the easier it is to see them. She's also one of few who have reached a threshold of madness where it begins to affect the way they speak, we call them shadow whisperers."
"I never really knew that, I thought all the Malkavians were the same." I said.
"If we were all the same, like Rena, then we would have been wiped off the face of the planet centuries ago because we wouldn't be able to create a stable civilization." She said. "She can understand the things we say, but whet she says holds a lot of truth and meaning, plus if you ever see her during the night then you would understand why she's the worst of all."
"What happen at night?" I asked.
"The true light of the world fades and I see only shadows." Said Rena.
"Alright... Enough of this." Said knight commander Merideth asserting her authority. "I don't care what happens or what has happened, as long as were all stable minded for the least part and can carry on during the day then I don't care... There are far more important things happening right now then this and I'm sure we can all agree."
"Merideth is right... We should be worrying about today's journey... It's not going to be an easy one." I said.
"Right, I'm here to help out Rena and if she's helping you two then I will too." Said ergo.
"Good. Now, there isn't much time, we should go to the spire and collect whoever is coming along, anypony else is going to get left behind. We'll meet up with my Templar garrison at the docks and hopefully your friends will have made it by then, so let's go... There's no time to waste." She said. We followed her orders and Rene and ergo followed me and I rolled Merideth to the spire where there was a gathering of ponies there, many of which were familiar. Runestar was there with twilight. She smiled as she saw me and we walked over and caught up. Runestar was also with two other ponies, the mages that guard the entrance to the spire. Along with the group were a few other Templars along with the king and snowbelle. I walked over and bowed to the king.
"Hello crimson, we've come a long way since the first time we met." He said. "I suppose it has only been a few days, but it seems as though more time has passed."
"I feel the same way." I said.
"I've been thinking crimson, about what you said... And the situation with my daughter." Said the king. "I'm aware that she has told you the extent of her condition, and how that this is a harsh place to live especially for her, and in light of the events of last night, I've made up my mind... I want her to go with you." He said. I could see snowbelle next to him and she just stared straight ahead, showing no emotion, but I could fee it around her. I saw a fog roll over her head and rain fell from the cloud. I knew this was only one of the visions, but it seemed real.
"If that is what you wish..." I said pausing for a moment to look back at snowbelle. " then I think you should have a few words with your daughter, there's a good chance that if she comes with me then she may never see you again." I said.
"Crimson there are times in life where we are forced to choose from two roads on this path of fate, and more times than we'd like to admit, both of those paths will cause us harm. I'm confronted with one of those now. It's either I send my daughter away and she can lead and normal and happy life with good ponies that I trust to keep her safe, but suffer from heartbreak. Or I live every day with uncertainty about wether or not my daughter will loose an ongoing fight with a demon that lives inside of her, either one is not ideal... But I cannot easily choose this path, and the reason why... Is because it's not my path alone, but snowbelle's as well." Said the king. "So snowbelle." She said turning to his daughter. "I'm going to let you decide."
"Father...I"
"Please don't let my decision sway your mind." He said. "Whichever you choose is perfectly fine with me, and me and your mother will always love you no matter how far away you are, or what you become." He said. "This choice is now yours and yours alone."
"Well snowbelle?" I asked looking over to her. She looked over to me and then back at her father, all the other ponies that had gathered around started to look on as well. "If you stay here then you're future is no longer in my control." I said. "But if you do decide to come with us you may have to face a few tasks before we get back to my own world, but once we're there you don't have to worry about the demon inside of you, and there is the possibility that you may be able to see your father again, but the chances if that are very slim."
"It's your choice snowbelle, what will you choose?" Asked king frost. Though her eyes were just glowing circles under her helmet I could feel the uncertainty around her. The cloud above her head grew darker. The pressure of all these ponies looking at her must be difficult. The whole room had gone silent and snowbelle stood there awkwardly pondering to herself.
"I... I don't know." She said. "I,I...I can't decide." She stuttered.
