The deep crystal black and twinkling night sky peered through the gray clouds.
Rarity inspected the laurel grove. It seemed from time to time ponies would walk onto the property and tie ribbons and bells to the braches.
When she had approached the laurel grove, Rarity thought she saw the ghostly specter of Rainbow Dash who simply looked at her and faded off. This had to be impossible since she was sure Rainbow Dash was alive.
A blue bell catches the mare’s attention. She looked down at the Camera Obscura noticing the bell made the light turn on. She takes a picture. After a moment and image of Mother Belle appeared in the photo.
Rarity looks in the bell’s dome. A red laurel seed was inside. There were a few other bells and they too had seeds. This must be part of the tradition the mare concluded.
A patch of laurel branches makes a strange movement. Rarity takes a few steps forward to investigate when the Stag steps out of the grove.
Rarity was startled and lifts the Camera Obscura with her magic. Before she could react, the Stag unleashes a wail with tears streaming from its eyes.
The sadness puts Rarity into shock. The creature was allowed to walk back to the bell in the sink hole.
“As scary and intimidating that creature is, it's sad,” Rarity says to herself, “He’s just another victim in all this.
Child’s laughter makes Rarity’s ears twitch.
“Gipsy is that you?” Rarity calls out fallowing the tree line.
The mare’s hoof sinks into some soft rain soaked dirt. It hits something hard. When she pulled her leg out to the mare’s dismay the mud went up to her sleeve.
Rarity had a sinking feeling and checks the light on the Camera Obscura. It was on and she takes a picture. It developed into an image of a construction worker.
As she stood there a gust of wind blows by. The creaking groan of a rope gets the mare’s ear.
In the starlight she could see a tire swing tied to an old dead tree. The tire swing was swaying over a deep drop. By the swing a small foal was crying. As she approached she realized this was a colt. Rarity recognized it as the one she accidently shot.
“Sweetie are you okay?” The white unicorn calls out walking closer to the little thing.
“It hurts, it hurts, Mother did I do something to make you mad at me?” The colt sniffled.
“Oh honey no that was an accident,” Rarity tries to hug the foal only to pass through it.
“Get away from him!” In the moment of shock, Gipsy swings around on the tire and knocks it into Rarity’s back. The mare falls over into a dried creek bed.
“Fuc-oofff!” Rarity’s moment of almost cursing was interrupted by the ground. She stands up spiting peat soil from her lips.
Gipsy lands behind Rarity. “What happened to all the water,” The ghost foal scratched her head. “I remember this thing having water this high.” She points at the lip of the ledge. The ghost looks at a large rock sticking out of the ground and she zones off for a moment. “It was so much fun.” The filly mumbles as blood leaks from under her mane.
The glow Gipsy emanated was seeming to fade.
Rarity smirks, “You seem to be on your last leg.” The pony lifts the Camera Obscura.
“Fine my goal is done,” Gipsy smiles as Rarity fires the camera.
She was waiting for the light to fade as the ghost faded. Only it did not.
Rarity dodges something large and ghostly that tried to attack her from behind. The thing swings around allowing Rarity to get a look at a large ghostly catfish that could swallow a grown pony whole.
Before Rarity could react by firing the Camera Obscura, the fish lunges at her. Rarity found herself lifted off the ground as the ghostly fish swallowed her.
The mare hits the ground with a thud, as she fell through the fish. Wounds on her bare flank bleeds from where the fish teeth dug into her flesh.
Frustrated the fish creature attempts to swallow Rarity again. It managed to hold her before letting Rarity fall through landing on her back.
Rarity fumbles with the Camera Obscura as the fish moves in again. She accidently gives the thing a Zero Shot. The fish thing shrieks and roars.
Taking the chance Rarity rolls off her back. The fish recovers and goes at her again.
“Stay back you cur!” Rarity shouts making another Zero Shot. The creature thrashed and knocks into her.
Rarity stumbles back and reloads the camera. Then she dashes forward a few steps giving the catfish another Zero Shot.
The ghostly monster fades and disappears. The light on the Camera Obscura finally turns off.
Rarity looks up at the wall of the dried up ditch. She saw tree roots hanging like vines. The pony cringes at the thought of having to climb up at.
The roots creaked and Rarity grunted under her own weight as she pulled her self up the side of the wall. She felt like a mountain goat and many of her muscles were in pain but she made it.
The foal was still crying when Rarity reached the top. Rarity takes her makeup mirror out of her pocket and start straightening her hair.
“Mother Belle, I don’t feel well,” The colt sobbed as Rarity fiddled with her mane. “I don’t think I felt well for a long time. Mother Belle is there something wrong with me?”
“Yes sweetie you’re very ill,” Rarity answers.
“I can’t feel anything, what I do feel is a memory, I-I can’t control,” The colt cries.
“I can make it all go away,” Rarity tells the specter holding up the Camera Obscura.
“No!” The colt snaps, “It hurts like before I came to live with you.” The colt mumbles off, “Like what daddy…”
“I don’t think it hurts if I get you all at once,” Rarity assures the specter.
“I’ve heard that before!” The colt snaps, “He said it would feel better.”
