//------------------------------// // A Real Pain in the Neck // Story: Majesty: Queen of the Castle // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// The four ponies were on the move again. Majesty, Hollywood, Wind Whistler, and Applejack had found a pathway through the western woods, taking them away from rainbow falls, and back towards the river where their friends had first disappeared from. Trotting along a higher path to avoid the cemetery of the ancients that had terrified them earlier. But the road back they had chosen was filled with perils all it's own, one's which the ponies simply were not ready for. "Good grief, Majesty! This place is really, really creepy!" Hollywood exclaimed, lo0oking around at her surroundings. "Are you sure we didn't come back through the same path again!" "Yes Holly, I'm sure we've taken a different path." Majesty replied in annoyance. "Would you please stop asking me the same question a thousand times?" The forest around them was dark and creepy, and a foul chill filled the air. The trees around them seemed to move with s twisted life of their own, and a stale deadness filled the air all about them. All four ponies felt even more ill at ease, than they had felt in the cemetery they had passed through on the way here. And it filled the quartet with a terrible dread, even if some of them didn't want to admit it. "Y'know, this forest looks like one of those places in horror novels... the ones where zombie ponies come out and attack the helpless, unsuspecting mares." Wind Whistler gulped. "I really, really think we get out of here... like, as fast as possible." "Would you calm down, Windy?" Applejack snorted, looking around through the darkness nervously. "You know very well there's no such thing as zombie ponies!" But out from the shadows, something was watching the mares as they trotted along through the dark forest, licking it's fangs as it stared at the four ponies' throats. Others of it's kind joined the creature, hiding in the tree branches, just waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. "Hey, AJ?" Hollywood asked nervously. "Did you ever get the feeling you were being watched?" "Aw, your just imagining things." Applejack replied. "There not gonna be ghosts, or anything spooky, coming out of the shadows." But as the ponies came to a crossroads, Majesty stepped on something, and felt several object crunch and break beneath her hooves. "What was that, princess?" Hollywood asked, fluttering down for a look. "Did you step on a pile of twigs?" "Actually, no." Majesty replied, moving some leaves aside with her hoof. "It actually looks like a pile of.... BONES?!" "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" The four mares caught sight of a pile of pony bones and skulls, and immediately all began to simultaneously scream in terror. Their shrieks were stopped by the sound of leathery wings fluttering nearby, and all four mares took a fighting stance. "Those poor ponies!" Wind Whistler cried out. "They must have been eaten by some kind of terrible monsters!" "Wait, look! In the trees!" Holly cried out, and she and Windy hovered above the others. "It's some kind of pony-like creature!" "Everybody, be on guard!" majesty warned. "We're not alone out here!" "Bones... pony-like monsters... leathery bat-wing sounds..." AJ whispered to majesty. "Princess, I'm afraid I know what we're dealing with here..." But before she could finish, several dark shapes lunged out of the trees, flying straight towards the girls, who all scattered out of the way. The mares turned to see two flying ponies, with dark gray coats, bat-like wings, tufted ears, and cat-like vertical slits for pupils. the fanged ponies hissed at Majesty and her friends, staring at them the way a predator sizes up prey. "Look, fresh meat..." One of the stallions hissed, baring his fangs at the mares. "... and it's still wriggling, too." "Hmmmm, seems like a little princess and her friends, so far from home..." The other bat pony growled, noticing the small tiara Majesty had started to wear after they left Rainbow Falls. "...just the kind of beauties we can really sink our teeth into!" "Ahhh, vamponies!" Hollywood shrieked, as the mares all dodged the two bat ponies' attacks. "Look out! they've come to suck our blood, and devour our flesh!" "It's the bat ponies, descendants of the thestrals of old, who once served as the moon princess's guards!" Wind Whistler cried out, as one bat pony chased her across the sky. "Don't freak out girls, they don't have the power to turn us into vamponies with a bite, that's just superstition!" "No, but we can still suck you all dry of blood!" One of the vamponies hissed, as six more hopped out of the bushes and attacked. "And tear the flesh from your pony bones!" One of the bat ponies lunged at Applejack, and she kicked him away with her back legs. Another jumped straight at Hollywood, only to by blasted back by the insect pony's utter flutter. One of the bat ponies slapped Wind Whistler with his wings, knocking her two the ground. Two more vamponies jumped her, sinking their fangs into her hooves. "Aieee! Majesty, they got me!" "That does it, nobosdy's hurtying anymore of my friends!" The princess leaped forward, firing a magic blast at one of the vamponies. Majesty's beamed sliced the vampony's head clan off, letting the headless corpse tumble to the ground. The second bat pony shrieked and flapped away, as the princess rushed to her friend's side. "Everybody, form a circle! Hollywood, knock them out of the sky with your utter flutter! Applejack, kick them over, and I'll finish the job!" The dozen or so fanged horrors attacked, bearing their fangs at what they assumed would be four helpless victims. Each was knocked out of the sky by Holly's utter flutter, or kicked to the ground by AJ's powerful legs. Majesty then levitated a small steak and wooden mallet- tools Nachlicht had suggested she carry, due to the rumors of bat pony sightings along this path- and began to go to town on the bat ponies. "UGGHHH!" ACK!" "AIEEEEEEEEE!" "NOOOOOOO!" *SPLAT!* *SPLAT!* *SPLAT!* *SPLAT!* The princess moved down the line, staking bat pony after bat pony, butchering them as AJ and Holly knocked them down, assembly-line style. Vampony blood splattered and spread everywhere, until only three bat ponies remained. Seeing all of their comrades slain in such a grisly fashion, they trio tired to flee. But Majesty threw up a wall of magic flame, blocking their escape from the ground, as Holly and the wounded Wind Whitley flapped overhead, preventing the vamponies from taking to the air. "Awww, what's the matter?" Majesty asked, her eyes glowing with a white-hot rage. "Don't want to eat our flesh, and drink our blood anymore?" "Please, spare us..." One of the bat ponies whimpered, as Majesty slowly drew nearer. "We promise we won't harm any more ponies..." "No, you've already hurt enough ponies, the pile of bones back there is evidence of that." The mare put her hoof to her chin for a moment, contemplating her next action. "Now, let's see... you all really love devouring the blood and tissue of ponies, correct? Well now, what if I were to use my magic to drain you monsters of all your body's vital fluids? Now, wouldn't that be interesting? Not even a vampony could survive that!" The three vampony stallions stood their in horror for a second, before majesty's horn began to glow, the the bat ponies fell over in pain. The princess watched coldly as the vamponies lay there, painfully screaming as their bodies dried out, becoming lifeless husks. Turning back towards the other mares, Majesty walked away from her victims without a second thought. "Those bat ponies must've migrated up across the border from Equestria, I don't know how they got past the border forts into Ponyland." Majesty snorted. "Hollywood, tend to Wind Whistler's wounds, we need her able to fly again within the hour. Applejack, I need you to help me track down the vamponies' lair, it must be somewhere nearby." The princess said coldly. "We'll track down where these monsters came from, and eliminate the problem at the source" Horrified at their princess's callousness, the other mares could only nod their heads in stunned silence at Majesty's stern commands.