"Snowbelle, you have to, it's time that you decided to think for yourself." Said the king. "I know that you swore devotion to me for raising you as my own daughter, but that time has passed." He said. "I don't want you to feel as though you owe me anything, me and your mother could not be any more proud of what a fine young mare you've turned out to be, and it's time that you started to make your own decisions. You don't owe me anything, whatever debt you thought you had against us is no longer there... It's time for you to do what you want." Suddenly from behind the king stepped forward the queen with a lovely smile across her face.
"Sweetie, your father and I love you and we always will. But I know that living here is not easy for you. He and I both know that the cold of this place calls out to the demon within you. Every time we see you slipping away we can see the pain in your eyes, and it's heartbreaking." Said the queen. Snowbelle looked at her mother and her father and they looked back at her. The whole room was completely silent, which only seemed to make things all the more difficult.
"I choose..." Started snowbelle taking a short pause. She looked at her father, then her mother... And then over to me and twilight. We shave her a comforting smile and she turned her head back. "I choose... To go." She said. The king and queen rushed out and both gave snowbelle a big hug and she hugged them back. The three of them embraced each other and I could feel the emotions leaking out from the three of them.
As time died down, and snowbelle said her last goodbye's it was time for us all to head out to the docks. We had left the castle and now began to make our way through the town. All the ponies cleared the street when the saw the huge battalion of troops coming through. A company of guards and Templars, two mages and Runestar, twilight, Rena, ergo, Merideth, snowbelle, and myself. We kept marching down the street and mostly everything was quiet. I stayed right behind knight commander Merideth and she would check on us making sure we were ready. I found it interesting how she can be so light hearted when she isn't preparing for war. Snowbelle was near the back looking at the ground moping, it was obvious that she wasn't doing to well, but i figured that the best thing to do is give her some time to think it over and get a grip on herself.
As we kept walking down I let out a deep sigh and looked upwards at the sky. The sky was covered in a think layer of dark clouds, cumulus clouds too, so they hung down low to the group. I'm sure that the ship must be within viewing distance, but since there are so many clouds it would be impossible to see it. I watched as the endless stretch of clouds up above slowly soared over us. We kept trotting through the city streets as ponies all around moved to the side and stared as we marched in by. The steady trotting of all our collective hooves created a rhythm similar to that of a war drum. Suddenly ahead in the sky a ways away from the gates a large section of clouds parted and a massive hunk of wood descended from the sky. Soon the whole helm of a equestrian war balloon descended from the sky. The ship came through and soon the balloon itself began to push through the layering of clouds. Once it had completely penetrated the cloud layer it lowered itself some more until it was at a steady height and sailed forward at an even level. The patch of clouds up above had closed back up as if it had never been broken.
"That's them..." Said twilight excitedly. Now the massive war ship had taken the whole city most likely. All of the ponies around us looked on and gasped at the sight. Whispers started shooting through the crowds and I was sure that the whole city had heard of the news. I don't remember the ship too well since me and twilight had fallen off of it, but the hull was burnt on som of the sides, and it looked like it had definitely seen better days. We kept marching forward with our eyes locked onto the ship. It wasn't long before it had sailed right over the gate and continued towards the docks. Only a few minutes after did it stop right over the docks and drop and anchor into the water, then it slowly began to descend. Once it started descending it wasn't long until it was out of view due to the buildings around us. Now that the pony's around town couldn't see it anymore they turned to each other and began talking in whispers. They were so preoccupied with the balloon that they forgot all about the small army marching through the streets.
"Ah, the ship has landed right on time." Said Runestar. The guards behind him started murmuring stuff to each other and the two robed mages who were following rune star kept quiet and looked forward.
"My accompaniment of Templars should be at the docks now greeting your friends and bringing them up to speed on the current situation." Said Merideth to me and twilight.
"Did you see that Rena!?"asked ergo excitedly. "A magic flying balloon ship, I've always wanted to see one."
"I believe the vessel is carried by nature, not the events of the supernatural." Said Rena.
"C'mon, you always gotta ruin the fun like that." Said ergo
"Don't let the happy jester fill your mind with ideas and false pretenses young one." Said Rena.
