The sound of blades that clashed against each other filled up the room as it did nearly every night. Both of the mares were standing there, panting deep as streams of sweat ran down their faces. Shiva took note of an opening in the defense of the other mare. She pulled one of her blades back in order to just drive it through her chest, but stopped her action on the last moment. “Checkmate, Rayne,” she said under a grin.
While the eyes of the gray mare fell down, they caught the cold steel that was almost ready to pierce through her. She smiled with pride before she lowered down and retracted her swords back against her forelegs. “For the first time in fifty years, you have managed to beat me, Shivy, I can say you are ready,” Rayne replied to her with a genuine smile.
“You think?” Shiva dared to ask. She did the same with her own weapons. The soft click of the blades that locked back into their relaxing place did its turn through the room they found themselves in. Rayne just gave her a nod. The both of them walked back to the main room of the building before taking place on the benches in a rather unorthodox way but they didn't care for it. For they have been training for over seven hours straight, they deserved some rest.
“Yeah, finally being able to beat me, tells a lot about your skills. By the Void, where has time been gone to?” Rayne said before her mind brought her back to the very day the two met each other. The same happened to Shiva. She remembered the rather unfortunate events of her life. For fifty years she had lived in the darkness of the night and had been lived on the blood of the living while being trained to become a merciless killer. And for what? Supporters of the celestial church who weren't exactly normal either? She still didn’t fully understood it, even after such a long time.
“Hey Rayne?” Shiva started before she gained a questioning gaze in her eyes.
“Hm?”
“Just who gave you the order to change me into a vampony, all those years ago? Like, did Orcen gave the order himself?” the mare asked in curiosity.
“Nah, Orcen is just a puppet of Edgington, the king of all vamponies,” Rayne returned in a nagging voice. That tone made it clear that she was annoyed by even speaking the name and title of the pony. Almost as if she had some kind of hatred towards him.
“You don’t seem to be found of him, now do you?” replied Shiva. She rose an eyebrow and her eyes fell upon the earth pony. She would look over the mare from every angle, inspecting her.
“Hmpf, none of us do. He may claim to be king, but he is literally nothing. Quite frankly, it would be better if he just died a true death. But none of us ever dared to even go near his castle in the Everfree.” The gray mare let go a deep sigh before she closed her eyes. “What are you pounding in that mind of yours, Shivy? Another one of those brilliant plans of yours?”
“Revenge my sister, revenge on the bastard that ruined my life. No offence towards you, but I much rather had preferred to just stay my true self,” she muttered. Her eyes kept themselves open before a small tear of blood ran down her cheek. Her mind brought her back to days from long ago.
The other mare erupted out in a gentle bit nearly insulting laughter at the words Shiva spoke. “You versus a king? You are in a haste to meet the Void, now are you?” Rayne returned to her.
“No, I just want to make him feel how I have felt, for fifty years,” Shiva countered.
“Shiva, it wasn't that bad now was it?” Rayne spoke in response. It was all in an attempt to bring her on other thoughts. Rayne wanted to change the mind of the mare, she liked her after all.
“Rayne, I need to do this. For over fifty years there has been this rage building up inside of me, rage for Orcen because I thought he was the one who changed me, or did gave the order. I know my brother was a lycan for when you showed me the comparisons between him and another, I could only accept that. But the love I felt for him, for my parents who just dumped me on the street... He has to pay for his deeds, Rayne, and you know it,” Shiva returned to her, trying her best to explain it.
“Your motive is too vague, your reasons fairly much non-existent.” Her eyes opened themselves in order to gaze into the red eyes of her sister. “But a look like that won’t change, go ahead, try to kill him and come back. Or leave and never return, or just stay here with me as we have done for a long time now.”
“You know I won’t give up so easily, I will die trying to take him out,” said Shiva.
“And that's where I am afraid for... But if you truly do so desire to slaughter him or die yourself, feel free to go to him,” Rayne admitted. There was nothing else that she could have done.
Without any hesitation in her body stood the mare up as she began to walk towards the stone staircase. But just when she was about to hop on it and therefore leave, her head turned itself towards the gray coated mare as she replied with a soft tone. “Thank you, sister.”
“You’r welcome.” With those words spoken had Shiva made her departure in order to meet this king she just found out. The very being that caused her this way of suffering, the life of the night.
---
The vampony made her way swiftly through the streets of the settlement. Her mind began to wander down memory lane. It brought her back to the very night she received the precious called ‘gift’ of the lunar church. Not technically being real churches, the two opposing factions did honor their respectable leader for the crowd, while fighting each other in the shadows of night. Blood was shed every night and all over the land. And for what? Nopony truly knew the answer on that question.
Under a deep sigh had Shiva began to recall the last fifty years of her life. The strength she had gained, the abilities discovered, the pleasures taken. As much as she despised it all, one mentally sick part of her enjoyed it so much. It was through that, that she kept doing it. Fifty years of hard training have passed by like it was nothing. She had become the silent monster she is known as by that day. Her parents vanished after some ponies in the village found out that their son was a lycan and they were never to be heard from again. They could be dead by then for all she knew.
Shiva had entered the feared forest by now as a small but thick fog had been setting up. The ground had literally become covered by the fog as in the distance the walls emerged around all of the tree trunks. Not a single living creature even dared to speak its language. They all knew that death would follow soon. They were all aware of the vampony that was wandering through the woods.
Moving herself in silence through it under a grin of pure evil, The very thought of the king dying at her hooves took her over. One might declare her crazy and those were right. Unnecessary bloodshed would have taking place that night. But for her, it would be some salvation of the curse she was living with “Fifty years, I could have been happily married, gotten great foals to raise. But you, you destroyed it all...” Her cat-like eyes closed themselves halfway as she continued her mumbling. “Prepare to meet your true death, king Edgington. And face my reckoning.”
For fifty long years she had been trained by the mare who had become like a sister for her. They may not be born in the same family, but they shared their pain together. There have been hints from one and the other to go deeper, to become lovers, but neither ever dared to go so far. At moments they regretted it. But when they were indulging themselves into pleasure with their prey for the night, they loved it.
Shiva’s training had been involving itself mostly around the arts of walking on the hind legs, what had the advantage of using the blades on her forelegs to their fullest potential. Both the full length and force of them could be used. Rayne had given her as many flight lessons as she possibly could take. All of it had turned Shiva just as deadly in the air as she would be on the ground.
Her magic was the only part to be left behind. She only perfected the spells she knew to great levels of power but never learned any new ones. Though she also never had the desires to just sit down and learn so many spells for in the heat of battle, charging up the horn and releasing the spell would take far longer than charging at them and pierce a blade through the neck before separating the head from the body.
---
There it stood, standing tall and mighty in the darkness of the woods with the white moon behind it. Raising up from the mist as its darkstone walls alone were enough to indulge fear in any mortal who would find the place. Towers had been built in every direction that rose up. The open gate was leading straight into the throne room through a hallway illuminated by blue torches. But before one could enter, they had to go past the dropping gate. The closer the mare got, the more she was able to see the blood on the sharp points. It indicated that many had found the death by a simple drop. But in her years of training, she became faster, more agile and stronger than she could ever imagine.
Shiva took a deep inhale and a slow exhale before changing her pace into a gallop. She would be charging directly at the entrance of the castle. The mare closed her eyes and would only open them if she heard the crisping of the fires inside. But then it happened, the sound of the gate being released did its turn. It came down with a crushing speed, heading towards the ground and all that stood in its way.