It was nearing midday, and the sun graciously beamed upon the emerald fields that lay directly outside the fair town known as 'Ponyville'. It was an innocent place, with small children playing and running around while their parents stood off to the side, deep in discussion on some odd piece of gossip from the day prior.
Yet I didn't hear a word of it, nor did I frankly give any interest towards it. Not the gossip, and not the fillies. They posed no interest to me. I was after something different.
Revenge.
Six ponies had attacked me at my home, and now they were back at their own. I had decided that I should return the favor to them.
Backing out of the bush I had watched the ponies from, I went a safe distance into the forest before beginning to walk through it, keeping the town to my right side as I continued.
Walking through the dense foliage, I paid very little mind to the amount of noise I made as I got further and further away from where the fillies were playing.
Moving a branch out of my way and stepping past it, I inadvertently ended up on a trail that led straight into the town.
Realizing I was no longer hidden, I quickly jumped back into the foliage like a scared rabbit. After a second, I poked my head out and looked around to make sure I hadn't crossed into the sight of some pony.
The coast was completely clear as far as I could tell. I felt a bit silly for the whole scene I had made, but I preferred that to giving my prey the knowledge that I was coming.
Letting out the breathe I had unintentionally holding, I looked down the path to the point where it entered the town proper. As it went in, it looked as if it transitioned into what could of passed as the main road of the town until it reached a large circular building in what seemed to be the center of the town, far off in the distance. From my guess it was probably the town hall.
Feeling safe, I decided to sit down and think over my plan.
'Simple, right, just go in there as night falls, find the ponies that came after me and end them, simple as that. I get revenge, and I fulfill the blood demanded by Vera.’'
A predatory smile crept onto my face as the voice of Vera suddenly invaded my mind.
'Of Course there's no harm in a little collateral damage, all these damn ponies are the same, it'd be fun.'
'Yea fun, guess so, as long as we get those six dealt with it doesn't matter what we do on the side.'
'In fact when we deal with those six, what's to stop us from just continuing on to the rest of the town?'
What could stop me though, honestly? A goddess of predation in my head and her unrivaled power at my command. I simply needed to get into the town to fuel her and we’d be set.
This town would just be a stepping stone for me. The sacrifice Vera demanded for her power, that was all this was.
I dropped down to a sitting position, my back against a tree not far from the path. Stretching out, I got comfortable, waiting for the night to come, and reluctantly closed my eyes.
I would need to rest now in order to prepare for this fun filled night.
___________________________________________________________________
Twilight turned around to face spike, the five other elements of harmony behind her as she spoke out to him
“Alright spike, read out the letter back to us”
“Okay, here goes” Spike said, quickly clearing his throat before continuing on.
“Dear princess Celestia,
Sorry, but yesterday we might of went into the Everfree forest after Keith and we might of attacked him and when we attacked him we might of broke his statue which caused a giant blue scary wolf monster to appear. We ran-”
“-We didn't run from that thing, we uh… retreated from it, it wasn't scary.” Rainbow dash suddenly interjected.
Spike simply looked at the girls, unconvinced “Right……” He then scribbled the word out before replacing it with the new one and continuing on with the letter.
“We retreated in a completely not scared fashion away from the wolf and now find ourselves back in Ponyville. Again sorry, could you please tell us what you want to do now,
Again sorry,
-Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie pie.” Spike finished, looking back at Twilight expectantly.
“Alright girls, I think that sounds good, Spike….. go ahead and send it” Twilight said, sounding as if she dreaded sending the letter.
Spike promptly rolled the parchment up before breathing out his green flames to consume it and transport it away.
In seconds the letter was gone, and in its wake left the friends in the room uncharacteristically quiet.
“So…. now we just wait?” Rainbow asked, her voice full of uncertainty.
“Ah don’ see why we don’ just go back there an’ fight that Keith feller again, we beat him once we can do it again, doesn't matter if’n there's a wolf there or not, we just got scared willy by it, but now that we know it there, it won’t be suprisin’ us no more.” Applejack stated, looking to the rest of the group for confirmation.
“I’m sorry dear, but I can’t say I’d agree to going after that ruffian again, we still have no clue what that dreadful looking… thing that came out of the statue can actually do. I say we just wait for Celestia’s word back” Finished Rarity.
“Yea, Keith may be a meanie and all and that black wolf might be an even bigger one, but I think Rarity is right” Pinkie pie said.
“And with Fluttershy that makes it to over half of us wanting to wait.” Twilight said conclusively.
“uhm, I didn’t actually say any-”
“And that means we should just wait now for Celestia’s word back” Twilight finished, not even noticing that Fluttershy had spoken up.
“Well it just don’ feel right, waitin’ around while this Keith feller is still out there.” Applejack replied defiantly.
“Well dear, do we actually know if the beast that came out of the statue didn’t just up and turn on Keith?” Rarity pointed out.
“Well no but that doesn’t make up for the fact that our plan is to just sit around” Rainbow Dash interjected.
Spike then gave off a loud belch, the resulting cloud of pure indescribable horror that was his burp given physical form descended from his mouth before condensing into paper.
He went to grab the paper out of the air, but Twilight rudely intercepted in with her magic before he could.
He sent an annoyed huff in her direction.
“Alright girls, listen up.” Twilight said, getting the rest of the group’s attention.