"Alright, fine." Said ergo.
"What do you mean young one?" Asked twilight looking back like it was a kind of joke. "You're both like the same age."
"Not true..." Said ergo. "I'm only 26 years old, I'm still a baby."
"Well how old is Rena?" I asked.
"I've witness the passing 173 winters."she said.
"Oh... Wow!" Said twilight. I just kinda walked along with my jaw dragging on the floor. I didn't know she was that old, she still looks like she's in her twenties.
"Don't listen to her, she's only 32." Said ergo. "I'm not sure what kind of crazy stuff goes through her head in particular, but we were both only children when we came here a couple decades ago. Besides, it's always winter here, there's no way of counting when one season passes and another begins."
"Alright, that makes more sense." I said.
"But it wouldn't be impossible for her to grow up to be 173, I fact she probably will." Said ergo. "One thing about vampires is that we've got a very long lifespan. If we feed regularly then we could live for centuries." She said.
"I also because you're all technically dead... Right?" Asked twilight.
"Well, no... We aren't."said ergo. "Some of us are, but not me and Rena. We were born as vampires, so we haven't died in our lives... Obviously. But if one of us sire's another pony then they become an undead vampire. This is where the difference between day walkers and undead vampires comes into play. Day walkers are born as vampires. Anypony who is born a vampire can survive sunlight, a pony who is turned into a vampire, becomes the undead and will burn to a crisp in the sunlight. The only problem with day walkers is that we only have a fraction of our power during the day."
"The cloudy skies give us strength and repel the weakness of the suns light." Said Rena.
"Undead vampires can live forever, but aren't immortal." Added ergo. "If they don't feed regularly then they can die. If they injest garlic, walk into the sunlight, are dousd with holy water, or are stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake then they can be killed." She said. "Other then that they're pretty much invincible."
"Huh... I never really thought vampires were so complicated."
"There is also another way to become a vampire than having a sire." Said ergo.
"Should a fly get caught in the web of a spider, and if that spider should drain the fly for all its worth, then that fly rises from the ashes as a spider." Added Rena.
"What?" Asked twilight.
"If a vampire completely drains a pony of their blood then they become an undead vampire."
"You know, the one thing I never got about you vampires..." Added Merideth who unexpectedly jumped in on the conversation. "What does it mean to become a sire, or to have a sire? She asked. At the question both Rena and ergo blushed. I don't think I like the sound of that.
"Well, uh... It's a bit hard to say..." Said ergo.
"Is it embarrassing?" Asked Merideth.
"Very..." Added Rena.
"Well you see, when a vampire... Well, uh... Sucks the blood of a pony... While, they are... Uh...are-"
"While they are merging bodies..." Said Rena.
"So... You mean sex?" I stated.
"Eh... Yes..." Said ergo blushing. Suddenly she stopped blushing and her expression changed to a relaxed and carefree blank face.
"I don't get what the big deal is?" Said ergo shrugging." It's just sex, not really a huge deal." She said.
"Good day Erva." Said Rena.
"Why did she call you Erva?" Asked twilight.
"Because that's my name stupid..." She said.
"Geeze, how rude, you could have said no, you know."
"So this is Erva, the other half of ergo." I said.
"Yeah, the better half that is." She said.
"Hey, stop it, you promised you wouldn't come out today." Said Erva again, but in a new tone suggesting that ergo had taken control again.
"Yeah whatever." Said ergo changing attitudes again. "I was getting bored so I thought I would check out what's happening on this end." She said. Suddenly she was distracted by something and she stuck her nose in the air and started to sniff strongly. She leaned over and sniffed snowbelle and twilight to her left and then leaned to the right and sniffed me. Her nose seemed to have been lured to me because she kept sniffing me. I just kept walking wondering what she was doing. "So that's you that I smell, my my, you smell good. So how's that figure out?"
"I don't know." I said getting a bit nervous. I don't know why vampires are so drawn to my blood, Is it because I'm a deity? She sniffed me again and then peered at my neck.
