//------------------------------// // Demitry // Story: The Last Elements // by RavensDagger //------------------------------// Land of the Deer Folk Beside Field Number Forty-Two Twenty-one Days after the Summer Solstice   Demitry looked up as Doris stopped into his tent and stood in front of his desk. "How many?" Demitry asked in a sombre tone. "Six this time, two of Dorm's kids.” Doris raised a hoof to wipe sweat off his brow, the warm sun outside was causing the best of them to tire quickly. “Demitry, when are the supplies from Equestria going to arrive?" Demitry shook his head and walked out of his field tent silently. He cringed at the thought of talking about that subject. It was a sore and uncomfortable thing amongst them all. "I don't know, Doris. I don't know." They both knew that the emergency supplies promised by Celestia were now over two weeks late, and that if today’s harvest was too small they wouldn't have the strength to work the next day. Doris scanned the field to his right. It was a sol flower field. Their main source of food, and like most of their fields, this crop was wilted and dead. A few weeks beforehoof, the sun did not rise when it was supposed to. Instead, the moon stayed up till mid afternoon causing the flowers to lack the sunlight they so vitally needed.   Every year, the Everfree stole a little bit more of their precious crop lands, and every year, their neighbours in Equestria would send supplies to celebrate the summer solstice. They were always tight on food at this time of the year. It had become a simple fact to them, but with the loss of over half their crops, and with no aid forthcoming, Demitry did not see how the entire deer nation was going to survive. "The moon be damned if I see another deer die of this foolish famine." He muttered under his breath. His chatter was cut short by a deep, rumbling from beneath his hooves. He grabbed on for dear life to his nearby desk until the shaking subsided. He heard a scream followed by many panicked voices from field number forty-two. Turning around, he saw that many of his friends and fellow workers crowded in a semi-circle at the far end of the narrow field. They shared a quick glance at each other before galloping off to see what the big commotion was. He ran over and let his jaw drop before he could catch himself. His fellows were looking down the shaft of a hole. A very large, jagged hole. "Donovan was standing right over here just a second ago." Said a young buck. Demitry recognized him as Dominic, who was currently very agitated.   "Do you think he fell down there?" Asked Daisy, who was looking worse for wear after the sudden weight loss. Demitry didn’t respond to her question, he did not have an answer. He stepped closer to the edge of the chasm and noticed that there were steps carved into the side of the walls. They looked like the tooth-lined mouth of a great worm. He stood there and stared into the pit, just as his fellow deers were doing. Taking a deep breath to steady his legs, he made up his mind. "I'll go take a look." Before anyone could protest, he gingerly walked down into the abyss. When he looked up, he could see the many heads of his companions looking down at him, most with expressions of worry. He ignored their pleas for him to return. Eventually, after many minutes of difficult climbing, he hit the bottom. The sky was just a tiny point far above his head. The area he was in could have once been part of a great castle's courtyard. Everything was faded and covered in dust, grit, and rust. In the centre of the room was a lump of fur that he recognized. He walked up to the remains of Dominick slowly, and gently tapped him with the tip of his hoof as if to awaken a sleeping foal. Dominick's body rolled over, exposing the crushed torso of what had once been a friend and fellow worker. Demitry ran to a far corner and dry heaved from his empty stomach. A few moments later, he rose up from the ground where he was crouched, and looked around once more. There was a small passageway cut into the cliff's face, from within came a pulsing red light. Demitry rose from his croutch, he was unsure of what to do next. Return with the disappointing news to deer who had heard enough? Demitry decided to explore further looking for anything to distract him, and in the end, if he died it would be one less mouth to feed, his friends far above would be freed from one more burden. The small crevice lead to a long winding hallway carved into the stone in what had once been a neat line, but was now covered in cracks and moss. At the end of the hallway was a great sealed door. His curiosity once more urging him on, he touched his hoof to the door. Deer folk, he knew, had the ability to sense magic not use it, they also had the ability to dispel just about everything. The door in front of him had more seals and locks, and of greater complexity, on it than he had ever seen in the entirety of his life. He looked behind him, he was never a coward but what lay in the area behind him made his stomach twist and turn, best to move on he told himself.          