Sacrificial Needs

by CloudG45

Chapter 2: Rats in the Valley

“The need to fight to survive: instinct. Use it to fight for your life, but also for others as well.”

Jumping in front of the mares, I prepared for the worst. From out of the nearby trees and brush, jumped out a large, deformed creature with the resemblance of a giant rat with an overgrown left arm. The peculiar thing about it, was the amount of vines, plant life, and fungal growth coming out of its back, and covering it's entire body. To an ordinary person, they would scream, and run with their tail between their legs…

However, I knew exactly what this monstrosity was... A damned Toadstool Goblin… if there was one around here, that meant there were more, just by following the rules of a rat’s lifestyle. The aforementioned abomination looked at us, and screeched as loud as it could.

Sprinting towards the beast, I grabbed hold of it's short, stubby right arm and pulled with all my might. I keep forgetting that, even though they may be large, they weigh less than a normal person, as the rat flew into one of the many trees, and left me falling forward.

“SQUEEK!” The damned creature screeched again, sounding more like a defenseless animal than a monster of death and destruction. I just looked up at the fumbling beast, and then back to the mares behind me.

“What in the name of Romalus are you doing? Get the hell out of here!” I shouted, forcefully. The winged unicorn just looked shocked, while the others began making a run for it. As the purple one kept staring, the Goblin began to recover, slowly standing back up as it's beady red eyes were glowing.

“Come on, Twilight! Let's go!” One of the others shouted, finally making her regroup with her companions. Finally! Now, the Goblin had fully recovered, and started scampering towards me at a high speed. I grinned, flashing my teeth at the monster before me, and laughing all the way. My right hand lit ablaze with crimson flames, tickling my skin, and stinging my palm, all the while making my blood rush faster and excitement pump through my veins.

“It's just you and me, vermin. Let's dance!”

As the six colorful equines ran, they kept looking back, confused at what they had all just seen, and unable to be able to guess what was going on. Two unknown creatures had just mysteriously appeared in Equestria, and they were unsure as to what they should do, but to follow the bipeds’ orders. They stopped at a nearby cliff, being far enough away from the scene so that they could be safe, but they would not be injured in the fight.

Turning around to watch, they saw multiple flashes come from the creature that was bipedal. They saw that his arm that appeared monstrous glowed slightly, and out of thin air came four sets of, oddly, frozen roses, dangling in the air by his magical grip. Throwing his arm in front of himself, the roses shot towards the rat-like creature, and exploded in crystalline shards of ice upon contact. The deformed creature stumbled once before falling on its’ side.

“Oh my!” Fluttershy whispered, and unexpectedly, flew up into the air and flew down to the scene.

“Fluttershy! Wait!” Twilight shouted, and the five followed the butter colored pegasus down to the creatures.

It took them but a few moments to get down to the two. The rat-like monster was then swallowed by a blob of black goo, and then it dissipated. The first creature with the deformed arm stood over it, and as the slime revealed a small pile of squirming rats.

“Stop!” Fluttershy yelled, the bipedal being remained motionless. His sinister, insane grin had left him, and all that was left was a blank look, devoid of any and all emotion.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked, it took her a second to realize the columns of translucent lavender light appearing over the rodents. Several seconds passed, until the male stepped towards the squirming vermin.

“...I understand.” He muttered. The six stood back as he kneeled down, and one could hear faint, eerie but calming whispers in the distance. But, what struck the six the most was the strange, glowing blue aura that had encompassed the rats.

Multiple orbs of pale light began to stream from the creature’s left arm and engulfed the helpless animals. More and more streamed from him as the light became almost blinding- then, a flash lit up the scene, as a sky-blue and white cloud of energy ascended from the pile of rats, and entered the bipedal creatures left arm, which was held up to capture the cloud on its descent. The rats then, one by one, stood up, and squeaked one last time before burrowing underground.

The creature stood in silence, his left arm slightly glowed for a few seconds before it faded completely. Amongst the silence, he did not think to check behind his person, as the six snuck up without alerting his presence.

“Now!” Twilight shouted, Dash tackled the creature.

“What the f-!?” He was interrupted as he caught a rainbow colored blur out of the corner of his eye. She pinned him to the ground and forced him to stop moving, placing her hooves on his hands.

Every cell on the blister of his right hand screamed in pain. He shouted as a small amount of blood flowed from the blister, but soon became a steady stream.

“Get off me, damnit!” He shouted, he freed his right hand from her grip, placed it on her chest, and a flash of red mist could be seen coming from his hand. Dash flew into the air and rebounded of a nearby tree, soaked in a crimson red liquid- it took her a second to realize it was blood.

Thinking it to be her own, she screamed in disgust and shock, as Valï ran and hid behind cover, clutching his right arm in pain. As he ran, he stopped and raised his right hand, causing a large stone to raise into the air, and flung it towards the six. They jumped out of the way just in time- it exploded, erupting in a large dust cloud the moment it hit the ground.

“Hey! Stop!” Twilight shouted, the sorcerer moved at an unnatural speed, leaving a lime green flash, and white translucent feathers in his wake.

The six mares exchanged knowing glances and all nodded in unison. Seconds later, six pillars of multi - colored light descended and engulfed each one of them. As he ran, Valï looked over his shoulder, and noticed the six mares using a type of magic he had never seen before- it’s primary effects caused their hair to have more vibrant color to it, stars aligned their legs, and allowed them to levitate in mid-air.

“Stop right there, you varmint!” The orange one called, the creature looked unimpressed.

“Really? I've been called worse, you know.” He said, what he did not expect was a giant beam of rainbow colored energy to shoot at him from the six.

“Woah!” He shouted, now on full alert. Diving out of the way just in time- he looked back at the damage and noticed everything in the beam’s path had turned to stone.