"My my, somepony's been a bit naughty..." She said.
"What?"said twilight looking back and giving me an evil glare.
"You let Rena feed off of you... Didn't you?" She asked giving me a lusty smile.
"Erva... That's enough!" Said Rena. Glaring at Erva. She just smiled back at Rena.
"Oh my, did I strike a nerve?"
"Please stop Erva, I don't like it when she gets mad." Said Erva changing her personality again, so technically ergo said it.
"Oh don't worry, it'll be fine, I'm just having a bit of fun..." She said. "Besides... I've never smelt blood so sweet, perhaps you'd let me have a little bite?" She asked waving her hips and smiling at me while showing her fangs.
"ERVA! I will destroy you!" Shouted Rena making the whole group of us stop in our tracks in surprise. I looked over into Rena's eyes and saw that not only were they red, but glowing red and furious. Erva just looked over and her smile faded. I could feel an immense energy coming from Rena.
"Oh dear... Now she's really pissed." Said Erva acting as if her fun had just be ruined. "Okay... You win, I'll stop... We don't want an accident like last time."
"Wait, what happened last time?" Asked twilight.
"Some poor guy made Rena very upset." Said Erva. "Mad enough that she boiled the poor guys blood from inside of his body and he burned from the inside out... Not a pretty thing. All that was left at the end of that mess was just a bubbling puddle of melted flesh and bones."
"Oh my, how barbaric." Stated Runestar. "Is this some manner of vampiric ability?" I asked.
"It's in my blood to control the blood of others, my blood is universal." Said Rena.
"Alright ergo... You can have the body back, I'm done." Said Erva.
"No wait... Don't leave me alone with her, she's pissed... Erva!?" Said ergo.
"What did you mean by your blood being universal?"asked Merideth. By this time we had already started to make our way back through the streets once more and we were getting closer and closer to the docking area.
"Rena hails from a noble and prestigious family." Said ergo. "Vampires have magical abilities, like telepathy, shadow control, invisibility, and even some transformation capabilities. And Malkavians have an added psychological capability which we can use to drive others insane or twist their minds to get whatever we want... But Rena has more than that."
"So she can control blood? Is that what I'm deriving from the context?" Asked Runestar.
"Uh... Yes." Answered ergo. We all stopped the conversation after that and kept moving on. I looked back towards Rena and she glared at me. Her blood red eyes caught mine and sparked. She gave me a dull and sullen look, like she was still somewhat angry, but I don't understand why she got so I'll tempered. When she got angry too it was like she also stopped speaking in her riddled voice, like she was normal... And to be honest, it was terrifying.
"Ah, here we go... The docks." Said Merideth as we now aproached an opening of houses and the water met the land. Large woods pathways sprung out from the ground and extended into the ocean where large vessels floated and bobbed in the water with ropes keeping them tied to the docks and anchors cast out
Into the water. It wasn't hard to spot out which ship was ours, the one with big ass balloon on top of it. You could already see the crowds of fishers wadding around the ship like it was the catch of the year. We made our way over and saw that the walking board connecting the ship to the dock was being guarded by two equestrian royal guards in full golden armor with sharp spears, they were fighting back the crowd as much as possible. We made our way over to the ship to see if we could get on board. There we heard everything that was going on.
"NO!" Shouted one of the guards. "We cannot bring you all to Equestria, we don't have enough food, supplies or space for all of you, we barely managed on our own. We understand that the situation here is dire, but we can't send out warships to help carry back you all, were sorry." He said.
"That's bullshit!" Shouted somepony in the crowd.
" c'mon, you can't just leave us here!" Said somepony else.
"Like I said, there's nothing we can do." Said the guard.
"And what's going to stop us from taking over the ship ourselves?" Shouted one pony in the crowd which seemed to get the rest of the crowd all worked up.
"What are you going to do? Beat us with fishing poles, maybe throw nets at us?" Mocked the other guard. Soon the crowd had become restless and started pushing towards the ship. The guard blocked the path with spears and other guard had come off the ship to assist in the crowd control.
