//------------------------------// // The Second and Final Test // Story: Creation, Destruction, and Eternal Sleep // by NicholasLikesPoniez //------------------------------// Eternal Sleep looked around in awe of her mother's castle. The castle resembled the castle in the epicenter of the Crystal Empire, shining like a great beacon of light, especially in the Creator's brightly-lit realm. The Creator seemed fond of crystals, as they were everywhere. The castle itself seemed to be made of some sort of crystal, perhaps even a whole conglomeration of them, as the walls, floors and ceilings all had many different colors. Some of them even made up all of the colors of a rainbow, of which there are plenty in this realm. "Eternal Sleep, a word to the wise: I wouldn't recommend showing yourself as you reap the souls of the living." The Creator said, staring down at her daughter. "It tends to rile the rest of them up, should there be witnesses, as you doubtlessly learned once the youngest of the Apple family attempted to attack you." Eternal Sleep looked down to the floor again, ashamed she did not think of that possibility earlier. "Now, then, on to your second and final task." The Creator summoned a streak of rainbow out of nowhere, which began to swirl in a circular pattern until it turned into a view of a small village. "This is where you must go for your assignment, a small village near a city called 'Fillydelphia'. You are not going there to reap the soul of one pony this time, you are going to reap the souls of almost everyone in the village." The scene in the rainbow turned dark as it showed a zebra being viciously persecuted by the local village people. It showed that they have been acting increasingly cruel to her and her family, only for the crime of being a zebra. "These ponies have been acting increasingly hostile to this zebra and her family, and it's all about to come to a head today. Today, only about ten minutes ago, the village ponies discovered that many of their farm animals were mysteriously dead. Of course, since they have nothing or no one to blame it on, they blamed it on the zebra. Now they formed a mob and are currently outside of the zebra's home, angrily calling for blood in their blind hatred. I would like for you to go down there and exterminate them. All of them, and try to be sure you wipe away any and all evidence that they had ever existed there at all, violently, if possible. Off you go now." The Creator said dismissively. "But.." Eternal Sleep began. "Why on earth would they do this just because she happens to be a zebra?" Eternal Sleep asked, a mix of anger and confusion swelling in her mind. "I guess it happens to be a convenient scapegoat." The Creator said, placing a contemplative hoof under her nozzle. "Whatever the case, I want these ponies to suffer dearly for this. Now go!" The Creator said. Eternal Sleep nodded her head obediently. "Hold on a moment, allow me to select a form that's more... fitting for this occasion." Eternal Sleep said, believing this to be the perfect time to put her shape-shifting powers to good use. The Creator's eyebrows raised slightly, curious as to what Eternal Sleep has in mind. Eternal Sleep's eyes began to glow, much like her father's do, and she sprouted comparatively enormous bat-like wings, which had tears and tatters in the membrane. Eternal Sleep grew much taller, her mouth now filled with two rows of translucent fangs and able to stretch open much wider. Her mane and tail both turned into writhing masses of tentacles, complete with their own sets of beady little eyes. Her horn grew much longer and sharper. "Well..." Eternal Sleep began. "What'ya think?" The Creator stared in shock of her daughter's transformation. "I think your father would love to see what will transpire in the village. I will be sure to get his attention on it." The Creator said with a smile. For once in Eternal Sleep's short life, she saw something that seemed to resemble some kind of love in her mother's eyes. "Now away with you." _____________________________________________________________________________________________ The village was growing increasingly restless. The air seemed to have some sort of static charge from how tense and angry most of the village dwellers were, their brains all on fire with the urge to kill that loathsome zebra and her family. They all brought sacks of rocks as ranged weapons and tied them to their sides, some intent on using their own hooves as short-range weapons, others gripping torches or various sharp farming equipment in their teeth. "My fellow village dwellers, too long have we suffered unto this wretched zebra and her cursed family!" the mayor shouted at the mob that stands before him. "We must take this time to bring swift and merciless DEATH to them before even worse curses befall our village!" The crowd all shouted, ranted, and raved in response to her declaration of murder. "And now.. we attack!" The mayor lead his followers to the small hut the zebra lived in. Many of his followers tossed stones and rocks in through the windows, hoping it happens to crack the skulls of the denizens therein, or at least spray shards of glass into them. The patriarch of the zebra family walked out, understandably angry, and began to scream "What do you want with us!? We've done nothing to-" Before he could finish his sentence, the mob charged his house, knocking him down and trampling him to death beneath their hooves. They immediately spotted the children and began to viciously and mercilessly attack them with their weapons. Cracking their skulls and brutally mutilating them, the children were dead mere seconds after the mob charged in. "Where is the whore!?" the mayor shouted angrily as the rest searched through the house, looking for the matriarch of the household. "Come! We must find her and deliver the same swift death we dealt to her unholy kin!" The mob, now even more unorganized than before, had turned into a single organism, all bound by the same goal: brutally murdering the zebra mother and putting an end to the "curse" she had apparently placed on the village. The zebra mother was on the opposite side of town, wondering why she could not find anyone within their homes. Then, minutes later, she heard a hoarse cry of anger, followed by many others. The townsfolk. Sensing they were after her blood, she immediately began to run in the opposite direction, the mob giving chase. They raced all throughout