//------------------------------// // a new life // Story: Nightshade // by outerjay //------------------------------// Nothing, there is nothing. I feel timeless, the silence is deafening. I am just waiting for something. I have this feeling that I need to do something but what that is, escapes me. For now I will wait for however long I must. (Some hours later) *drip* A sound. *drip* Water... *splash* "COLD!" My eyes shot open, the feeling of being cold and wet dominates me. ‘What the hell, I’ll kill whoever did this!’ I thought. I look around to see someone... something. "What the hell are you?" I shouted at the tall, half human half horse creature that stood there. On its flanks was two more of the same creature, though these were clad in armour. It didn't look that strong but I could feel something around them it was strange but my thoughts where cut short. "What am I? I am an alicorn. More importantly however, what, may I ask, are you?" The presumably female creature said. There was a slight tone of anger and curiosity present, though it didn't show on her face. The guards didn't seem to notice, or if they did they didn't care. I tried to move but couldn’t. It was then I noticed that my arms and legs were bound by chains. "Don't try to escape. Put just a little too much pressure on those chains and you'll receive a nasty shock.” She warned, with slight amusement in her voice. "My name... my name is Nightshade." I said, trying to remember what happened and what I actually am. "Well now I know your name but not what you are answer the question this time and I'll unbind you from the chains." She said trying to make a deal. “How about n... hmmm... I am human... or I was I think...I don't remember... There is nothing there but instincts. Eat and kill... EAT AND KILL! “ A guard walked into the cell and whispered something into the leader’s ear. "Princess the prince from the griffin kingdom has arrived.” I remained silent. The princess huffed in slight annoyance "Ok... I’ll be on my way.” She turned to look at me, then noticed my ears. "How much of that did you hear?" she question. "Not much... princess." I said with an ‘eat shit’ grin on my face, easily giving away that I heard every last word. "I do hate to break a deal but... You'll be staying here for a bit longer. Although, I will release your legs so you can stand, it must be sore being on your knees all day.” She said as she walked out, her smug faces betraying that she thought she had insulted me. So you can imagine her surprise when she heard me laugh. "Keep making jokes like that and we’ll be friends before long princess.” It seemed she giggled at my response, at least from what I managed to hear. I looked down to my legs and saw the chains gone, I don’t know how or when she did it, but my legs were free. Now all I have to do is find some way to free my arms and my wings. From the small window in my cell I could see the Moon, the only view I had. Hours have passed, and the waiting is killing me. I managed to get my hands free during the hours, but I know I must be careful to not let the guard notice, can’t let them know about my advantage. He, the guard, is just walking up and down the halls like he is some sort of programmed machine. ‘It’s rather annoying, every half hour on the dot he’s... wait he’s late... he’s been at this for seven hours hasn't been late once... odd.’ I contemplated in my head. Just as that thought was processed a spear flew by and hit something fleshy. Following that, the air was filled with a gurgling sound. What I saw next amazed me; Three griffins in Onyx black, walking by in almost complete silence. I shouted out to them "Hey, you three let me out of here and I promise I won’t kill you.” A grin crossed my face as one turned to face me. "What can a freak like you do to hurt us? You’re bound by chains." The Griffin said in a monotone voice "I won’t be bound for long. Not now that you did me a favour by killing that guard. I'll be free within the hour... With or without your help. The only difference is, that if you help me out of there I’ll cross you off the menu for my meal." I informed them, licking my lips in the process. The leader of the three turned to me looked at me. "Huh, you WILL die if you fight us. Take my advice and don't try it... But if you do really want to die, its my duty to oblige your request, so I’ll be waiting in the royal gardens, for an hour.” They walked on. I didn’t see them leave, but I assume they did. It took me forty five minutes of struggling to get out of the chains. Damn thing almost cost me my wings, almost pulled them off while trying to escape. I checked them out and confirmed what I suspected. “I won’t be able to use them tonight. Now time to get the fuck out of here. “I muttered to myself. I walked through the halls and what I saw was surprising. Dead guards littered the hallways, everywhere. I turned a corner and saw two Griffin lookout guards in their black armour. Only there was the problem, they also saw me, and charged. Griffin POV The strange creature we saw in the cell, the one that threatened to kill us if we didn’t let him out, he was walking down the hall. ‘He must have gotten out and found us. It has been about fifty minutes after all.’ I thought myself. A look over to my partner was responded to with a nod, so in unison we pulled out our swords and charged. The cat person crouched as if to charge but he didn’t, he disappeared. I scanned the area looking for where he had gone, it was then I saw a blur in front of us. Instinctively, I brought my sword up to block an attack... but I felt no impact, I wasn’t attacked, I didn’t even hear the clash of steel from a sword. I turned to look at my comrade, just to make sure he was okay... but what I saw... What I saw made my bowels turn and I felt like puking. This beast, the cat thing, was ripping open his chest. Flesh and blood and gore sprayed everywhere, coating the walls and the floor. It looked as if the walls had just been painted red. To make it worse, this beast ripped out parts of the rib cage before delving into my friends chest cavity and pulling out his heart... what happened next I couldn’t believe, the cat creature ate his heart... he placed my friends heart in his mouth and ate it like some rare dish. I lost it... "You bastard! I WILL... I WILL KILL YOU!" I screamed, a tear slowly rolling out my eye. The last thing I heard before I saw the claws was the familiar voice of the cat beast. “No... no you won’t.” It was then... I fell into the cold embrace of death. Nightshade’s POV "Well then, now that that’s done, I think I'll..." My thought was interrupted by a loud noise and something heavy flying into my chest, slamming me into the wall. When my vision cleared I saw the Griffin that challenged me lying on the floor. His chest was pouring out with smoke. I checked to see if he was still alive, but as I expected, he was dead. "Well there goes my fun." I said to myself, while trying to pull myself out of the wall. "Now then, what are you doing out of your cell?" I looked up to the source of the voices and was greeted by a rather large pair of breasts in my face. Just above those I saw the annoyed face of the Princess, the one that imprisoned me, and she was looking rather annoyed. I thought to myself, ‘Think fast and come up with something witty.’ But all I could manage was “Umm...” I chastised myself, ‘Smart one, dumbass.’ "Well I suppose I should probably thank you. After all, it was because of your scuffle with these Griffin that I woke up in time to defend myself. My name is Celestia by the way, Princess Celestia. " She said, a small smile crossing her face. All I could think of at that moment thought was that damn, she is beautiful. I berated myself again, ‘Wait, why am I thinking that? Stop it! She imprisoned me, I should be angry, but I’m not, my jeans feel tight and my face is bright red... and all I can do is admiring her beauty.’ "What’s wrong? Surely you’re not one to succumb to flattery so easily are you?" She said in a bored tone. I turn around and say with my flushed cheeks "No, of course not, but maybe you should’ve umm... put on some clothes." Celestial blinked and looked down to see, much to her horror, she only had a pair of panties on. Her face turned bright red, far more red than my own, and ran back into her room slamming the door behind her. Ten or so minutes later she walked back out with dressing gown on. "Well then, there’s a room down the hall to the right. Follow me, I shall guide you. Oh... by the way you wouldn't happen to know how many of my guards where umm...." She seemed to struggle with the last word "Killed? About forty." I responded nonchalantly. She looked sad and for some reason that made me feel bad. Not sad, or angry, just bad. ‘But’ I reminded myself ‘I didn't kill them, why should I feel like this?’ I pushed it to the back of my mind, for now. After five minutes of silent walking, we arrive at a door."You may sleep here tonight I'll see you in the morning we shall talk then." Celestia informed me. I walked into the room and made a beeline over to the bed, lay down and curled up into a ball. Without realising it, I started to purr. Celestia smiled, closed the door and I drifted into sleep.