"The situation seems to be getting a bit touchy..." Said Merideth. "Crimson I think now would be a good time to assert your authority over the crowd, I'd do it myself... But..."Merideth placed her hoof over her mouth and yawned. "I'm not really feeling it today." She smiled at me and gave me a wink. I just smiled back and rolled my eyes. I turned around, away from the crowd and walked toward the other end of the dock. I got to the edge and turned around and backed up until I was at the very edge of the dock.
"Wait, crimson... Where are you going?" Asked twilight.
"For a swim." I said with a smile on my face as I pushed myself backwards and soon fell down over the dock and into the cold arctic water. I hit the water and soon I was surrounded in dark blue. The temperature around me dropped about
Fifty or so degrees and my body rapidly began to cool down. I used an inner fire spell to keep my body warm despite the cold, but it was still very cold. I began to flap my wings and swim to the other end of the dock as I focused my magic this time towards the element of water and began to pull water towards me. I started making my way to the surface if the water and putting into action my plan for riot control.
The surface of the water began to bubble and fester underneath the ship and all around the dock. As the crowd kept trying to push against the guards on the walking board a blast of water erupted from the ocean from between the ship and the dock. The spout of water rocketed into the air and then stopped. Ice cold water fell from the air and showered the guards and the crowd in a freezing rain. The. Another burst, and another. By now all the ponies watched in awe and confusion wondering what was happening. They began to whisper of a possible whale or even a tetradon swimming under the ship. Then a wall of water burst from the gap between the ship and the dock with the ships walking board cutting through the large wall. Then suddenly a large beast began to emerge from the end of the dock.
A great serpent, a dragon made of ice and water. Glowing white eyes and fangs of ice sharper than steel and longer than the length of a pony. One bite and it could devour an entire vessel. The crowds of ponies and the guards looked in horrified awe. Even the Templars and the mages in the group of ponies I traveled with were shocked at what they had seen. Then as the beast continued to emerge with icy scales and sharp spines running the length of its back the serpent lowered its head to the dock and opened it's mouth. Inside the mouth of the beast I stood smiling. I walked out from the mouth of the beast with my armor shinning vibrantly. Once I was back on the docks the beast closed its mouth and let out a bloody roar. On the inside I was laughing. This spell was child's play, a simple conjuring of a water spirit.
"There seems to be a bit of trouble on the docks..." I said approaching the crowd of ponies who looked on in fear. "You heard the guards, there's no room... So I'd suggest that you all go home and settle down." I said still approaching the crowd. It wasn't too long before they all dispersed, scattered and afraid heading back into the city as if they were running for their lives. I made my way over to the group of guards protecting the ship and gave them a smile. "There that takes care of that..." I said. "It was starting to get pretty ugly, wasn't it."
"Uh...uhm... I... Uh..." Stammered the two guards from before. The others were choking on their own words trying to force a sentence or two out of their mouths.
"Crimson... What's that?" Asked twilight walking over and gesturing to the huge serpent created of ice and water.
"That?" I asked knowing very well what she was referring to. "Oh, I don't have a name for him... But I summoned him in the water when I jumped in... I think he's adorable." I said.
"Wait... I know you two." Said one of the guards in the group gathered outside of the ship.
"Oh do you now?" I asked looking over to see it was one of the female guards that had spoken up.
"Yeah... You're crimson blast, and twilight sparkle." She said. You could see the wave of sudden realization wash over the faces of all the other guards.
"Hey... Didn't you two fall off the ship?"asked another guard.
"Yeah... We did, during the storm, remember." Said twilight.
"B-but... H-h-how are you here!?" Asked one of the guards.
"It's a long story... Anyway, are scarlet and thunder rush inboard?" I asked.
"Uhm... No sir, they and the captain were escorted by a group of guards to an outpost nearby."said one of the guards saluting us, the others did too.