“What the hell…!?” He whispered, and slowly turned around to face them- only to get hit with the beam of light seconds later. He froze before he could do anything, and he found himself trapped in stone. A familiar feeling by now.

“Got him!” The Pink one said.

‘Not even close, fluffy.’ The young man thought. Within a few short moments, he had broken free of his confines, shaking loose the dust that had accumulated on his coat.

“What!?” The six shouted in unison. Valï just stood there and grinned.

“That was weak. A mandrake (1) can do a better job at keeping me frozen.” He said, his grin turned slowly to anger. A third bolt of light shot from the six mares, only to be stopped short by him raising a wall of rocks in front of himself. Slamming his fist into the wall, it broke apart into multiple arrowheads and small stones.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He said, aiming each individual one at the six.

The six mares did not heed his warning, and shot another bolt at him. The creature then shot into the air, via stone pillar launching up below him, sending him fly flying high. The stone shrapnel followed in his wake, leaving behind a faint trail of dust. With one swing of his arm, the sharp stone chunks shot forth, and each had missed, just as he had planned them to…

...all but one.

A scream could be heard from within the group, and all participants of the conflict stopped in their tracks. Valï's reptilian eye widened, darkening his vision, and saw that one of the mares expelled a red aura. He didn’t mean to hit one of them. Raising his right arm again, he summoned a second set of arrows and approached slowly.

“Aaaagggghhhh!!!” It was the violet colored one. She clenched her chest, as a stone fragment stood out from her fur, covered in the crimson fluid of life. Wisps of white light could be seen descending upon her, as well as scarlet energy surrounding the ground around her, similar to blood pooling into the earth…

“W...what?” She asked, upon seeing the lights, only to wince at the pain in her abdomen, as she lay upon the grass covered earth. The other five tried to stop the man from approaching, only to have him summon the stone shrapnel once again, and have one arrow head pointed directly between their eyes.

“Stay. Back.” Valï warned the mares, getting distrustful looks from all, especially Rainbow Dash.

As he stepped forward, he heard two voices, just only whispers, but noticeable to only him alone:

Kill the brat. Make a sacrifice! The first said- it was that of a man, malice pouring in great droves from the message sent. Listening to it, made Valï almost sick, but almost tempted to give in to the evil voice, but not before hearing the other.

No. She has to live. Don’t hurt her. The second said, another man, only gentler, calmer, and more composed than the other. A voice of reason, one may say. Listening to it made him feel at peace, and think clearer than before.

‘He's right. She's not going to die... Not by my hands...’ He had made up his mind.

Without thinking twice, Valï knelt down and clutched his left hand into a fist, causing again the sky-blue orbs of light to stream from his arm and envelop the mare. Her wounds faded into small scratches and the stone fragment disintegrated into nothing but dust. Within a flash of silver light, the pain left her body. An orb ascended from her, and the sorcerer took it within his left arm.

' …There's something special about you.’ This is what echoed through his head, just one last thought.

Looking up at the human, Twilight only saw him gaze at her with merciful intent, but anger as well. Anger directed at nobody in particular, but himself.

“...Are you going to attack me again, or are we going to play nice?” He asked, the six just stared.

I gazed at the equines, waiting for a response, as they looked at me in shock. What drove them to attack me? I did nothing wrong, other than save the souls of parasitic vermin. Then again, the soul energy that was coming from them wasn't malevolent. Quite the opposite, actually. The lavender colored horse looked at me, confusion permeating the air around us.

“Why?” She asked, slowly getting up, stumbling to maintain her balance. I laughed quietly.

“Why not?” I replied, confusing her even more. “Besides, I never wanted to fight you. I only reacted in terms of my situation.” The rainbow maned pegasus just scoffed.

“As if! You looked like you were about to kill us!” Did she not hear what I had just said? It’s like talking to Carnatux’s brother....

“Well, I apologize for my actions, but remember this…” I turned to face the arrogant mare, her face portraying the malice directed towards me.. “...You were the ones that attacked me first. I only acted in self defense, as any normal being should do while being attacked. Besides, if I wanted to kill you, I could've already snapped my fingers, and you wouldn't even know it before you hit the ground.”

“…he's right, Rainbow. We didn't give him a chance to explain what it was he did to those mice.” The purple one said, making the equine look at her in utter disbelief.

“But… But, Twi! He-“ ‘Rainbow’ started, before she was cut off by the orange one.

“Rainbow Dash, give it a rest! She has a point, and for the record, we did just attack him without reason.” The blonde haired pony then looked at me, before continuing. “Speaking of which, what did you do to that…. Thing.” I shrugged, before I sat down on a nearby stump.

“I gave it a second chance.” Responding to her question. The six mares looked at me confused, as the pink one raised her… Hoof, I guess? I pointed to her, and she placed it back down.

“Whatcha mean by second chance?” The mare asked, somewhat… Eagerly? I shrugged it off, and answered.

“The form it had before was merely a shell of all it's malice, anger, and hatred. By destroying that, the rats had been revealed, waiting to be dealt with. If they hadn't, they would've been reformed back to a Goblin, or they would've died off.” After finishing my explanation, they all looked horrified, especially the yellow one in the back of the group.

“That's… Unsettling.” The blonde said. I merely shook my head, and rubbed my head with my left hand. A wave of nausea came over me, as I felt the familiar effects of saving. I was then brought back to reality by one of them shaking my shoulder- the ivory colored one.

“Are you feeling alright, sir? You look a tad pale.” I shook my head once more, before standing up to only fall back down onto the stump.

“….Someone catch me….” And with those words, I saw nothing but a nebulous of pure black, and fell forward into unconsciousness.

Just before I passed out, I heard a female voice whisper something to me. It was… Faint, but I could just barely make it out: