//------------------------------// // Darkness // Story: He's a Vampire // by Gormless Wheaton //------------------------------// The forest was quiet following the blast. Quiet and dark. Drawing on the full power of the Elements, Twilight, and her friends had raked their spell through the trees and brush, literally scrubbing the forest clean of the evil creatures lurking within. But despite their efforts, as they stood panting and huffing with their Elements smoking and glowing hot, no one could shake the feeling it wasn't nearly enough. They could feel his eyes watching them in the dark. "Fantastic work, girls," Celestia declared before snapping her wings. "Stay strong, I shall return momentarily." The soldiers and pirates that had been aboard their ship shared uneasy glances. "Where are you going, Aunty?" Blueblood asked. Celestia nodded towards the sky. "Our allies require some assistance if they are to land." She beat her wings and launched into the air, drawing everyone's attention skyward. High above, they could see the two still-flying ships slowly descending, as well as a pair of dark dots racing towards them. Celestia flew as fast as her wings could carry her but was forced to hurl herself forward with a series of well-timed teleports. In the span of a few seconds, she intercepted the airborne duo that threatened the remainder of the fleet, and spread her wings wide, halting their advance. "YOU," Chrysalis hissed, hovering in place with her skittering wings. Lace giggled at her. The mutant sheep hovered as well, but seemingly her flight was a result of her monstrous wool carrying her on the wind. Celestia scowled and spared a glance back at the allied ships, which continued their descent. The momentary distraction proved costly, however, as Lace suddenly darted forward with a twirl. Before Celestia could react, she felt a burning feeling race down her side as a tendril of wool shot out and sliced into her side. Gritting her teeth, she turned and snapped her horn at the cackling sheep. The spell she fired was immediately countered by Chrysalis, who strained with an attack of her own. Just when it seemed like Celestia would completely overpower the changeling, her wings and legs were snapped against her side by tight bundles of wool and she fell with a shout. The pair of villains laughed as the binding tightened until the alicorn snorted and her horn lit up. The wool caught fire and burst off of her, but as she pivoted to catch herself, she was whipped by a lash of wool and then blasted by changeling magic. But then she vanished. "WHAT?!" Chrysalis roared. "Where-" A burning gold plated hoof connected with the side of her head. The changeling gurgled as she went sprawling through the air. Then, with some initial sparks, the point where she'd been kicked exploded violently enough to light up the whole sky. The boom followed moments later. Lace gawped at the display before turning to look at Celestia, who loomed over her completely unscathed. "Apologies, Ms. Lace. But I allowed myself to believe Grogar failed to equip either of you well enough to be a genuine threat," she leaned in, causing the sheep to recoil. "Allow me to make it up to you." She vanished again. Lace blinked and scanned the air, before she was blasted from below where Celestia had been returned once her time spell ended. As soon as Celestia was out of earshot, a ghostly moan rushed through the treetops, followed by low laughter. "Form ranks," Apollon weakly ordered, clutching his bandaged leg and propped up against a crate they'd hauled out for him. "Set a circle and-" "Well, well. Look at you all," came Grogar's voice, seemingly from all around them at once. "All that preparation and mustering, and you wind up stuck in the middle of my forest. Such a shame." "Don't count us out yet! We're going to put an end to you once and for all!" Twilight yelled. "And what do you think you can do?" He asked with a laugh. "Your precious elements can't fire constantly, whereas my power is unending. However many demons you purge, I can conjure up more." "If you're so confident, come out, and let's see whose magic is stronger!" Rainbow spat before glaring at the woods with a smirk. "Unless you're chicken." "As tempting as the idea is to toss aside my chiefest advantage and respond to a schoolyard taunt, here's my counter-proposal," he replied. Again, a haunting rush whipped through the treetops. "You sit there and struggle while my endless hordes envelop you. And while you vainly fight on, perhaps I'll pop in and pick a few of you off myself?" He laughed and the trees shook. "See? My plan has so many more routes we could explore!" Frill shivered and squeaked before jumping back, revealing that a slithering shadow had worked its way to her. "Why, I believe I already know where to begin." The shadow reached up and groped at Frill. Quilt let out an angry cry before stomping on the shadow which vanished on impact. "You and your new friends are so cute together, Quili-lily," he called out with a grim inflection. "I can't wait to see you shiver when I lay their corpses out for you." The dark woods were suddenly and thoroughly illuminated by a dull yellow light which was followed by a wailing cry and a stench like rotting fish that faded as the noise and glow subsided. Once the darkness held the woods again, a new cry came up. "Not again!" Mad Dog's voice wailed. "Shut up and move!" Briefs yelled. More terrible growls and yowls