town, several townsfolk attempting to hurl stones at her in an attempt to daze her so that they may deliver the killing blow. Eventually, they chased her to a dead end, an alleyway, to be specific. One of the larger members of the mob charged forward to her as she reluctantly turned to face her oppressors. As she did that, the male charging at her tackled her to the ground, then quickly got up and began to viciously assault her. Punching her, kicking her, biting her, as the crowd watched and cheered him on, some throwing rocks at his victim. He delivered a kick to her stomach and, finally, raised his hooves up into the air, and sent them down right onto her skull, splattering brain matter all beneath his mighty, bloody hooves. The crowd began to calm down, all panting, as they survey what they had just done. "And good riddance!" The crowd sneered, and they all turned and began walking away. As they were walking away, a strange thing began happening: The blood turned from dark red to pitch black, and then began slowly crawling towards the crowd as they file out of the alley. This caught the attention of one of the ponies, who called it to the attention of his fellow murderers. All of them look at each other, bewildered, whispering under their hushed breaths. The blood backed them up until it was completely out of the alley, and then began to take form. Slowly, it rose up and took the form of a large black mare, with bat wings, translucent teeth and big, bright white eyes. It was, of course, Eternal Sleep, ready to exact a bloody retribution at the expense of the villagers. Eternal Sleep stared at the villagers, who stared back. Eternal Sleep stared in utter contempt, and the townsfolk all stared in fear, anxiety, and confusion. They hadn't noticed that they sky, but only the patch of sky above the village, began turning a dark, sickly green. Eternal Sleep sat on her haunches, still staring. The townsfolk were completely entranced by those huge, deep, shining eyes. Eventually, their eyes all turned a blank white as well. Then they all exchanged glances with each other, slowly glancing over at each member of the mob, clutching their weapons. And then they all initiated a brutal, bloody melee. The only sound in the entire village was the sound of the ensuing battle. The sounds of bones breaking. The sounds of pained screeching, a primal, terrifying sound, born of unbridled agony. Blood splatters everywhere during the fight. The mayor, who was in the epicenter of the battle, was spotted by the very same colt who murdered the zebra. The colt charged at her, and the mayor turned towards Eternal Sleep, who still sat on her haunches as she watched this bloody battle ensue, and the mayor tried to run towards her, but the colt who was charging her gave her a skull-cracking headbutt to the back of her head, knocking her to the ground. The mayor began crawling towards Eternal Sleep as her assailant proceeded to break her legs with his hooves, which was practically effortless. Stopping only to look back at her attacker and screaming in agony, she continued crawling, getting closer and closer to Eternal Sleep. Her attacker tore both of her then-useless legs off with his mouth, but was then attacked by one of his fellow townsfolk. The two began to fight as the mayor finally crawled close enough to Eternal Sleep to raise a painfully shaking hoof in a request for help. "P-please... help.. me.." The mayor choked out. Eternal Sleep just sat there, pitilessly staring at the mayor. Tears were flowing freely from the mayor's eyes. "PLEEAAASEEEE!!" The mayor somehow managed to get out in a tormented scream. Still no response from Eternal Sleep. The colt who was attacking her suddenly returned to finish his job, battering the mayor's ribs in with his hooves. Finally, he dismissively stomped her skull in, killing her right then and there. He turned to face his next victim, moved forward a few feet, and suddenly got stabbed in the side with a jagged piece of wood. He shrieked in pain, looked to his left to see that his sister was the culprit. Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed the piece of wood with his teeth, ripped it out of his side and sent it right into his sister's eye socket, instantly killing her. Alas, that was the last of his energy. He collapsed to the ground in a timely manner, as the last two combatant were just finishing up, and they both conveniently killed each other. Now it was just him and Eternal Sleep, who still stared, but now directly at him. He turns his head to her, his eyes returning to normal, and then he surveys the bloodbath. Tears welled up in his eyes. Suddenly, Eternal Sleep rose from her perch and began walking towards him, slowly and menacingly, her mouth slowly stretching into an ear-to-ear smile. The colt tried to crawl away. "S-stay back! Don't come near me, please!" the colt pleaded, terrified. No avail. After what seemed like an eternity, but had only been a few seconds, Eternal Sleep finally walked up to him, staring down at him, now with a full smile creasing her face. She raised both hooves up and sent them right down on his skull. "Please, n-" was all he managed to get out. Eternal Sleep slowly surveyed the area, her smile diminishing. It was gone by the time she fully scanned the area. She stepped a few feet forward, hearing the squishy sound of her stepping on their mangled corpses, and a bolt of lightning suddenly struck her out of nowhere, releasing a huge burst of fire out in all directions, which began to eat away at the village and who used to inhabit it. Eternal Sleep had vanished as the bolt struck. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "Oh! Such a wonderful job you did, Eternal Sleep!" The Destroyer said, happily tapping his hooves against the floor in admiration of his daughter's work, which she had just gotten back from doing. "Bravo, bravo! I am so proud of you! Tell me, did you enjoy it? Did you enjoy seeing all of those pitiful little villagers violently snuffing each others' lives out!?" "Hmm..." Eternal Sleep thought, thinking back to her task. "Well, maybe just a little bit." She said, a smile on her face. "Wonderful! Oh, such a joyous day this is! Perhaps I judged you too quickly and harshly, Eternal Sleep!" Her father shouted, his voice oddly cheerful. "We really should test our children like this more often, dear sister. That was great!" "Hmm, yes." The Creator said thoughtfully. "Perhaps we should..." The End.