//------------------------------// // It's ALIVE // Story: Cursed Reliquary // by Khanathara //------------------------------// Scootaloo stood outside the abandoned Everfree Shack. It stood just outside the forest and a fair bit out of the town of Ponyville. She tossed a nervous look over her shoulder at her fellow Crusaders and the two bullies that would always pick on them. "What's the matter? I thought that you said you weren't afraid of anything." Diamond Tiara taunted her. "Yeah, all you got'a do is spend five minutes in there. Or are ya' scared?" Silver Spoon continued the taunt. "I ain't scared of an old house." Scootaloo said as she turned back towards the house silhouetted against the night sky and began her march into the old house. The inside was... disappointingly dull all things considered. Or at least that was Scootaloo thought when she first entered, but she quickly realized that the inside was far larger and far nicer than the outside would suggest. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact she would lose the dare if she did, she would go back outside to check how big the outside was. The place looked like some rich persons mansion. Scootaloo would have thought that it was nothing more than a one room shack, but it had two large staircases going up three or so floors. If she could just make out a chandelier hanging in the darkness above her. CLANG "What was that?" She thought looking towards the area the sound had come from. A long dark hallway between the stairs sat before her. CLANG Scootaloo and her friends weren't known for making the smartest of decisions, she knew that. She also knew that going to investigate strange sounds in what was supposed to be a haunted old shack on the edge of the Everfree was not a smart choice, that didn't stop her from going to do just that though. CLANG The rhythmic clanging got louder as she made her way down the hall. "It sounds like someone is something with a hammer." The thought passed through her head as a door that had a blue light leaking out from under it came into sight at the end of the hall. CLANG Scootaloo hesitated at the door. She wanted to push it open and see who or what was there, but this place was supposed to have been abandoned for almost as long as Ponyville had been here. But this place was also supposed to be a small shack and that was definitely not the case. Stealing her resolve Scootaloo slowly pushed the door open a crack so that she could just barely see through. CLANG She nearly jumped out of her feathers as the sound suddenly sounded so much louder than it had before. She took a second to calm herself before going back the crack that she had opened in the door. In the room on the other side of the door appeared to be an old-fashioned forge of some kind. She started to open the door further before a figure took her attention. At first she thought that it was another pony, but whoever it was was too tall to be a pony. The figure brought their hammer down one final time before lifting up whatever it was they were working on and turned to place it in the fires of the forge. "Whoa, how did they get blue fire?" With the figure turned like they were she could see that it seemed to be some kind of cat. "Hmm, isn't there a country of cat people down in the south somewhere?" CRAC--THUD Scootaloo froze, she had attempted to push the door further open but the door had instead popped off its hinges and fell to the ground. Danger, that's what her instincts were screaming at her as the blue light cast off by the flames became a sickly vibrant green. Looking up she saw that the figure was now nothing more than a silhouette surrounded by green flames, green flames that were slowly spreading along the floor, walls, and the ceiling. The flames seemed to spread faster as the cat ever so slowly turned its head to look at her with glowing green eyes that seemed to eat into her soul. As the cats' eyes landed on her the flames surged toward her. Without even thinking she ran. She ran as fast as she could, the flames licking at the back of her hooves urged her to run faster. Finding herself back in the entrance area she didn't even try for the door, instead leaping out one of the windows that faced out to where her friends were. The flames were not far behind her as she hit the ground, but just as quickly as she hit the ground, she felt several pairs of hands grab and pull her away from the fire. Looking up she saw both of her friends and, surprisingly, both of her bullies pulling her. Once they had gotten a fair distance away they stopped and staired at the burning building. The green flames were all along the walls and roof of the unnaturally small shack. Before the fires could spread beyond to the surrounding grass and trees rain began to fall as Ponyvilles' weather team showed just how quick they were, and they heard the pop of a teleportation spell that they all had gotten used to since Twilight had moved to town. They heard Twilight start to say something but stopped as the flames began to spin as if in a tornado before then collapsing down in an implosion. They all staired, five fillies, Twilight, and roughly nine or so weather ponies. Where once stood a burning building now lay a blank lot of concrete with rain falling upon it being the only sound that was heard. (000) I looked up toward the entrance to my forge. I could have sworn that I had heard someone come in but the door was firmly shut just as I had left it. "Hmm, curious." I said as I turned back to my forge and pulled the metal bone I was forging from the fire. "Well, metal might not be the proper term for it considering it was made from the Chaos Gems the pony girls had brought me." I thought to myself as I looked it over for any imperfections. Seeing none I stepped through a portal I had set up that went to the void between. Just inside my portal was a table with a patchwork body on it. The body was sewn together from the pieces of many different creatures and one of its thighs had a large gash cut down to where the bone would normally be. I adjusted the body just enough that I could work with it as I inserted the last piece that was needed into its thigh and began to sew it shut. I had made the entirety of the cadavers' skeleton out of the same material. Chaos Gems made surprisingly good replacements for bone, and they are far more magical as well. V̷͓̈ż̶̡e̸̖̾ş̸͗t̸̫͊ù̷̹ṕ̴̢,̸̝̕ ̵̥͒z̷̡͠k̸̲̕r̷͉͛o̴̖͐û̷͈c̵̞̑e̴͉̾n̸̬͗í̸̥̇ ̸̦̈́C̵͍̄ẖ̵̈́a̶̱͑o̶̬͗s̷͍̏u̸̚ͅ D̴̟̏e̵̛̮f̵̺̿o̶̎ͅr̷̨͐m̵̥̕ā̷̹c̶͉̈́ë̴̼ ̸͇̓ȑ̸̨ẹ̴̾a̶͙͝l̷̻̅i̷̪̽t̵̟̐ÿ̸̼́ I began to chant. V̴̫͐s̴̟̃ṯ̶̕a̸̟̍ň̴̰̀,̶̭̉ ̸̝̍ž̵̰͛i̵̝͝v̵̧̓ḭ̵́̌ ̵̀ͅm̵̪͋r̸̥̀t̶͕͝v̵̺̓í̴̩̄ P̷̥̂r̴͚͠ó̷̘t̴̟̓ì̵̫ķ̵̊l̵͓͆a̶̬͆d̶̬͌y̶̹͆ ̸̧̈́H̷̠͗a̷͙̔ṙ̴͓m̷̧̐ọ̷̔n̷͍͘í̷͍e̷̫̽ V̷͓̂z̸̯̄ĕ̵̟s̶͕̊t̷̺̀u̶͓͝p̵̯̃,̶̩̃ ̵̝̕Ė̶̡n̸͒ͅt̸̯̋ṟ̴́o̶͕̚p̷͙͝ì̵̺e̷̖̾ V̸̗̆z̴̹̏e̴͎͆s̵̢̋t̷͉͘u̷̯͑p̵͈̀,̵͚̀ ̴̳͝z̴͔̿ȁ̴̧č̶̘̑á̴̊͜t̶̰̆ē̸̩k̵̜͝ ̸̗͛k̵̳̂o̶̖͆n̵̥̐c̶̯͛e̵̯͌ As I ended my chant the body-no, the Being began to rise into the air with a manical laugh. And I could only smile.