//------------------------------// // Martolea // Story: Winter's Dusk // by SubaruGeki //------------------------------// Dusk Shine left Sweet Apple Acres the following morning, Applejack joining him back to Ponyville. At the breakfast meal, Grampy Smith put the rest of his family up to date with what was going on. As such, Dusk was caught in a conversation with his friend regarding the happenings of the previous night. “And then Mother Forest vanished.” the purple stallion finished his tale. “Jeez, Dusk, it seems like Ah’ve had all the reasons to fear them stories mah grampy used to tell me when Ah was little.” Applejack said and then he gave his friend a heavy slap on the back. “But ya were brave comin’ all the way down to Sweet Apple Acres at night, Ah appreciate that!” Dusk Shine forcibly laughed, though his spine would have appreciated less slaps from his physically stronger friend. “It seems that for once I will have to let superstition guide me instead of science, as crazy as it sounds.” Dusk admitted with a slight hint of shame in his voice. “Hey, don’t work yerself up over nothin’, partner. There’ll always be things ponies won’t understand. We can’t know everythin’, not even the Princes can.” the orange stallion said with a conformed smile. “And you are happy like this, Applejack? Doesn’t it bother you not knowing the mysteries of the world around us?” “Ah dunno, Dusk. As long as mah family and friends are safe and we’re all livin’ happily, Ah can be satisfied not knowin’ it all. Besides, sometimes mysteries should stay mysteries.” “Forgive me for being so blunt, but if ponies stayed with your mentality, we wouldn’t have had this progress now.” With that being said, Dusk Shine left his friend and went inside his library. Applejack stood outside and smiled at him, knowing full well that was his friend’s nature. “Heh, maybe one of us is right, but Ah’m happy yer the way y’are, Dusk.” the farm pony spoke to himself and then he went about his business. Dusk Shine spent the entire day once again locked up in his room and reading more into the dark beings which their kind’s folklore hid in its long forgotten stories. He consulted many books regarding ethnology, as well as read more stories from the book he got from his teacher. But it seemed that all that mental effort was finally getting to him, for he let go of all the books he was reading and fell on his bed, stretching his tired limbs. He looked outside. The cloudy sky was darkening yet again. Night was returning, and with it the dreaded fiends. The question was: What monster would be next and where would it strike? “I don’t think you should bother him too much. He’s been busy the whole day.” Barb said as she opened the door, leading Rainbow Blitz in. “I’ll take my chances.” the blue pegasus waved his hoof dismissively, the small purple dragon shrugging her shoulders and leaving. “Blitz, I didn’t expect you to visit me at this hour.” Dusk Shine confessed while getting up from his bed, trying to hide his embarrassment that once more his friend came when his room was a mess. “I just got off work now and thought I’d stop by.” the rainbow stallion replied and then he decided to once more rest on his friend’s bed, this time also opening some of the books lying there. “What’re you reading now? Still the whole folksy tale mumbo jumbo?” “As much as I don’t like admitting to it, said ‘mumbo jumbo’ saved our lives back then.” the purple unicorn replied and he joined his friend in the bed, opening some books and showing him some of the texts he was studying. “I’m trying to find out more about these creatures and memorize the chants used against them. Until we find a way to stop them all from invading Ponyville, we have to tackle them one by one.” “Need any help? You know you can count on me.” “Yes, yes I do.” “Awesome! What do you want me to do?” “For now – nothing, we are in a stalemate. Basically we must wait for the next creature to strike.” “What?! Egghead, that makes Ponyville a sitting duck!” “I know, Rainbow, but there’s nothing else we can do!” “Damn it!” Blitz punched the mattress instinctively. “I hate this sort of situations.” “Trust me, Blitz, I do too.” Dusk sighed and placed his head in his pillow. Rainbow Blitz stared at his tired friend and could not help but feel sorry for him. As always, he was doing all the brainwork to save everypony. It was a thankless job, the only thing bringing him satisfaction being the fact that he got to live another day with his five best friends. While such a behavior was admirable, it was also to be pitied. A life under the guidance of Prince Solaris had made that shy bookworm into an almost selfless workaholic, no matter how much he tried denying it. And it was a shame, since Blitz and the others knew that beyond all that mental effort laid a lonely pony who could only find joy in the few friends he did have. Once more led by his instincts, Rainbow Blitz put his forelegs’ hooves on his purple friend’s back and he began massaging him slowly and comfortably, two attributes you would never have associated with the pegasus known as the fastest flyer in all of Equestria. Dusk Shine was taken by surprise, but he chose to simply go with the flow. It was an intimate moment that he thought he would experience only in his most hidden dreams. The gentle pressing of those hooves against his ribs and spine made him feel such pleasant sensations. He felt the pain in his tired bones finally wither away. Dusk was not the pony to believe