"To escape, you must tell me a dark story, and then, only then, shall you leave my humble home," the cloaked figure said. "However, if you cannot tell me a story, then you will hang and rot in suspense, and then perish to become part of my hallowed collection. The deal is quite simple; efficacious, for both of us. What say you?"
Chained head to hoof in black fetters that tighten and fasten with each struggle, Flare Brimstone had no choice but to satisfy the cloaked figure's demands, lest she'd be a rotting mass; a corpse strewed up like meat on a hook; for all to see as nothing but another's horrid collection.
"I agree to your terms, and I shall humor your desire for a story if it means my survival," the bat pony snipped. "I only ask that you remain true to your promise, as I vow to supply your lust for tales."
The cloaked figure nodded. "You have my word. I am no monster."
"Good. Then we've struck an accord. Lend me your ears, I shall give you your story."
Deep in an arid village, an aspiring trader galloped, for he owed blood and gold, and yet he had none to spare. Grim and depressed for being unable to transfix his dutiful craft on those unwilling to lend an ear or eye, he was about to change his path and walk away, until a voice called on him to chance his profound métier again.
The voice was distant, yet close, beckoning the trader to an old tent out in the middle of the arid desert. Forward, he trekked, through the entry of the dusty abode, and that's where he gazed upon a creature with the biggest hands and eyes he had ever seen, sitting behind a wooden table.
"Pardon my calls; the lull's inviting intention was for your interest, for I knew you had troubles, and that I could offer you a means to abate your fearfulness."
The trader's shaken hoof reached out with worry, grasping for a solution. "Could you free me of this cruel bind?" the trader finally said.
"Stallion... the desert's sand flows one way, and I'm its master. There's not a problem I couldn't fix and not a problem I didn't prevent," it chortled with a pleased glare. "Now... the price for my services you may find paltry and insignificant, but I have a desire for an audience compressed with fervent frivolities, yet there is naught a single place for me. So, I need stallions, such as yourself mind you, to let me in."
Now the trader's only skill was pelts and miscellaneous items, but this deal? It seemed too easy to accept.
"If you're offering a ticket far from this place?" the youth asked. "Then that is a deal I will take."
The black creature chortled and shook the trader's shivering hoof in agreement. Then, the creature slammed its hand on the table as the sand poured from the outside underneath the trader's hooves. He yelled and screamed out for help, but the black creature waved its hand as the sand swallowed the trader whole.
Hours pass and the trader was spat out from the sand, conveyed to an opulent palace. The creature was already there, its appearance shrouded in dusty, black smoke.
"This is where your solution lies, within these grand walls," the monstrous creature uttered. "Take heed and keep your wits about you but be sure your tongue is a sharpened silver; the owners can be quite prudent with their mouths-a-plenty uttering mordant retorts; often coated in acid. I'm sure you'll manage."
The trader bowed to the creature as it disappeared. The trader was confronted with the owners, a family, which with some crafty convincing, was offered a place in their majestic residence. He lived there for years, and he found the love of his life, the family's only daughter.
The trader made his luck turn around. He had friends, a family that took him in, a princess, who became his faithful bride to be married on the day the trader came into their lives.
Although everything was going perfectly, as the wedding was taken place, the black creature clawed its way out of the sand and interrupted the grand occasion. The family of the daughter and their guests tried to fight off the creature, but each pony fell beneath the staggering might of the black creature; it tore all who opposed to shreds.
It trashed the entire event: destroying the opulent residence the trader had known to call home, murdering the friends he made and the owners of the house he respected and admired. It was all too much to take in, too much carnage. And the blood... so much blood. One could not veer in any direction without the red stains burned into their eyes.
The bride mewled in suffering and mental anguish, her eyes wept crystal blue tears. "No! Please! No more, I beg of you!" the bride wailed.
The black creature loomed over the back of the bride and placed its hands on her body. "My little pony, it pains my dark soul to see you in such sorrow," it purred in her ears. "This will not happen again, so please, offer your forgiveness and turn to your groom."
The bride escaped the black creature's grip and embraced her lover, hugging him tightly. They both were in a near stupor from the event, and thus, they failed to espy the creature's skulking.
It grabbed the bride and tore her away from her lover. It tormented her, squeezing her body. The bride screamed, just once, as the black creature snarled, breaking her bones and crumbling her limbs before opening its mouth to swallow the bride whole.
The trader was distraught. He bellowed in agony as his heart was shattered at the sight of his beloved bride's demise. He grew hysterical as tears streamed down his withering countenance. He crawled to the creature who was reveling in the massacre with a pleased glare.
"Kill me!" he demanded. "You monster! Finish the job and end my life! Please! Please!" His pleas were only met with a kick in the face. He fell backward with his mouth bleeding profusely, writhing in his misery.
"Weep," it whispered. "Wail. Howl. Cry. Do it as much as you want, you fool. You had the chance of walking away, yet you foolishly thought you could have an opportunity to start over. You should've never come to me, and this is the result of your failure. You are nothing but a fool!"
The black creature disappeared in a veil of black sand, leaving a broken stallion. It was his fault. He was the reason everything around him is dead. He was a fool. He was a fool.
The cloaked figure clapped at Flare Brimstone's masterful storytelling. Satisfied with her story, the cloaked figure released the black fetters that fastened to the bat pony, sending her falling on the ground with a light thud.
Flare recovered. "Thanks for that, I appreciate it."
"Think little of it, but I must say... you are quite daring to come in here and steal from me."
Flare Brimstone chuckled. She put distance between her and the cloaked figure, eying her exit. "And will you let me keep it? Surely, a citizen of your stature does not need such a... pitiful item in your custody. Part the trinket with me."
The cloaked figure chortled. "I already have given you the watch to do as you pleased, yet you come in here, attempt to steal my property, and expect me to let you go?"
Flare smiled. "You left out the part where I saved your life from those hydras. Also, you were up to your old tricks again."
"Perhaps so. And I presume that you let yourself get caught after interrupting my ritual by taking my sacred ring?"
Flare Brimstone smirked. "I devised that without it you'd be unable to create your rituals, so I snatched it and the rest was history."
The cloaked figure pondered for a minute before concluding. "Very well," he said, "you may keep my ring, but only on one condition: you must come back to my home once every year and spindle a tale to keep me from doing evil. Simple enough, what say you?"
Flare Brimstone reached out with her hoof and shook the cloaked figure's hoof. "Seems almost too easy," she chuckled. "I'll keep checking on you Denizens of Old, Yaster."
Yaster showed Flare Brimstone out the door. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind," he said. "The Dragon Lands aren't meant for ponies, especially one such as yourself. Run along now but be sure to not forget our deal."
"I won't."
"Then farewell."
Flare Brimstone trotted in place and dashed back to Equestria. With the deal struck, Yaster retreated into his humble home.
Until the next adventure of Flare Brimstone.