"Alright, good let's head over to the outpost." Said Merideth marching her troops along. I was about to follow them when the large water basilisk I summoned leaned over the docks and moved its large serpent head over to me. It was kinda cute really, like I really big ferocious and terrifying snake made of ice, water, and magical energy. Since I summoned him he'll be obedient to me and do what I ask... Like a really awesome pet.
"Don't worry, I'll be gone for a bit, stay close to the docks, don't scare anypony, and I'll whistle when I need you." I said. The sea basilisk nodded its large snake head and soon slipped down into the water and was soon gone. The group had already started wandering away so I trotted over and quickly caught up with them. I took my place back beside twilight and Merideth and we started making our way across the docks and towards the outpost. It wasn't much longer until we came across a large building with a shield and crossed sword over the door. If the insignia over the door wasn't enough to tell there was also a sigh on the door itself that said guard outpost. Merideth opened it up and we all flooded into the outpost. The first room we walked into was like a large living room with furniture, tables, a fireplace, and a bar with a kitchen behind it. There were several ponies in here all in armor without their helmet on. There were also three ponies sitting on a couch all three of whom I knew. Scarlet blaze,thunder rush, and the captain.
Scarlet, thunder and the captain looked over and you could literally feel the excitement of scarlets and thunders faces. They shot up from the couch and quickly rushed over as they saw me. Scarlet rushed over and jumped at me and smiled. Thunder just lazily trotted over with a look of pride on his face.
"Holy crap I thought you two were dead!" Said scarlet.
"I told you they were fine... Though I was surprised to learn that you two were here..." Said thunder.
"How the hell did you two even get here?" Asked scarlet jumping off of me. Me and twilight had gathered together and it was just the four of us. The others dispersed to use the room as they pleased. "You fell off the ship, there no freaking way you two got here before us."
"Well, it's a really long story... I mean, it really is... I'll tell you some other day, but we've got important stuff to do." I said.
"I hope the trip here wasn't too bad, I noticed that the ship seemed to be...well, less than optimal condition."said twilight.
"No it's fine... We managed well, just a few dragons here and there." Said thunder brushing it off. I kinda kissed his witty tough guy attitude. I just smiled as twilight giggled a git.
"So crimson, who are all of these ponies?" Asked scarlet.
"Oh, as you can see we've made some friends." I said. I started pointing out and introducing all the ponies in the room. "Well, first of all that's knight commander Merideth, she's captain of the guard and the leader of the royal Templars."I said. "That pony in the armor is snowbelle, she's the kings daughter and also half ice demon, she's going to be joining us in the long run, the two ponies in leather are Rena and ergo, the one with the daggers is Rena, the one with the bow is ergo and Erva." I said.
"Wait... Ergo and Erva, what does that mean?" Asked scarlet.
"They're both Malkavians... If you don't know what that is, they're vampires... Mentally insane vampires. They both see visions. Rena speaks in riddles and is often hard to understand. Ergo is bipolar and has an alternate personality called Erva." I said.
"O...Kay..."said thunder. He look at them and you could see the confusion on his face as well is scarlet's face as well.
"Don't worry about it too much." Said twilight. "Anyway, the pony with the long white beard and the robes is Runestar, he's a direct desciple of starswirl the bearded and the two ponies with robes next to him are his apprentices and personal guards Lumos and Pyra." I didn't know that those two ponies had names. Then again twilight has spent more time with Runestar than I have, so she probably knows a lot about his life here in neverspring.
"So yeah... We've made a few friends here." I said. "And after explaining it all to you now I can understand that you might think were crazy, or they're crazy... Or that everypony is crazy." I said.
"Well, I know for a fact they you're crazy, and these other ponies sound crazy... So you, I'm pretty sure they you're all sick in the head." Stated scarlet.
"Don't worry about it too much, they're all pretty nice ponies once you get to know them, they just come off a bit strong." I said.
