//------------------------------// // The Blood // Story: Moon Unit Zappa // by RarityEQM //------------------------------// For the last hour or so, Dinky and Diamond had walked the bleak and barren land of Tartarus, looking for some sign of Princess Luna, and for the last hour or so, the trek had been made in blessed silence. As long as Dinky had known her, Diamond acted like 'silence' was a personal adversary of hers; an arch nemesis that she went out of her way to attack with her squeaky voice whenever possible. This trait made her attractive as bait for most situations but never failed to give Dinky a headache. But now? On the utter precipice of despair and in the depths of Hades, the other girl was quiet. No, not just quiet, she was absolutely silent as they trudged across the wasteland. For a brief, flickering instant, Dinky allowed herself to hope that Diamond was actually doing something useful. Concentrating on putting her heightened senses to use in finding the princess, or maybe she was working on a full proof wish to get them home. Surely, the filly was contemplating the true depths of her powers and she was preparing to astound Dinky with tactical prowess and strategic insight. Just as Dinky was looking at her, the other girl stopped abruptly and got a wistful look across her muzzle as if she'd just had a striking epiphany. "What do sandwiches taste like?" Diamond asked. Dinky sighed. God, she hated this pony. "What?" Dinky asked. She knew better than to ask. Really, she did. She could not figure out for the life of her why she carried on a conversation with Diamond Dancer. Boredom perhaps? The desire to bond with her fellow Equestrian? No no, Dinky was quite sure it was the gnawing insanity creeping around the outskirts of her mind from prolonged exposure to Tartarus. "You know.......sandwiches?" Diamond explained helpfully. Dinky stared. Sandwiches. The girl was asking about sandwiches. Of all the things to be thinking about in the middle of an extremely critical mission: Diamond had chosen sandwiches. Diamond had stopped walking and turned to peer at Dinky quietly as if expecting a reply from her companion that wasn't riddled with insults. "I'll be honest, Diamond. I don't get you. I admit that. I don't. You are easily the dumbest pony I know. You couldn't pour water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel, you destroy everything you touch, and you are a walking disaster. I mean, my dog, you're a neandertal, Diamond! Do you eat meat?! Somehow, you're so insanely stupid, you act as a functioning black hole for intellect! You are an intelligence vampire! And all of this is painfully demonstrated by the fact that you are talking, about, sandwiches!! And me?! I'm your latest victim! You've diminished my intelligence just by being around you, so much so that I actually followed you down here. I followed you into Tartarus! Do you not understand we are going to die?! How are you so clueless?! WHY ARE YOU SMILING?!" Dinky screamed. Her voice echoed into nothingness, lost in the endless depths of Tartarus. "Heh. "Better up then down!" Thats and old Pegasus saying Bardigan told me! It means-" Diamond chirped brightly but Dinky held up a hoof. "No. I don't care. You can't just brush this off! You can't just brush everything off! This isn't funny! I'm going to die because of you! You idiot!! Don't you even understand what you've done?! How are you even remotely cheerful!" Dinky shrieked. Diamond couldn't help but flash a gleeful grin regardless. "Cause we're not dead yet, and as long as we're still alive we still have a chance to help Princess Luna!" she chirped happily. Dinky's mouth dropped open. This dumb filly was so entirely clueless that she actually thought she would be of some use to Luna still. Even throughout all of this. Dinky choked out a harsh sputter of a laugh. "You really don't get it, do you? You have no idea what's going on at all. All you can think about is Luna. Are you even aware you're Luna's pet? Blindly following her at every turn, begging for scraps of attention. No, No, you're too dumb to figure that out, so let me spell it out for you: You're Luna's puppy: a stupid lapdog always at her side, trained to fetch and nothing more. You are not helping anypony," Dinky snarled quietly. Diamond turned abruptly towards Dinky, but whatever the pegasus was planning, Dinky was prepared for it. She wouldn't be caught off guard again by some stupid trick! Diamond, as if sensing Dinky's paranoia, turned away from her and shook her head with a diminutive growl. "First of all, dogs is awesome, I would be so lucky, secondly, as an alleged dog, I reserve the right to bite you in any given scenario without prior warning. Third, Princess Luna needs our help, and we, like it or not, have been given the unique opportunity to help