bubbled up in the darkness then. "Aw, scruff," Cozy grumbled as she and Sunbeam drew their cutie-fixes. The bird soldiers and pirates, along with the pony guards formed a defensive circle around Twilight, Quilt, and the rest. Twilight and her friends huddled close together as they huffed and waited for their elements to cool down. Quilt and Frill, aided by Blueblood's magic, began tossing bottles of dispelling oil to the defenders who began to form a three-rank ring with spears in the front two ranks and crossbows and oil bottles in the third. As soon as they had arranged themselves the horde erupted. First came the trogs, heaving up their axes and being skewered on spears. Next came the cockatrices and chimera, who were pincushioned by arrows. When the trolls came stomping forward, the first volley of potions was hurled and rapidly melted down both the giants and any dark creature scampering under them. Despite this, the sheer number of monsters that came rushing forward allowed the horde to encircle the group. "God damn it!" Mad Dog screamed as he came flying over the entire front rank, with eyes a deep glowing red. He cleared the defensive line before grunting and wheeling back at the sight of the cutie-fixes aimed his way. A knife shot through the side of his head causing him to tumble to the ground, where he was pelted with dispelling oil. "It's the Catican!" A guard yelled as Karl van Katskills, followed by the minotaurs and diamond dogs came rushing forward. The sound of many guns went off, and a path was blasted through part of the surrounding horde. Not nearly enough to let the two groups meet up, especially as more demons came bounding out of the forest, and began to encircle the reinforcements. All the while, Grogar's grim laughter filled the air which rapidly began to chill. Ripping tree trunks out of the ground, a group of gigantic arimaspi came forth with a snarl. As they revealed themselves, they were beset by spears and arrows from the griffins and hippogriffs who came flying in. All of these were blasted by a wave of ice as a group of ghostly wendigoes came slithering through the tree tops, whinnying as they appeared. "You've gotta be kidding!" Twilight cried. Suddenly, a spear of fire shot down and pierced a few of the wendigoes, causing them to writhe and retreat into the woods. Looking up, she saw the screaming and burnt form of Chrysalis being hurled towards the earth, followed by a flaming ball that squealed with Lace's voice. And behind them came rushing the form of Celestia, who crashed into the midst of the defensive circle. As she rose to her hooves, huffing and puffing she scanned the defensive ring her allies had formed. Despite their efforts, the stream of horrors that flowed from the woods about them seemed unending. She bared her teeth and swung her horn towards one side, releasing an arc of magic that scythed through three of the arimaspi and as they fell she leaped over them and fired a blast of fire into the wood. "So, is this how you seek a challenge? Skulking in the woods?" She panted, beating her wings and stomping forward, the fury in her eyes causing many of the monsters to recoil with fear. "Come out and face me, Devil!" There was a flash and a crackle, and a scream caught her ear, and she shivered before turning to see her foe, at the center of the circle, looming over Quilt and Frill with Blueblood being thrown aside. Frill hurled a vial of dispelling oil at him, but the bottle was snared and tossed aside by his magic. At that moment, everyone took notice of his presence. Grogar smirked and his bell crackled. Everyone who wasn't fighting for their own lives desperately tried to rush to the sheeps' aid. They would never make it in time. His spell was simple and took the shape of a bolt of common lightning that sprang forward, aimed at Frill. Quilt desperately hugged Frill as the pair closed their eyes. Then darkness fell. An uncommon darkness. A vast, sweeping, silent darkness that swallowed up the bolt of lightning and caused Grogar to recoil with shock. The demons and beasts all paused, seeming to sense some unseen shift in the atmosphere, a reaction Celestia and Twilight also expressed. But regardless of sensitivity to the supernatural, all eyes fell on the swirling shadow before the old goat. So dark was the shadow that there seemed to be no depth, no substance to it. It was like a flat plane, and yet it flowed like fabric and swept around before it revealed what it hid that drew such a shocked look from the Devil's face. A tall white creature, with a mane and beard of hair so long and equally dark that it seemed to meld into the flowing shadow that revealed itself to be the creature's cloak and clothes. By contrast, its skin was as white as snow, though its scowling eyes were also black with tiny white circles in the center. And at its feet and between them, under the umbrella of its cloak, were the ewes, who looked up at the creature in wonder, one more so than the other. "Peter?" Quilt quietly gasped. "What.." Was all Frill could utter. "What have you done?" Grogar demanded with an uncommon urgency in his voice. In response, Peter raised one black-sleeved white fist and uncurled his fingers at the goat. In an instant, his sleeve silently leaped forward and shot out like a spear, piercing the bell and Grogar's chest, driving him up on his rear legs, and throwing his head back with a gurgling cry before erupting cleanly out his back.