//------------------------------// // Flow of blood // Story: The Empire of Blood // by The Psychopath //------------------------------// Twilight had assembled her friends after recieving a letter from princess Celestia. The letter stated that there were some strange disturbances in the swamps of Ponyville. She didn't know why the others had to come, but she did as told. Rarity was against the idea of putting her hooves in such horrid muck, so she quickly created a fashionable garment to protect herself. Needless to say, they slowed down because of her. They had finally arrived within the swamp. The area they were in had small lumps of greened swamp mud poking out of the murky water. The base of the mountains were close and a few swamp trees were dotted around here and there. A few fluorescent creatures flew around through the air, giving a tiny light show to the visitors. "Alright girls, look around. Princess Celestia said that there was something important hidden here." cautioned Twilight "Is it a hidden present? I love hidden presents! I'll go that way!" "PInkie Wait! Too late." "Don't worry Twilight, she's never too far away." said Rainbow Dash. "Yuck! This swamp is completely covering my magnificent clothing!" "Didn't ya make that ta protect yerself from the mud?" "Well...yes but." "But nothin'! Stop complainin' and help us look fer whatever the princess wants us to be searching fer." Fluttershy was "talking" with the animals while Rainbow Dash looked from the sky. Fluttershy came back to Twilight shorty after to give her report. "Sorry Twilight. The animals say that they haven't seen anything unusual lately, besides the hydras being awfully quiet." "That's not possible! The princess wouldn't send us here if it was just about calmed hydras. Keep looking! There has to be something!" An hour had passed, and even Pinkie Pie had become bored after not finding her hidden present. "Twilight, can we go now! There's nothing here." she moaned. "But-" "I must agree with Pinkie Pie, sweetie. I'm not sure, but I think you might have recieved the wrong letter from the princess. Perhaps it was for somepony else." "But that's not possible! The princess could never make a mistake like that." The thought of a certain event pertaining to two tickets came to Twilight's mind. Perhaps her friends were right, perhaps the princess did make a mistake. "Hey Twilight!" yelled a cyan pegasus. "There are wierd ruins over here, follow me!" "You see! I was so sure the princess wouldn't make an error like that." "Whatever ya say sugarcube. I just hope that those ruins have more ta them than just bein' broken rocks." Fluttershy was already there, and she was examining what looked small portions of walls and columns that were covered with mud. Rainbow Dash set herself down near the ruins. "See?" shouted Rainbow Dash. "What the-? I've never seen these here before. I didn't even know about there being ancient homes in the Ponyville swamps." "Well, when I came here to talk with more of the animals, they just rose up from the mud." "Just rose up? Without the intervention af anypony at all?" questioned Twilight. "Yup." "I know it's hard to belive Twilight, but when I was flying above Fluttershy, I saw those things rise up by themselves." "Well, this certainly has been intriguing. How about we leave now, and you report back to the princess, huh Twilight?" begged Rarity. "No! We have to check these things o-AAAAAH!" There was the sound of loud, high-pitched screaming flying throughout the air. Everypony fell to the floor, covering their ears. The pitch was so painful that even Rarity dumped her head into the murky waters, her hood covering her mane, of course. It quickly stopped, allowing the ponies to get their heads out of the swamp water. "Fluttershy?" said Twilight. "I don't know. I've never heard a creature like that. I hope it's not a dragon." "What's that on the ridge over there?" said Applejack. The thing Applejack was concerned about, was a tall, bipedal creature. It seemed to have clawed hands and wore boots, but it was hard to tell as it looked like black smoke. It's yellow eyes were staring at the group, who stared right back at it. It said nothing and did not move. The sun was shining brightly behind it, putting emphasis on it's smokey-form. "What...is that wretched thing?" said Rarity. "Maybe it wants to play? Let me go see." Pinkie Pie started bouncing towards the creature." Hey! You want to throw a party?" "Pinkie,don't!" Rainbow tried to grab Pinkie Pie, but the creature's hands twitched and, in a flash, it was right where Pinkie was, but bent and with it's fist forward. Pinkie flew right by the group and slammed through three trees before stopping on the fourth one. They all had their mouths gaping open as they slowly turned to see Pinkie Pie laying in the murky water. Rainbow grew furious while Fluttershy and Rarity ran to Pinkie Pie's aid. Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack were now facing the creature. This thing was going to pay, but, before they could react, it had suddenly appeared in front of Rarity and Fluttershy, who recieved neck-chops. They flopped to the ground. Twilight was still frozen stiff by what had happened. This creature was impossibly powerful and quick. Applejack and Rainbow Dash barely had time to turn around that the monster smashed them into the murky mud with it's legs, before it bounced off, flipped, and landed right in front of Twilight. "W-w-w...what? How?" The creature just stood in front of Twilight and kept it's right hand over her head. Twilight snapped back to herself and jumped out of the creature's arm range. She was absolutely furious. Her mane and tail started to turn into fire as her coat whitened. Something that hadn't happened since she tried to understand Pinkie's senses. Her horn glew brightly as she prepared a powerful spell. The creature just turned to it's side, while still looking at Twilight with it's left eye. "You'll pay for what you did, you...you...MONSTER!" As the wave of purple energy was unleashed, the creature seemed to have teleported once again. Now, it was behind Twilight. It had grabbed her head and lift her up. She returned to normal as she struggled to get free. It turned her to face it directly. Twilight opened her eyes as she looked both angry and scared. "Why? Why would you do that to us? What did we ever do to you? You didn't need to kill them!" Twilight was sniffling and crying. The creature just blinked and twisted to point at Twilight's friends who were already getting back up. "What? Then what did you?