The growls were getting louder with each passing second. Her hooves were covered with mud and moss, her face was full of sweat and her body was covered with bruises and scratches. She had been running from the beast for a good few hours now and her oppressor didn’t look like giving up. Her legs were begging for rest but she knew that if she slowed down, or worse, stopped, she would be killed by the monster.
She needed to hide somewhere safe. According to the map, she looked at before leaving her home, there should be an old building somewhere in the forest, a chapel of some kind. It wouldn’t give her perfect safety but it would be enough to get away from the beast for some time.
The earth pony was a tall and slender mare. Her coat looked like as if it was made out of thousands of snowflakes while her mane and tail were teal. The mane was done into a fringe and her tail was a long and shaggy one. Her green eyes were full of adrenaline and her cutie mark represented a sword which was surrounded by blue fire.
Hundreds of thoughts were racing through her mind but suddenly she paused. The growls and roars had died down. She thought that maybe the monster had given up after all. The white mare stopped galloping and carefully looked around. There was no sign of her oppressor. She gave out a small sigh of relief and then it happened. Suddenly, her side started to sting, as if somepony had just ripped her off parts of her skin. The pain made the mare collapse onto the muddy ground. She turned her head around to see the wound and her stomach went all the way up to her throat when she saw it. Parts of her coat and skin were torn off of her side uncovering some of her flesh. Blood gushed down from it and onto the surface.
She turned her head back and her face went pale. Before her stood a being. It was about two meters tall, its skin was covered in crimson scales and its hands equipped with razor sharp claws stained with her blood. It looked as if it had just jumped out of a nightmare. The monster’s face was hidden behind a titanium mask and all that was visible, were its vicious, red eyes.The horrid creature let out a huge roar of anger and prepared to strike down its victim.
The white pony didn’t think. In a flash she turned around and with the strength she could muster, she slammed her back hooves into her oppressor’s chest. The monster lost its breath for a moment and collapsed hands – forth onto the wet, muddy ground. With her side still bleeding and stinging, she ran past the beast, which was now regaining its balance, snarling and roaring with hatred. It couldn’t believe that this little insignificant pony had managed to escape its grasp and even cause it pain. With eyes full of fury, it looked in the direction the earth pony had escaped.
Her vision was getting blurred from the amount of blood she had lost. If only she could find that old chapel, she would be able to drink her potion which could heal a wound even as bad as this one. The mare shook her head to regain vision. When she could see clearly again, she noticed a faint glow of light several meters before her. The white pony hoped that it was the chapel she had been looking for. She grunted as the stinging became more intense. She knew that if she didn’t heal the wound quickly it would kill her.
Thunder roared and the wind whistled in the outdoors. Rain was pouring down on the chapel roof making a wshhh sound and some of it was dripping down on the floor.
The pony took out her potion from her little side – pack and took a few sips. It was blue and tasted like raspberries. Slowly, the stinging started to fade and her skin and coat, began to regrow. She knew that it would take some time for her side to fully recover but at least she wouldn’t die.
After the pain had disappeared, she was able to take a closer look at the chapel. It was made out of stone bricks, and its walls were covered with vines and moss, there were also a few benches which were in a pretty good state. At the back of the building there was a large stained glass window and before it, stood a stone altar. The whole place itself looked as if it was at least a few hundred years old, maybe even a thousand and it definitely wasn’t built by ponies who worshiped princess Celestia. She could tell that from the ripped pieces of cloth which were hanging on the walls. They looked like flags and were purple with a white symbol in the middle. The icon itself represented some sort of weapon, from the looks of it a sword with an eye in the middle of it’s hilt. As she kept staring at the ripped flag, a shiver went through her body and a feeling of evil started to surround her. She looked away from the flag and continued to explore the building.
The white mare slowly approached the altar which was standing in the far end of the chapel. What intrigued her, was that the candles next to altar were all lit, as if somepony had been there not long ago.
On the stone surface of the altar, lay a book. Its cover was made out of brown leather and a symbol of a red cross was present in the middle. The title was written in some foreign language which she didn’t know. Her green eyes studied the cover for a moment as she opened the book.
To her surprise, all of the pages were blank. There were no words, no pictures, nothing. As if somepony had just made the cover and then left the book for completion. She was about to close the book when it began to glow. She lowered down her head to take a closer look. The glow began to get more intense and soon, the pages were filled with light. She took a step back and out of the book, a pillar of white light rose. It hit the celling and then collapsed back down into the book which shut itself. The white mare walked up to the object. She opened it and white light burst out into her face making her world go black.