her. When you can help somepony out, why would you let the chance to help pass you by? I'm willing to do whatever it takes to save Luna! That's loyalty!" Diamond exclaimed. Dinky shot her a withering glare and huffed. "Yes, yes. You're willing to do anything for Luna, even get the rest of her court killed while doing it. If Luna took a dump on your face and called it cake you would dig right in without hesitation, Diamond. You are too dumb to realize loyalty is not a virtue, it’s a weakness," Dinky sighed. Diamond paused at that statement and screwed up her muzzle in disgust. "Are you asking me to belt you again? Cause it sounds like you're asking me to belt you again? I think I'm gonna belt you again. Loyalty is not a weakness, Dinky! Loyalty is-" Diamond began but Dinky held up a hoof with a groan. "Try and focus on the bigger picture, Diamond. Your loyalty to Luna is the reason I'm going to die cold and alone in Tartarus," Dinky snarled. Diamond's ears splayed against her skull and the little girl gave a sigh. "No, the reason you're gonna die cold and alone is because I'll probab-" Diamond began, but Dinky had held up a hoof suddenly, with a sharp "SHHHHHH" her ears perked and eyes wide. Had she heard something Diamond didn't? Did she have some sort of necromancer abilities to allow her to sense the presence of demons and it alerted her to some unseen danger?! Diamond perked her ears listening to the silence around them, straining to try and discern whatever peril it was that Dinky had detected. The unicorn quietly crouched down behind her, trying to make herself as small as possible, while Diamond frantically searched for the threat. "Over here!" said Dinky sharply, prompting Diamond to turn around and right into the horn pointed at her face. Diamond had long ago lost her sense of taste, her sense of smell, and her sense of touch, leaving her with just her rudimentary senses of sight and hearing, and her pegasi senses. Her remaining senses had been heightened drastically, and while it meant she could hear a pin drop, it also meant she was susceptible to bright lights more than the average night pony. A weakness Dinky casually exploited, flashing her horn as brightly as she could when Diamond had turned around. "Gah!!" she shrieked, stumbling back in shock. The surprise attack had blinded her, and in that blindness left her open to a follow-up attack: A large rock Dinky grasped in an aura of telekinesis, and brought down across her skull, sending the filly crashing into the ground. Dinky climbed atop her. She pinned her tiny wings easily with a hoof and held the rock aloft to attack her again if she tried to squirm away. "Listen to me featherbrain. This is a preemptive strike, and that means I'm hitting you before you hit me. If I'm going to die down here it isn't going to be because I let you get the drop on me twice. You are not going to lay a hoof on me again and if you try to 'belt' me I will choke you to death with your own tail, understand? Don't you EVER touch me again!! I am taking control of this situation! I am in charge! I am smarter than you. I will always be smarter than you, and if you want to get out of here and back to your ‘brother’, you are going to do what I say, got that?" Dinky grumbled. Diamond wriggled and squirmed underneath the other girl and laughed coldly. "That sucker punch struck a nerve, huh? Trust me, Dinky, I WISH I didn't have to put up with you. This is no picnic, but I... " Diamond began but her voice trailed off when she noticed the star dangling from her neck twinkling to life. Dinky sighed. “You moro-” And then they were gone. ****************************** The star was particularly merciful this time around. It could have deposited Diamond and Dinky anywhere in the barren hellscape of Tartarus, but it had dropped them (atop one and other) neatly behind a large bluish boulder. There were a moderate number of rocks and stones surrounding them like they had been whisked away to the middle of a quarry of some kind. “Nice job stupid. Now where are we?” Dinky snarled quietly, climbing off of the other filly and dusting herself off. “Dinky...” was the only reply that Diamond could manage. She was lying on her belly, staring wide-eyed at something behind them. Slowly, Dinky’s gaze shifted towards whatever it was that Diamond was fixated on. By the mare in the moon... Behind them, some distance away was an open grave. A mass open grave. An open grave that stretched endlessly outward and filled with just as many bones and bodies. Diamond drew her hooves over her muzzle in shock, but Dinky could only stare, now equally fixated on the morbid scene in front of her: hundreds and hundreds of dead ponies. The life long since sucked away from them, leaving them much like soulless husks piled on one and other. No. Not just dead ponies. Dead