//------------------------------// // Slaughter // Story: Cold Scales // by Konatra //------------------------------// A few hours after the sunset, Spines found her way back to Butterscotch's cottage. She placed her belt and weapons back in the hole and recovered her clothes. She contemplated the thought of warning her friend about the monsters she encountered but decided telling him such would only cause harm. He would be paranoid about leaving his home every day at something that, to her knowledge, lived only in the deepest areas of the Everfree. With a sigh, she decided to leave without saying a thing, at the moment she was too scrambled to have a proper conversation with. She was a mess. The trail home was silent, most of the ponies were asleep and that made her feel at peace. 'I won't tell Butters...and there's no reason to say anything to the other guys.' That would only cause unnecessary panic. She wondered if the Elements could even fight something like the nightmare. Sure Dusk did manage to lay a royal beat down on Tirek but the nightmare was different. No build-up or bravado about winning or taking over the world, this thing just bled violent. It just wanted to kill and nothing more. That speed and impossible abilities could easily kill any pony if they didn't see it coming...although none of that didn't matter as the nightmare was destroyed. Then that leaves that other one...the victor. She shuddered for the millionth time today. Such a display of raw power with so little effort. What was it? It saved her and even healed her mortal wounds, so that means it must be a good guy right? Her pace stopped and once more she clenched her stomach. The wounds may have healed but the memory persisted. Never in her life did Spines feel such a horrible agony. She grunted and quickened her pace, wanting more than ever to be safe in her basement room. Another minute passed and Spines was at the door of the Castle. Looking up she muttered something about never realizing how ridiculous the castle looked all these years. '...Should I tell Dusk about this?' Another factor to account for. He was her brother so such a matter should be shared between family right? ...Spine shook her head. 'If Dusk knew about this he'd never let me go out there again...'. Another question was raised, did she even want to go back to that hellish place? Well if she wanted to find a stable source of meat then she had to. Nowhere in a near radius could she hunt and eat in private. Eating was essential and now much like a smoker addicted to cigarettes, she was dependent on meat for a stable, healthy life. Swearing under her breath she decided to leave the problem alone at least for tonight. At least for now she could rest for a moment. She walked inside. ___ Spines chuckled softly at the sight before her. 'zzzzzz' Dusk's head was resting on an open book. She looked at the time to see it was almost 3 A.M. She shook her head while putting her claws on her hips. "Come on Dusk, you don't have to wait for me to get home every time I go out." Of course the alicorn could not even hope to hear her or anything that didn't at least resemble a foghorn. Shrugging her arms in an 'I give up' fashion she picked up the pony with minor effort. "Ugh, Solaris Dusk you really need to cut back on the fast food again." Before she could place him in his bed she took notice of the book he drooled on and read the name of the chapter. 'What are the signs?' Confused Spines used her tail to flip the book close to read the cover title. 'What to do When a Family Member is Keeping Secrets and How to Respond to it Without Looking Like a Total Jerk.' Spines snorted and almost dropped Dusk. "Wow that is a real title." She felt a little bad for Dusk and while it couldn't be helped she knew Dusk was the kind of person to overthink every little thing. The thing was, he did have a valid reason for being worried this time. The things she'd been doing did seem pretty sketchy. Her eyes shrunk. "Please don't think I'm on drugs please don't think I'm doing drugsSolarisDuskyoubetterrnothinki'mdoingdrugs!" Still out like a rock. "Dammit!" ___ The hunter walked further into its home. Not thinking or feeling, it just did because it had to. Another spawn killed, today was a good day to become active again. Then there was that native it stumbled onto...it stopped after so many hours of moving. '....taaaainteed?' It didn't account for that. 'iiiiimposssible' If you could actually read its thoughts you would just get a jumble of noises that have no meaning in reality. Only it knew what it thought. It thought back to the draconic female. It survived somehow...even after being infected with the Bile... It focused for a moment and let its shattered mind reconnect. 'Noooot posssible...she sshould of went maaad the ssecond she was penetrated.' A curious event indeed. Even more of a question of how no traces of the Bile were left inside of her. When it decided to inject her with its own tendril, it was to enact a mercy killing. Yet no Bile could be found. '...most curious...' Crack The hunter let all of its minds fall back into disarray and prepared for a challenge. How foolish it was, in mere moments of thought it was surrounded by at least seven demons that were similar to the first encounter. They closed in without a moment's rest. The hunter let out an unearthly roar and proceeded to slaughter those who dare challenge it. ___ Her brother was now in bed and her as well. The basement made a good living area as now she could place a small pile of gems and coins in the corner of the room. A year's worth salary and maybe she could sleep on it. At the risk of nightmares, she decided to think back to her odd suggestion when faced with the alpha hunter. Why did she want to see it again so badly, to teach it and then what end? 'I need to see that thing again...it is intelligent and...' She wondered if her conclusion was the result of madness taking over her. "Maybe it's lonely..." She curled to her side and went fast asleep. Her mind not wanting to process anything else for at least a few hours. ___ In her dreams, she could hear a heartbeat, but this beat came without rhythm and sounded dysfunctional. Her vision was only filled with darkness that floated murky patterns she could not understand or even comprehend. Then a chilling voice made her thoughts freeze. 'SOON' She had the sudden urge to look at her body and shrieked when she noticed her arms were now exactly the same as the nightmare. In fact, her whole body was now one of them. Her screaming grew but was overpowered by the familiar buzzing noise the nightmare made. It took no time before she realized she was the one making the noise. The nightmare looked down at the pile of dead ponies. A feast of untainted souls could sustain it for a lifetime. The town lied in ruins, no one survived. The other towns would fall next and then the cities until this whole world became a new proving ground to grow. Too long had the Overlord slept in silence, finally the nightmare could serve the true ruler, the true God! Looking up from the slaughter it saw countless spawns flying through the darkened skies. A genocide was upon them, no flesh shall be spared this day. Before it would leave it allowed just one more bite, this one looked savory. Spines took a bite out of Dusk's face. Spines woke up screaming.