"ALRIGHT... GATHER AROUND EVERYPONY!" Shouted Merideth who's voice boomed across the whole room. "C'mon lets go, butts in seats NOW!" She said. We all rushed around and took a seat across the whole room. Merideth stood in front of us all and looked over us. "Alright, as you all know today is the day we get to the bottom of all the freaky shit that's been going on here, but the truth is I don't have much Intel on the situation, but crimson blast seems to know what to do... So I give him temporary command." She said looking over to me. She gestured me to come up and I got up from my seat and walked up. "He'll fill you all in on the details and the plan of attack. Listen to his command, he's in charge for the time being."
"Alright... Well..." I said standing I front of the whole crowd now with them all looking at me. "I know this is going to sound bad but... We need to take a ship and sail it into the opening of the gate." I said. I was silent and so was everypony else in the room.
"Alright... And then what?" Asked a Templar near the back.
"Well... Then I guess we just see what happens." I said.
"You do realize you'll be sailing us all to our doom right, we'll all sink and disappear like the rest of the ships." Said another Templar.
"Well no... I don't think we will." I said. "I'm sure that something will happen once we get to the gate, but I'm certain that we aren't going to sink... I mean, just look at what's been happening. One of the horns is gone. And mountains don't just sink into the water, and it couldn't have collapsed, then there would still be a pile of stone there with ships wreckage all around it." I argued. "There no way all of that material could just empty out into that amount of space without building up near the surface." I said.
"What if an underwater tunnel collapsed and pulled the horn down?" Asked a Templar.
"Well that wouldn't explain why ships are sinking." I said. "If you want my opinion I'm sure that there is a magical presence behind this all, if I had to make an accurate guess on what's happening, I would say there is a rift in space where the third horn used to exist. All mater that goes there is probably shifted to another point in space and time... So the only way we can find the source of the problem is to go out and see for ourselves."
"You do realize that this sounds ridiculous... Right?" Asked a Templar.
"It also sounds like it's the only plan we've got." I said.
" im with crimson on this one." Said Merideth. "You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."
"Alright, so when are we going to depart?" Asked a guard.
"What are we going to do once we get to the gate?" Asked another.
"Well, we should depart as soon as possible, once we get to the gate were going to have to wing it from there and just do what it takes until we can think of a viable plan of attack." I said.
"You heard the stallion... Let's move out!" Ordered knight commander Merideth as all the troops sprung to action and we began making our way out of the knight post. It seems as if we had picked up at least ten extra Templars as we left. We let the captain get back to his ship and he said that they would need a day to restock supplies and water and to let the crew rest. Merideth said that would be fine and we said our goodbye's to the captain. Soon we made our way through the docks until we found a way to our own ship. It was a large blue war ship with two lower decks and cannons poking out of each battlement hatch. The ship was painted blue with white sails and an iron hull. It was a neverspring warship, the iceberg. We all boarded the ship and started to make our departure. It would take us some time to get to the gate since it's far away and this is a big ship that we're sailing on.
Once we all settled down and one of the Templars took the wheel me twilight and the others sat down and we started to explain all that was going on at the city and about the prince and his journal. I explained the situation and scarlet and thunder seemed to understand for the most part, except for the more complicated things like the when and how which nopony really seemed to understand anyway. We sailed across the waters smoothly and there were few other ships in the water. There was one sailing in the waters but it quickly got out of our way once it saw the massive war ship sailing towards it at full mast. Only a quarter of an hour passed by before we were halfway to the gate. The three remaining horns loomed high over everything now and seemed much more ferocious than looking at them from the shore or the castle. Even the sea teeth, the smaller jagged spikes creating a barrier around the city, seemed much more deadly than I though. Large spikes of earth broke out all around and seemed sharp and jagged, definitely not something you would want to crash into.
For a while it was smooth sailing, but sometime later as we started to get closer to the gate something had hit the boat and it began to shake and rock. Templars ran around checking the sides for what the source of the disturbance could be. Then the boat shook and rocked in the water once more, but violently this time. It swayed side to side and all the ponies who were standing up including me and my friends were toppled over. There was a large echoing sound that hummed through the water and made the boat vibrate, it sounded like some kind of ocean creature. Suddenly a large and thick tentacle burst end out from the water and towered over the whole ship. It was a large squid tentacle, seeing as how it had large suction cups all over it. Then severed a more broke out from around the ship. One of the tentacles fell down on the ship and wrapped itself around the ship keeping it still.