creatures. Hundreds and hundreds of violated, mutilated corpses, laying in crude stacks. “Y-You can’t do this to me! I am royalty! I- I demand you release me at once! D-Do you hear me! Do you know who I am?! Celestia will surely be most cross with you! Release me at once, I say! I don’t want to be a sacrifice for Tirek! Let go of me! I need my blood inside my body!! He can’t have it!! I want my one phone call! Where do I file a complaint?! I want to talk to your manager!!” squealed a voice that echoed out from the clearing. Quietly, Diamond and Dinky peeked around the boulder they were behind, peering at the spectacle taking place in front of them. There was a unicorn, large and white with a big barrel chest, and long wavy locks of spun gold that danced from his skull. His snowy white coat was dirty and tarnished with mud and debris, but he looked uninjured. He was being dragged by his neck by a short chain towards the blood-stained clearing. Holding that chain was a creature Diamond Dancer couldn’t quite identify, but it dragged the big unicorn along with a horrifying strength. It was large and colored a dark shade of dirty crimson. It looked like it was covered in wet skin; leathery layers of filthy flesh that wrapped and dangled around thick, deformed, sinewy muscles. It stood on two large, red, cloven hooves, digitigrade with thunderous, explosives steps that echoed about the empty clearing. As it pulled and tugged the unicorn forward, It turned and grunted in an alien cry of fury. Its head somewhat resembled a grotesque, monstrous goat with bulbous horizontal eyes, and a massive tusk fanged muzzle. The worst of the creature was the muscled arms that tapered down into horrifying claws where the end of its limbs should have been. The dangerous looking protrusions extended nearly three feet in length and glittered an ebony crystalline gleam. “Is that who I think it is? That’s Blueblood isn’t it? What's that royal loser doing down here?” Diamond whispered dryly. The girls had taken to peering around the side of the boulder they were hiding behind, to watch the unicorn being dragged towards the center of the clearing. Dinky shook her head and made a face like she’d just swallowed a mouthful of soap. “No idea. But I bet he can tell us why Luna’s down here. Look, there, see the cuffs around his legs?” Dinky whispered, pointing towards the creature and Blueblood. Diamond narrowed her eyes and scanned the two of them quietly. Around the unicorn’s ankles, there were indeed four, large iron looking cuffs wrapped tightly around each limb. Occasionally they took on a fierce and otherworldly crimson glow, illuminating a small circle of runes that wrapped horizontally around the cuff. “Those are capture cuffs. They’re used by necromancers to keep demons in check, or force somepony to do their bidding. Mostly they're used for slavery. As long as those are on him, he’s not going to be able to run very far. I’ll have to disenchant them and that goat demon doesn’t look like he’s going to let us get close. We’ll need to-” Dinky growled, gasping in shock when Diamond suddenly went racing past. "No time for plans, Dinks! He said he was going to be sacrificed! If we don't move, it'll be too late!! Get the Prince free, I’ll deal with goat-face!” Diamond hollered, throwing herself out of cover without another word. Dinky sighed, pausing to marvel at how quickly Diamond had decided to throw herself into harm's way before she had a chance to develop a plan. Every time she thought she'd reached the absolute bottom of her pit of hatred for Diamond, the filly appeared with a shovel and a smile. “HEY!!! BUTT-HEAD!!” Both Blueblood and the goat creature stopped their struggling and turned and looked at the tiny filly who had come out of nowhere and started screaming insults. Diamond swallowed nervously, and strolled to her right, making sure the prince and the creature had their eyes on her. She caught a glimpse of Dinky dipping behind the rocks closest to Blueblood. So far, so good. “Yeah I’m talkin’ to you, can-eater! Step away from the prince, or I show you what a real headbutt looks like!” Diamond Dancer demanded, bracing herself and splaying her little wings as widely as she could. While she imagined she didn’t look threatening it didn’t matter as long as she drew all of the attention in the room... The goat creature tilted its head ever so slightly and Diamond scrunched her nose. Maybe It didn’t understand her? A pity, that meant half of her arsenal was gone and if she couldn’t taunt the creature to keep its attention on her, she would have to find a different way to hold its focus. At least long enough for Dinky to free Blueblood. The creature slowly took a step forward towards Diamond, and tilted its head in the opposite direction before it opened its horrible grotesque