Demitry shoved against the rotting door and managed to pry it open enough for his slender frame to enter the glowing room. What he saw made him gasp. The room was circular, with portraits decayed beyond repair dotting the gilded walls. In the centre stood an enormous podium on which sat a nondescript red stone. The ball of rock was the source of the red glow. His face twisted in concentration and yet he could sense no magic coming from the blowing stone. Demitry was captivated by the small object. He approached it cautiously wary of any traps. There was once a lavish carpet covering the ground but now only rags were left. He looked at the ball carefully, on its front a fang like symbol had been carved into it. He touched the stone ball with the tip of his nose. In a flash, he felt himself hit the back of the room. Hard. He could smell something akin to burning fur, and upon further inspection he noticed that he was, in fact, on fire. Demitry yelled and rolled across the uneven ground to put off the painful, burning sensation that had taken over his chest. He focused on his magic and dispelled the flames with a sigh of relief. He sat on his haunches, panting for a few minutes, before looking down to inspect the damages. In the centre of his chest was a pendant adorned with a simple red gem and engraved with the symbol of a sharp fang or tooth. The fur that was charred around the medallion was quickly growing back to its original condition. He wondered at this and at exactly how the medallion appeared there in the first place, but his musings were cut short by a sudden pang of hunger. He needed food, lots of food.His stomach growled with a longing he had never felt before. “Yes,” something whispered into his ear, “You must eat. We must feast!” Demitry felt his mind slipping as something else took over his body, moving his limbs for him. Despite all his struggling, he could not order his body to stop, and soon found himself heading towards the chamber where he had found Dominick. Let go of me! he thought. “No! We must eat first.” Answered the voice. His body walked on its own accord towards the door.  It touched the door with a forehoof and the old door slammed against the wall and shattered, the heavy locks thumped unto the ground and created lonely echoes through the caves. His body walked through the narrow hallway and into the room where Dominick lay. With horror, he felt his body bend forward and bite into the carcase of his friend. He could taste him, and would have vomited if he could. A few dreadful moments later, his body rose from its meal and looked at the steps that lead upwards. “More.” It said simply. “I need more nourishment if I am to survive.” Demitry noted with a pang of distress that the voice had become more eloquent, more educated. He felt and saw himself slowly ascend the steps till he reached the edge of the hole. He, no, it looked at the group of ponies that stared at him with worried expressions. He licked his lips. No! screamed Demitry in his own mind. You can't! Please, no! His body recoiled from the mental assault. Daisy ran forward and caught him, she was soon followed by Donovan who ran to his other side and help him with his hooves. “Poor dear!” cried Daisy, “He is covered in blood, someone fetch doctor Darwin!” He could feel his body be dragged forward by his worried friends. “Don't hurt them, please, don't,” he pleaded to his captor. “Why? I am quite hungry,” was the response he received from his own mouth.And these friends of yours seem quite tasty, was whispered into his head from the thing that had taken over his body. His eyes inspected his friends with a quick eye. “They are a little thin, though.” “Of course, my dear,” said Daisy in response to what his body had said, before she ran to a nearby patch of wilted Sol flowers and picked a few into her mouth. “Here, eat this,” she said as she dumped them at his hooves. His body bent forward and nibbled at the dying plants, tasted them, then announced, “I need more.” He felt his head turn around and take in the sight of the fields filled with dying plants. “These plants need to be more nutritious if I am to eat them. Otherwise I will need to find another source of food.” The real Demitry was aware of what that other source might be, and once more tried, in vain, to take over his own body.   “Oh, my dear, these plants are plenty nutritious,” said Dominic. “At least, they are when they are healthy.” “Then I shall make them healthy. Then I will proceed to eat them,” said his mouth, in a matter of fact tone. From within his body he felt a great force started to materialize. His eyes began to glow and beams of sickly coloured light shot out of him and into the sky, only to arch over and hit the entire field. As the beam spread from field to field, the once dying flowers rose up and shined with new life. The deer folk looked at this in awe. “You... you saved us, Demitry!” said Daisy, with tears in her eyes. Her acclamation was soon followed by others who agreed in a heartfelt fashion. “I was hungry, so I made food,” Demitry's body said, apparently questioning the sanity of the deer. “Thank the goddess!” said Donovan in awe. “We won't have to wait for the Equestrian supplies anymore.” “Supplies?” he asked. Dominic looked at him quizzically. “Lad, I don't know if you hit your head or something, but after what I just saw, I don't give a damn! Yes, the supplies. The food sent here from Equestria!” “Food!?” His entire body perked up at the word. “Oh, yes, my dear,” said Daisy, who was nearby and stuffing her face with sol flower petals. “The best food there is! Apples and oranges, as well as pastries and cakes!” “Where is that food?” asked his body, licking its lips in excitement. “Well, if it arrived, then it must be at Danderhoof, to the east,” said Dominic, his eyes narrowed in worry replacing his usual expression of calm. He seemed to be the only deer who did not view the past events without suspicion. “Then you will bring me there. To this 'Danderhoof' of yours,” he replied. Donovan and Daisy shared a quick look before answering. “Of course, Demitry, we can go to Danderhoof if you want,” said Donovan, a little sceptical. “Oh, yes, we must share the good news!” Daisy piped up, hugging Demitry once more. A cheer rose up from the deer who had began to congregate in that very field. ********************************************************************************************************** News quickly spread that Demitry had somehow made the crops grow again and had saved the village from the slow death that starvation would have brought His body surveyed the towns people who were rushing out of their houses to the fields, overjoyed at the sudden turn of events. “We will go there. All of us. Yes, we will eat. Eat, and eat, and eat until we are hungry no more.” A wicked grin spread across Demitry's face.