"It's a tetradon!" Shouted one of the Templars.
"I thought those were supposed to be peaceful." Said twilight who tired her best to keep herself standing on the rocking ship. "Why is it attacking us?" She asked. Suddenly another deep echoing roar erupted from the water and shook the boat and pierced our ears. It was very loud and very high pitched we had to cover our ears to keep them from bleeding. I watched as one of the Templars took his sword and slashed the tentacle wrapped around the boat and made a deep cut into it. One of the other tentacles tried to smash him into the ground but he rolled out of the way and kept the sword in his teeth. He slashed the other tentacles and another echo rang from the deep. The tentacles propped itself up and loomed over him, then the most interesting thing happened. Suddenly large sharp teeth started to poke out from the suction cups on the tentacle. The tentacle swung down and picked up the Templar and held him tight. He screamed from the pain of the teeth cutting into him and dropped his sword. Suddenly the grip tightened and the Templar was completely torn in half and his body, blood,and organs fell to the boat in a pile of meat and armor.
Another tentacle rose up from the deep near us and looked as if it was threatening an attack. By now all of the tentacles had teeth pointing out of the suction cups. Templars battled valiantly to ward off the other tentacle. Once that other pony had need half a Templar with a halberd swung the large weapon and cleaved the tentacle in half. The one lingering above us threatened to attack but thunder rush jumped in the way and with his horn glowing, fired a blast of magical energy at the tentacle. Snowbelle was busy with another tentacle as she slashed and cleaved with her sword. The two hooded ponies under runestars command fought too. The male pony used ice magic to freeze and shatter other tentacle and the girl used fire magic to burn them. Night commander Merideth, with her large sword cleaved an entire tentacle with one swing. Scarlet let out a gust of razor wind from her breath which cut another tentacle to ribbons.
Once it seemed that we had won the battle even more echoing howls rose from the deep, each one sounding different and multiple howls at the same time. Suddenly even more tentacle of different shapes and colors burst through the water around us like a wall of tentacles with teeth. The waved around and you could see the morale of everypony on the ship sink. Twilight who was also fighting off the tentacles now backed up with a scared look on her face. Rena had lashed out at a tentacle and cut it down. Ergo, or probably Erva, pulled an arrow back on her bow and fired it at a tentacle. It hit the tentacle and another howl echoed through the water. She then pulled back on her bow again but this time with several arrows instead of one and aimed it at the wall of tentacles in front of her. Suddenly the arrows began to burn with a purple fire as her eyes glowed a dull purple. The let the arrows go and they tore through the air trailing purple fire. They hit several tentacles and exploded furiously with several blasts of purple flame that caused the tentacles to burst into mere chunks of meat.
"Crimson this is ridiculous... Do something." Said twilight backing up into me.
"Don't worry, I've got an idea..." I said. "I took in a deep breath and let out a loud and ear splitting whistle what caused the water under us to ripple and make small waves of sound. Suddenly everything went silent for a moment, then there was a deep growl that shook the boat, then a fire some roar. Suddenly the large sea basilisk I summed before burst through the water and rose up above all the tentacle. The large basal it's drove its head down into the water and pulled out a large tentacled squid.
-Authors Note: hey guys, hope you enjoyed this next chapter and things are starting to go forward from here. remember what i told you guys last time, I'm going to cut it down so that the next world after this is the human world and then from there its to the final boss fight. also i mentioned in the AN last chapter that there was a secret source that i used for inspiration. so far nobody has really gotten it without my help, somebody did come close though. someone in the reviews said it was from vampire diaries... almost. you're right about the vampires part, but its not vampire diaries. so i'll let you guys keep on thinking about that and I'm going to be working on the next chapter as well i'm going to be working on Unforgiven because ive been severely lacking in that story. so I'll catch you guys next time.
-Stay Shady~