mouth and emitted a sound. Ever so much like a scream, yet not a scream nor sound Diamond had ever heard before, but it was easily a sound the filly never wanted to hear again. It started off low: like the guttural snarl of a panther that was mixed with the engine of an automobile, but the pitch was far, far too low to be either of those things. Only- it didn’t stay that way. That low, terrible, guttural growl got higher and higher until it resembled a deafening screeching violin that could shatter glass and Diamond’s ears splayed to either side of her head. It was not an earthly sound the creature had made and it managed to rattle the little pegasus to her core, well before the battle even started. “T-The buck was that.....was that a war cry? That was impressive as -YIPE!” Diamond squealed, diving towards her left when the goat-like creature suddenly charged forward. It had attempted to skewer the filly with a quick and vicious pounce, but Diamond was quicker still. She dove to safety and rolled up onto her hooves in a combat ready pose. The creature gave a bleat of anger and turned towards Diamond, slashing at the girl with its long ebony claws. Diamond’s enhanced eyesight caught every errant flinch and tell-tale twitch the beast made before it attacked, however, and she was long gone before any of them could land. “Whoa, swing-anna-miss! Strike two!! You are terrible at this, but you might make a good player for The Manehatten Mammoths with swings like that!" Diamond chided, dashing backward to avoid another slash from the monster’s claws. Her short, quick movements were starting to leave after-images of herself behind her, which were promptly destroyed by the rampaging goat. It was a neat little trick, one Dinky had watched Diamond practice over and over and over again. The contrail from her wings was a white streak of light, and that refracted the light off the crystalline properties of her coat like endless mirrors. The end result was an illusionary image of Diamond left behind when she darted to and fro. It was a phenomenon Dinky would have loved to study, but that would have required Diamond to sit still for longer than she was capable of. And to willingly be in Diamond’s company. Dinky shuddered. She had managed to dart close enough to Blueblood to feel that dark magic emanating from the cuffs around his ankles. "Don't move," Dinky whispered, memorizing the numerous glyphs that were wrapped around the anklets. She knew most of them by heart. A language of the dead. Yes! She could recite a counter-spell to undo the cuffs! "Who are you?! What's going on?! Who is that?! Why is that goat-pony so mean?! Did you see its claws?! Do peasants not know what a manicure is?! What kind of vacation is this?! Why does he want my blood?! Did Auntie Celestia send you?! Where is the rest of your squad?! Why are there children in the army?! Are you a filly?! How did you get down here?! Where is Auntie Celestia?! Goodness you're filthy! Try not to touch my royal hooves!" The unicorn above her babbled. Dinky groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. The prince's pointless questions were not helping her concentration in the slightest. "Quiet!" She whispered sharply. For a moment, the prince's ears perked in surprise at the rude little filly tending to him, and he gave an indignant snort. "How dare you! I say, I'm not accustomed to such paltry service! And I'm hardly talking loud at all! Certainly not loud enough to warrant that kind of response! Who are you to tell me to be quiet! You didn't answer any of my questions! Do you know who I am?!" Blueblood snarled. Dinky rolled her eyes and in doing so, caught sight of Diamond while she worked distracting the guard. Her stupid abilities had kicked in fully now, and every movement she made left a glittering trail of sparkles behind her. The crystal fur she had was shedding, a trait of her sickness that happened when she overexerted herself. Still, sick or not, Diamond could still provide an ample distraction, and her odd little ‘Rainbow-Dash-Inspired’ tricks were proving to benefit her greatly. She nimbly dodged the goat’s claws and danced around his slashing attacks, but when it turned away from her to deliver a swift kick from one of its legs, it caught Diamond square in the face. The blow was enough to snap Diamond’s head back and send the filly spiraling into the air. She crashed hard into the dirt, tumbling head over hooves, until she lay still and silent. The goat creature threw its head back and made a bleating sound of triumph before it trudged over to collect its prize. The downed filly didn’t move, and Dinky didn't expect her too. Not yet at least. One of Diamond's favorite tricks was playing dead until the last possible second. This would at least buy her some more time. She turned back towards the