“Dear Twilight and friends,
Luna and I shall come and help you apprehend Keith. As for what came out of the statue, well we shall answer that question when we arrive. Expect us within the hour.
-Celestia”
“Well ah guess we could wait a little bit if the princess themselves are coming to help take out this feller” Applejack said, firmly convinced.
And so they began waiting.
___________________________________________________________________
I couldn't fall asleep.
As much as I tried, I simply could not. It had been nothing but muggy and hot as hell for the entire hour I had decided to spend upon beginning to rest in preparation for tonight. Of course that led to me being unable to get comfortable, let alone fall asleep.
I wanted to fight these damn ponies in the dark of night. Not because I thought I couldn't take the entire town at once, its just that it’d be a lot easier picking them off one by one under the cover of darkness, I’d have to kill some of them discreetly to feed Vera in order to get more power from her in order to move on to higher level targets. Then, I’d simply fight those six damned ponies to the death.
Yet at this rate, I’d be killed off by boredom before the night even fell.
“Well what did you expect, leaving the house while it was still morning? For it to suddenly to become night when you arrived?” The annoyed voice of Vera spoke up.
Amazingly she was able to get bored as well.
“Well you’re not helping even in the slightest to make it go any faster” I furiously whispered back, still not used to speaking to a voice in my head.
“Well then alright, let’s do something to pass the time then” Vera replied.
“Okay then, what do you suggest?” I said, unintentionally raising my voice up to a normal speaking level.
“....We could hunt something” Vera said, saying it like it was the best damn idea in the world.
“Well aren't we trying to rest up for a giant ‘destroy all in our path’ attack tonight?” I said, shooting down the idea.
“Well its mainly you that needs to rest, I most certainly would be completely fine.” Vera said, almost proudly.
“This coming from the she-wolf that just fell asleep atop me…” I deadpanned back at her.
“Oh shut it. How ‘bout we hear your ingenious plan to waste a couple hours away with” Vera replied viciously.
“Alright…” I said, going into thought for a moment. “How about that one word game?”
“What.” Vera replied, uninterested.
“You know, the one where I say a word and you say the first thing that comes to mind.”
She didn't reply.
“Oh come on it’ll be fun, I’ll even start. Hmm… How about water, okay, and now you say the first thing that comes to mind.” I blabbered on.
She again didn't reply.
“Oh come on, now you’re being a sorry puss and not responding, it’s easy why-”
“Would you please shut the hell up” Vera curtly interjected.
“Wow, the hell just got stuck up your-”
“No, shut up and listen, don’t you hear the clopping of hooves.” Vera said, shushing me quite rudely.
But sure enough, I did hear the distant clopping of hooves once I stopped talking. Clopping that was slowly getting louder and quite furious, as if several ponies were clopping together and making their way towards me, clopping the whole time.
“Well shit, we’re right next to the path, this was dumb.” I whispered, slowly getting up and ready to dart further into the forest.
“Wait!” Vera yelled to me. “Hold your hand out, I’m gonna cast a spell.”
I did just that, and sure enough my hand started to glow a dark purple.
“Alright, now touch your chest” Vera instructed.
I did as I was told, and like a candle being snuffed out, the second my hand connected to my chest, my entire body instantly blended in with the surroundings plants.
“Nice, a camo spell” I whispered to her appreciatively.
“Be quiet or our prey will hear us” Vera berated.
“Sorry” I whispered solemnly, as the clopping of hooves came closer.
Soon enough a group of six mares walked right past me with two alicorn princesses leading the way.
‘Well, looks like my house is about to be host to some uninvited guests.’ I thought to myself.
“We could still probably beat them back to it” Vera offered.
‘Wait, you can hear my thoughts?’ I asked.
“No I’m just randomly saying stuff.” Vera sarcastically replied, before then adding on “Always could and always will be able to.”
I mentally slapped myself for talking to her out loud the entire time, before then asking: ‘Then why’d you keep letting me essentially talk to myself?’
“I really don’t see any issue..” Vera replied.
‘Ugh, fine okay, let’s focus on the ponies then.’ I thought to her.
“We could go back home and deal with our ‘guests’, or” Vera stated matter-of-factly.
‘Or’ I replied.
“Or we could just go into the now undefended town and slaughter everything.” Vera spoke, excitedly.
‘I think I like option two better, requires less work and more fun’ I replied, a grin adorning my face due to our combined excitement. ‘Plus it’d be easy feeding to you there.’
“Eh” She stated matter of factly. “Either way I’m guaranteed at least some blood”
‘Well then let’s, no time like the present for fueling my blood magic’ I stated matter-of-factly as I stood up.
“It’s not blood magic, its just magic that I demand to be paid for in blood and murder because that simply how I feed.” Vera replied, almost defensively.
‘I don’t see any difference nor why it would really matter, they’re both just a way to get magic to me.’ I replied as I walked towards the edge of the forest.
‘Either way we got a town that is missing its defenders’ I said, poking my head out. ‘And that means easy pickings’ I finished as I stared out towards the town I would now be able to lay waste to. Open, barren, and left completely undefended.
Save for the forty-some pegasus guards I saw circling over top the town plus countless unicorn and earth pony guards that were patrolling the streets.
‘Damn it, they left soldiers’ I stated, disappointed.
“We can take them” Vera added, almost absent-mindedly.
“That or we could go after the house guests.” She then added.
Making my mind up, I stepped out of the forest and on to the dirt path, ready to go and ruin the day for some ponies.