The colt runs off.
“Honey!” Rarity cries out but it was too late. Then she mutters, “I can’t blame him, there are few things I would compare to loosing parts of your soul by force.”
The shrine was a decent sized building. One floor with an exception of the small gazebo on the roof. It was covered in faded red colored wood with two large gate like doors. Rope was wrapped around the handles holding them shut.
As she approached the shrine, Rarity felt a strong vibration. This time it wasn’t coming from the Camera Obscura but the red gem broach.
The gem makes a red flash. A blue aurora appears around the shrine and quickly disappears. The rope was undone by a simple unweaving spell casted by Rarity. It caused the thing to fall into a pile of strands.
The doors creaked open. The change in air pressure caused a stir of wind that kicked up dust.
Rarity made a lady like sneeze and removed her handkerchief from her vest pocket to cover her muzzle. She could see cob webs everywhere.
“Hello!” Rarity calls out to loosen her nerves.
To her dismay, glowing eyes open up and stared back at her. Cold icy breath hits the back of Rarity’s neck. The Stag puts his lips to her ears and whispers. “I am your God.”
Rarity’s heart makes a loud thrump. It skips a beat as the ghostly ponies jump and grab her. Rarity whinnies and neighs as she drops the Camera Obscura. Her hooves lose their footing as she is drag into the shrine.
Rarity lashes out with her magic. As her aurora hits the ghost she would pick up parts of jumbled memories. In the end this disorientated the mare making her unable to fight anymore.
The Stag gets off of the pegasus mare. They were under the bell tower with the mare tied up to one of the posts. She had one of her fore hooves missing and had to lean against the tower.
The pegasus sobs and cries. Rarity recognized her as Flyfoot All the ponies watched her get violated by the beast. A young Humble Home cries in to his father’s side.
Time passes, the mare very pregnant screams and neighs as ponies pulls on a bridle strapped to her face. They forced her head down on a block.
“Father please!” Humble home cries.
“Someone must do this, It cannot breed,” The stallion in the stag mask raises a large blade in his teeth. He swings the blade down. The mare’s neck snaps and the blade slices through.
With a smaller blade the unicorn stallion cuts into the mare’s stomach. He pulls a crying foal out. It was still alive and abnormally large and appeared to be growing.
They deskinned the mare and wrap the crying foal into a sack made from her still wet hide.
Before sealing the bag, they nail stag horns on the top of the foal’s head. The foal stopped crying when the nails went through his skull. His movements became shaky and twitchy.
They tossed the foal into the ground near the laurel grove and started burying him.
When Rarity became aware of herself, she had a bridle strapped to her face. Ghost ponies pulled at her reins dragging her to a bloody block of wood in the middle of the shrine.
Rarity screams and neighs as she tries to kick away. They forced her head to lay on the block. The ghost stallion in a stag mask raises a large blade.
Through her tears and panic, Rarity spots something in the windowceil. It was a music box barrel. She takes it up into her magic and attempts to throw it at one of the ghosts. It just bounces around the room.
“Father no!” Humble Home rushes in between the mask ghost and Rarity.
“Humble?” The mask ghost said in shock. Then is tone changed. “The murderer returns.”
“You call me the murderer that's rich,” Humble Home snorts walking back words into Rarity’s horn.
There was an image of a young Humble Home spiking the mead with poison powder. Later he watched as all the members of his family and cult choked and died. Afterwards he takes a wooden box and stores it under the main house.
“I loved her, she was like a second mother to me and more,” Humble Home’s voice brings Rarity back to her strange reality. “I watched you give her to that beast. You imprisoned her and I watched that thing grow inside her, you killing her and ripping that thing out of her.”
“Oh this is some bullshit,” A voice snaps.
Everyone turns to the Stag who was walking into the room.
“This whole time you been killing my vassals!” The Stag walks over to Rarity and Humble Home.
The pelt of the Stag starts to sag. The antlers slide to the side and falls ripping the skin off like a mask. An earth stallion was underneath.
“Y-you was a pony this whole time?” Humble Home said in shock.
“Lord Caesar Stag,” The ghost in the stag mask points out.
“I beheaded the Goddess Lauren,” Caesar Stag boasted, “I drank the blood from her neck hole. The head became one with my soul.”
The pony lord turn to look at the two ghosts that help restrained Rarity to the block. He walks up to them and with an inhale he sucks up the two specters’s energy.
Rarity finds herself freed.
“Leave mare,” Caesar Stag snaps at Rarity.
The mare rushes out the doors hooves kicking something on the way out. The shrine doors slams behind her. The screams of the undead could faintly be heard.
Rarity spots the music box barrel on the ground next to the Camera Obscura. She sticks the barrel into her pocket with the other one and picks up the camera.
The light on the Camera Obscura turns on and it starts to vibrate a little.
“Hello dearie,” Caesar Stag sneaks up behind Rarity causing her to spin around.
She fires some Zero Shots at the beast. The thing flinched and winced but stood its ground waiting for her to finish.
“What do you want from me you devil!” Rarity shouts.
“My devil’s smile in the face of every colt and filly,” Caesar Stag whispers before fading away.