*zap* OW!" The living smoke had electrocuted Twilight with something, but it seemed harmless. He then placed her gently back into the water and walked slightly further away from the group that was reassembling itself. "You're all okay!" shouted Twilight in glee. "Of course darling, although I'm not too sure how that's possible. Even Pinkie Pie looks okay." Pinkie Pie was still smiling and bouncing depite what the creature did. She seemed to know something that the others didn't. Fluttershy looked absolutely horrified and flew right into the creature's face. She was using her "stare". "How DARE you do that to my friends. Who do you think you are? It's not because you're a "mysterious" creature that you can hurt us like that!" The beast retained it's calm demeanor, suggesting that it was unaffected by Fluttershy's stare. "Twilight, I think that...thing is the reason for Celestia's letter." "I think so too Rainbow." "Ya think we should stop it while it's distracted?" "I don't know. Did you see how fast and powerful it was? I think that, if it wanted to harm us, it would have done so already. I don't know what it did, but I think it transferred something into our bodies." "OOOOOH! So THAT'S the hidden present. Thanks scary monster!" The creature twitched again. Fluttershy flew right in the middle of the group, throwing mud and murky water all over Rarity. "Ewwww! It's going to take me weeks to remove this filth from my mane and coat. YOU BRUTE! Fluttershy dear, are you allright?" "Strangely, yes." The smoke stayed in place again, but the sun seemed to be fading away slowly behind it. The sky and the sun were turning red, but the ponies were too concentrated on their attacker. "So, you want a piece of us? Come and get it!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "It" swayed it's head. "What? Yer too chicken ta fight us now that ya don't got the element of surprise no more?" It still swayed it's head. "Well then , Applejack, how aabout we attack it this time?" "That sounds like a great idea. Let's do it!" The two mares started to gallop towards the thing, but Twilight stopped them with her magic. While they floated back towards the group, Rainbow and Applejack were about to complain, but Twilight put a silence spell on them. This was a very delicate situation. "Hey, you! Why did you attack us?" It didn't move." "What did you give us? I saw that, everytime you hit one of us, there was a purple spark that flew. Is that your magic?" It nodded. "Why did you give it to all of us?" "It's a present,silly!" "Pinkie Pie! Why are you so happy? It punched you through trees! I even thought you had died!" exclamated Rarity. She was helping Fluttershy back up. "Can't you see it? He doesn't want to hurt us. He's trying to give us something." "Wait...it's a he?" said Twilight. "Pfff, duh! It's easy to see it!" Both Rarity and Twilight looked back at the creature. The only thing they could notice about it were it's arms, it's eyes, it's legs, and the shifting smoke. They looked back at Pinkie Pie with questioning faces. "What?" she said. "Hey, since when has the sky been so red?" "It's never been r-" Twilight let go of Applejack and Rainbow Dash who were greeted by even more splashing. They coughed as some of the water entered their mouths. "Ugh. I'm sure we're going to catch a cold or something like that." complained Rainbow Dash. Unfortunately, the freed ones soon saw what was going on. The smokey creature was performing some for of aerial rune while incanting a spell in a language unknown to Twilight. She started to panic. "What are you doing? You aren't going to destroy Equestria are you? We won't let you do that!" The shadow started to laugh loudly, then a booming voice started echoing from all directions. "I have made a mistake in the past that I cannot correct. You must travel to the time before the pony tribes discovered Equestria. You must...go to the EMPIRE OF BLOOD!" "THE WHAT?!" the group yelled. "The Empire of Blood? I don't think I want to go there. I think I'll go now." said Fluttershy, a nervous smile on her face. "Everypony, run!" yelled Twilight. They all started galloping away from the beast, but it had already finished it's incantation. The ground started to rumble as massive amounts of a red liquid started flowing out of the ground and turned into a gigantic creature. It had horns and looked like a bipedal pony. It resembled some form of cross-breed. The thing roared and chased after the group. Even Rainbow Dash wasn't fast enough. "Oh come one! Wait...why am I flying backwards?" wondered Rainbow Dash. Looking back, she could see that the creature's mouth was wide open. It had an incredible suction force. As Twilight and the others hung onto the ground, the beast looked at Rainbow Dash who was struggling to stay in the air. It stomped forward and chomped down on her. "Rainbow Dash!" The creature then smashed the ground with it's fists, causing miniscule tremors, but it was enough for it to unroot the ground below the group's feet. They all started to get sucked into it's mouth. Twilight tried to use her magic to keep everypony inside of a protective bubble, but the suction power was too strong. The beast even grabbed the bubble holding everypony inside and threw it inside of it's mouth. The only one not scared was Pinkie Pie, who was flailing her arms in every direction and shouting "WOOHOO!". The beast clamped it's aw shut. It soon redissolved into the swamp waters. The sky and sun returned to normal, and the smojey creature had dissappeared. What did it do?