cuffs and charted her progress. The last of the runes on his hind right ankle had faded away, and the cuff tumbled to the ground with a quiet clatter. The monster lumbered over towards Diamond, looming over the filly with a vengeful gleam in its eye. Diamond was laying on her belly with her eyes closed. Her ears were flat against her skull and her legs were tucked underneath her. The creature slowly reached down to skewer the filly in its claws, happily taking its time to slaughter its victim. Before it could sink its claws into Diamond's flesh, however, the filly sprang forward in a startling burst of speed. From a prone position, Diamond had launched into a furious headbutt and surprised the monster with a solid strike! She cracked him in the face, mirroring the hit he'd delivered to her earlier and skittered out of his range with a leering grin. "Na-Na-Na-Boo-Boo, eat a bowl of dog pooh! What kind of dumb loser demon can't kill a filly?!" Diamond cackled, followed with the most obnoxious raspberry Dinky had ever heard. It was making her fur stand on end so she had no doubts the goat was just as eager, if not more so, to separate Diamond's tongue from her muzzle. Good. All the more time for Dinky to work her magic. So far, she had just about finished the second cuff. Dinky tried to keep focused on the task at hoof, but a bestial cry of fury from the goat drew her attention promptly. The monster had grown tired of Diamond's antics and now aimed to quickly, and painfully eviscerate this tiny filly buzzing around it. It slashed and clawed at the girl bouncing around it in circles, but could not land a solid strike. Diamond was nimble and made good use of her tiny size. She skittered around the demon, dipping to his left and then his right, between his legs behind him, and then up and over his head with a flutter of her wings. If she could keep that up, Dinky would be finished in no time, and they could make a run for it. Dinky glanced down at the last cuff in her hooves, almost finished... "So, Dinky! Anytime would be good!!" Diamond called over her shoulder. Dinky gave a grunt. The dumb filly must have thought decrypting and disenchanting a complex bondage spell was an easy thing to do. She had a retort lined up for the dumb pegasus, but it died in her throat when she glanced up, just in time to see the goat demon land his second blow. This one caught Diamond in the side with pitch black claws and left a grisly gash in her flesh. Diamond crashed to the ground, rolling onto her back and scooting away from the looming beast with wide, panic-stricken eyes. "Wh-What?! WHAT IS THIS?! HOW?! I-I DON'T UNDERSTAND!! W-WAIT! WAIT! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!" Diamond screamed, looking over her fresh wounds in panic. She'd never encountered a situation where she didn't have the advantage of invulnerability! Impossible! This was impossible!! She looked down at the new hole in her side. Her ribs. She could see her own ribs. Two dark red little shards of bone that peeked out past her blood stained fur. In a desperate panic, Diamond tried to put herself back together, scooping up as much of her blood as she could to force it back into the oozing wound. No no no no no! Scared and teary eyed, she did her best to try and push her ribs back into her body while trying to keep an eye on the demon at the same time. How was this happening?! How was it hurting her?! She was supposed to be invincible! Her body wasn't supposed to react like this!! There was no pain, but there was so much blood spilling out of her! There was too much blood spilling out of her... "NO!! WAIT!! PLEASE!! NO!!" Diamond squealed. She had ended up scooting back on her rump, trying to put as much distance between her and the angry demon as possible, but there was no escape. Without another word, the monster skewered the girl in one vicious thrust, stabbing its long ebony claws through Diamond's belly and out her lower back. She thrashed wildly and wide-eyed, trying to free herself from the creature. Were those her intestines?! Could she see her own guts, ebbing out around the sinister claws?! For the love of Luna... "STOP!! I WANT MOMMY!!" Diamond hollered in a blind panic, tears rushing from her eyes as she was slowly lifted up into the air. She'd never seen her own blood gush out of her like that before. Never so much and never quite so black. It was like ink. She was bleeding out all of the night time inside of her! NO!! Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she was aware that didn't make any sense, but panic had completely taken over by this point. The goat creature cackled a low, haunting laugh and held Diamond out at arm's length, observing his hard-won prize. A screaming, struggling filly was not something it saw in Tartarus all too often, and what was stranger still was the girl's blood. Oh, she bled alright. Long syrupy rivets of the stuff, but it was black as the night sky, and poured from her body with an almost ominous slowness, like sludge or molasses. Black, bubbling blood was too good to pass up. The girl struggled in its grasp, but she wasn't going anywhere. It lifted her up, higher and higher over its head. It hadn't bathed in blood for nearly a month and now it was faced with a golden opportunity. Slowly, it watched the shiny black blood ooze down and splatter over its forehead. Down across its eyes. Down over its neck. It shuddered at the warm sensation that cascaded over its body and twisted its claws a little more to increase the flow. It was so warm! It was SO warm! The child's blood was so deliciously, comfortingly warm. Almost hot, really. The goat Demon squirmed under the filly, much the way the filly squirmed over it. Ok, now the blood was hot. A good kind of hot. A bit like a sauna. Comforting and cozy. Well, maybe it was slightly uncomfortable. It was more like a hot tub that had been turned up to high. Like a scalding bath but he was enjoying himself none the less. At least, that was the truth when he'd first started to bathe. Now it was slightly too uncomfortable to enjoy. The blood had gone from cozy, to scalding to boiling! No, hotter than that. It was painfully searing! Hotter, and hotter still. Not searing!! BURNING!!! The goat dropped Diamond to the ground, throwing the wounded filly away from it to clutch at its eyes where the blood was hissing and bubbling and melting into his face. It screamed, and thrashed, wildly clawing at itself while the filly's blood ate away at its face like acid. The long black claws did it no favors in removing the substance from its face, and soon the monster was a shrieking mess of blood and bone. It collapsed to the ground, screeching in agony, clutching helplessly at its face. It didn't even feel the sudden weight on its chest from the little filly who climbed up onto it. It certainly, however, felt the filly who grabbed it by the face with a weak snarl. "Hey....Butt-head...You're not...you're not done with your bath!!" Diamond growled, grasping the creature's head with her tiny hooves. She forced its face into her blood coated belly. The creature screamed and trashed, but Diamond clung to it with as much force as she could muster. It screamed into her messy fur, and plead into her fresh wounds, but Diamond didn't let go until the creature had stopped moving. Stopped screaming. Stopped breathing. It was dead. Diamond weakly rolled to her side, and off of the creature. There were holes in her. Holes in her tummy and a great gaping gash in her barrel. Panicked and confused by her condition, Diamond stole a glance around the quarry, coming to stop on Blueblood and Dinky who were staring at her from across the clearing. Slowly, she turned towards them with a pleading whimper, extending a blood-soaked foreleg towards them. It felt like all of her energy was pouring out of her and just summoning the strength to crawl forward was using the last of her reserves. "Dinky.....help..." Diamond squawked. The blurry figure of Dinky meandered over calmly and coldly and stopped right in front of the filly, scanning her quietly. "What was that about belting me?" Dinky asked coldly, watching the large black puddle of blood that spread underneath Diamond. The other filly made a sputtering sound and kicked and twitched, trying to pull herself to her hooves. "Dinky...please...I...I don't feel so good...I'm scared..." Diamond sputtered, reaching for the other filly's hoof. Dinky sighed and stood up, glancing around the clearing for a tool to help Diamond...ahh! Perfect. She stood up with a quaint, tiny nod and stepped out of Diamond's view. The injured girl tried to turn to follow Dinky, as she swiftly set about collecting the largest rock she could find. Diamond watched in silence, injured and helpless, as Dinky turned around and sauntered up to her void of anything resembling emotions. "Relax. I'll help," Dinky snarled. Diamond gave a helpless whine and tried to kick to her hooves, but her legs refused to obey her commands. Teary eyed and out of options, Diamond looked up at the older girl with a pleading whimper. "D-Dinky..." Diamond squeaked nervously. Dinky didn't respond and simply stared down at Diamond for a long few moments while the filly slowly bled out in front of her. Finally, Dinky came to a decision, and hefted the rock over her head with a burst of telekinesis and glared at the crippled filly. In her last fleeting moments of panic-stricken consciousness, Diamond realized the star had granted her wish. Now she wouldn't have to deal with Dinky. She wouldn't have to deal with Dinky ever again. The rock came down with an echoing thud, and not an ounce of regret.