in spiritual experiences, but in those moments he could find no other term to describe the state of euphoria he was going through. Just him and his “special” friend in that cozy and warm room on a discrete winter night… For once in his life, time had lost its significance. “Ah, Blitz, right there…” Dusk moaned as Rainbow placed his hooves on the middle of his spine, the place where he mostly felt pain due to his reading position. “It feels so good…” Rainbow Blitz blushed at the hearing of such sounds coming from Dusk Shine. He of course meant nothing of that nature, and yet he couldn’t help but find a sort of guilty pleasure from making his friend feel good. “Dude…” the pegasus leaned down and whispered to the unicorn. “Yeah?” Dusk lazily opened his right eye and looked at him. “Don’t mention this to anyone, ever.” “My lips are sealed.” “Cool.” Unfortunately for them, a scream coming from outside interrupted their intimacy. The two ponies jumped out of bed and they rushed to the window, only to see a pony wearing a black robe with a hood walk out of a house. Not wasting a single second, the duo rushed out of the library and went to the place in question. What greeted them was a disgusting sight. A young mare was lying on the ground, her belly ripped open. Her guts were either nailed to the wall or placed on the table around the dishes. Rainbow Blitz tried to hide his urge of throwing up. On the other hand, Dusk Shine tried recalling that sort of punishment which he found extremely familiar, being more than sure that he had read about it earlier in the afternoon. “Call the police; I’ll try to figure out which creature it was.” Dusk advised and Blitz gladly flew away. The unicorn wandered around the house, his eyes inspecting each and every detail. He found that the mare in question was both doing the laundry and sowing. Then he looked in the calendar and noticed it was Tuesday night. Punching his hoof, he exclaimed: “Martolea!” Now knowing what he had to do, Dusk Shine rushed back home. In the book it said that Martolea was an evil being which descended in Tuesday towards Wednesday nights from the depths of the forest to punish the mares caught working. Four types of mare chores were forbidden: spinning of the wool, sowing, doing laundry and baking bread. The type of punishment they had just witnessed was typical for unmarried mares. For married mares Martolea would either kidnap their child if left alone, or kill it. In other cases, the being would attack the mare’s husband. Martolea was an androgynous demon, sometimes appearing as an old haggy mare, a beautiful young mare or a beautiful soldier stallion. To married mares it would appear as a hag, to married stallions as a young mare and to unmarried mares as a stallion. The origin of the name Martolea seemed to come from the name Mars. “What are you doing, Dusk?” asked Barb, who was confused to see the purple unicorn rush around and decorate the library with flowers, as well as fill the tables with food. “We’re celebrating Tuesday night.” he shortly replied and resumed his activity. “Since when was that a celebration?” the dragon scratched her head. In a matter of minutes, Dusk Shine was done. He looked out the window and he saw Rainbow Blitz leading the police inside the place of the murder. But then he also saw the same hooded pony head to another house where an unsuspecting mare was baking bread. It was then that the unicorn opened the windows and shouted: “Martolea!” The pony stopped and turned around, its red eyes shining in the night’s darkness. “Come to us, Martolea!” Dusk motioned with his hoof. “Are you crazy?!” Barb asked as she saw the demonic being heading their way. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.” the stallion replied with confidence. Soon they heard knocks on their door. Dusk Shine went to open the door while Barb hid under the stairs. For a few seconds he saw an old haggy mare with a long silvery many covering her dry face, but that quickly changed into a beautiful mare with youthful skin, blue eyes and a blonde mane. Unfazed by the creature, he greeted it inside like he would have done with any guest. Martolea stepped in and when its eyes were laid upon the beautifully decorated library, a pleased smile appeared on its face. Seeing that its celebration was held, the creature vanished into thin air, leaving as reward a basket filled with eggs in the place where it once stood. “It’s over.” Dusk sighed with relief. “That was it?” Barb asked as she slowly crept out of her hideout. “Yes, thankfully.” the stallion nodded. “Hey egghead!” a familiar voice shouted from outside. “Blitz!” the unicorn turned to face his pegasus friend. “We did it! We stopped the creature from killing all those mares!” “Then I guess it’s a good thing we acted quickly. Good job!” Blitz said and the two stallions brohoof’d. “Let’s not rest on our laurels too soon, though. There are more creatures out there.” “You’re right about that.” “I was wondering, Blitz.” “Hm?” “Would you like to spend the night here? I could use your help in case another one comes.” “No problem, you can count on me!” And so the two stallions joined the dragon inside the warm library as the police began investigating the place of the crime, unaware of what truly happened there. Meanwhile at the city’s entrance, a black figure stepped forth and set its eyes upon the peaceful houses filled with unsuspecting ponies. The stranger let out a small giggle and disappeared… for the time being.