//------------------------------// // 31) Bloody Friday // Story: Fact or Fiction // by Mocha Star //------------------------------// Original chapter by Barnside Over in Equestria, something was brewing. After his council with the princesses Volm had brought his subordinate Friday out to a secluded part of Everfree. Volm's sadistic plan was advancing even faster than he hoped. The demon looked at his anxious servant. Friday's blue eyes shifted around as he waited for his orders. Volm's yellow teeth shown through a slim smile," Friday, you've been very patient in this place. All your waiting will be rewarded soon, don't worry." The masked creature nodded anxiously. Volm folded his hands," Now I have a job for you. The princesses wanted to go find their lost sheep who's out in the big bad world. I kept telling them over and over that they need to be worried about forces reaching here, not sending forces out there. It seems, however, they are to naive or proud to listen. This is where you come in..." He spoke his evil plan in a whisper only Friday could hear. The demon's word's made the creature ungulate with vigor like a mad dog being held back. The plan was brief and simple but brutal. When Volm was done he sat back with a nod for Friday to go. The beast's hidden mouth growled with pleasure and turned round, racing off to complete his deed. As the beast slid across the ground like a speeding slug, Volm disappeared with a cackle. Spring had treated Fluttershy's cottage well. It was the greenest it had been in years and the woodland creatures were beyond satisfied. The yellow Pegasus herself was inside having a nice brunch with her odd friend, Discord. Along with them was Fluttershy's Eco conscious friend Tree Hugger. The chaos spirit was chatting away with the tow mares until a they heard the door knock. "I'll get it!" Discord said smoothly and wafted over to the door like a leaf on the breeze. Behind the door was none other than Volm, dressed in a banana yellow Hawaiian shirt and the warm friendly face everyone knew. "What a surprise," Discord said," Oh Fluttershy dear, our friend Volm is here!" "Please come in," Fluttershy called," We're having brunch and there's plenty left." Volm smiled," I came by to say hello but brunch sounds fine too." Discord led the guest inside. Fluttershy looked like she hadn't seen Volm in years," Won't you sit down? Discord will get you a chair." While he conjured a chair for the blue stranger Tree Hugger stared with a hazy awed expression," Like, whoa. I've heard so much about you, Mister V, but I've never met you before. Have I?" Volm chuckled," Please, call me Volm. We're all friends here. I take it you are Tree Hugger, yes?" The green mare gasped," Are you like a mind reader?" Volm leaned forward with a suave look," Yes I am." Tree Hugger was antsy," Okay, what am I thinking of right now?" " Well it is not something polite to talk about at the table," Volm rose an eye brow. Tree Hugger's cheeks turned beat red while the guest chuckled. Fluttershy coughed loudly to get the group's attention,"Any way, so what have you been up to, any news on Lightning Dust?" "Ah yes, her. She's been doing fine," Volm said as he politely ate one of the sandwiches," The winter months were tough adjusting to but she got the hang of it. The joints always had trouble working in the cold." "I can imagine," Discord said," So what about your...friends? What are they up to?" "You mean Wednesday and Friday?" Volm said wiping a few crumbs off his lips," Well, Wednesday is very shy, I bet he's hiding in some dusty library or something. As for Friday, I'm never sure what that rascal is up to..." Friday had followed an eastward train track for most of the day. His humanoid shape slithered on the trail rails as fast as any train. It knew where it was going, steered by a supernatural compass to it's prey. As he pushed onward the land became rocky and the trees grew sparsely with sickly sizes. In the distance ahead he saw a train. He was catching up to it quickly. He pushed his bulk into a burst of speed and smashed into the caboose of the train. The car rocked and the rear door busted from the mass of tar that flooded the back and doorway. The caboose engineer was completely aghast at the sight. She went into the main cars looking for the conductor. She came back with him and the conductor gasped . The engineer was piratically in tears," This is awful! This poor creature crashed into the train and now he's smashed to bits!" The conductor patted the engineer's back," I know, it's not your fault. Accidents sometimes just happen." "Look at him, he went ker-splat! like an egg to a wall!" The engineer cried. They were about to go back into the train when a part of Friday moved. They both spun their heads in surprise. They saw the creature peel itself off of the floor. They were naively relived to see that he survived. "Thank Celestia he's alright!" the train engineer said with delight. Friday awkwardly reformed back into a humanoid shape. His mask looked over to the two ponies. Their happy expressions became grim when seeing his icy blue eyes. Before they could flee the beast pounced onto them, covering them like a tar blanket. Arms formed from the creature's body and pulled one of them, the conductor, up to his mask. The stallion was petrified. Friday's maw snapped onto the stallion's neck. His teeth cut deep and he shook and pulled at his prey while it squirmed for it's life. The sound of half of the conductor's torso being slowly torn off made the other pony retch. Friday shoved the rest of the torn pony into his maw and grabbed the next. The engineer wailed in terror. Friday didn't want the rest of his prey on the train to get suspicious. He wrapped a hand around the pony's waist and another at her shoulders. He shoved his thumb up into the mare's moth to clog her screaming. The creature's hands twisted the mare's body into an unnatural, almost knotted shape. There was a crunch and the engineer twitched instead of squirmed. The creature kept twisting and pulling the pony into the ground with inhuman force till the corpse sifted through his fingers. He dropped the body and looked to the train. He didn't need to eat this one, a feast awaited him. He sprung quickly to the caboose door, disproportionate limbs pulled him forward. They easily buckled from his force. The passengers were caught off guard and began screaming. There were petrafied stallions, mares holding their young and griffons with their peaks wide open in shock. Some tried to escape by the windows or the doors leading to another car. What magic Friday had was used to seal the windows and lock the doors, trapping his prey into large cans. The mares and stallions fled to the door and banged on it but Friday was to fast. His massive maw devoured three or four ponies at a time, half chewing them down into bloody, bony pulp. His momentum was much like the train he was rampaging in. He burst through the door leading to the next car, crushing any equine as he squeezed through the door. He mowed down the passengers by the dozens as he barreled forward. Any living thing that moved was stomped, crushed, thrown against a wall or devoured. The beast plowed through the locked doors of the train cars, only leaving splatters of blood on the walls and mutilated corpses. Some of his victims were still alive after he had left, not without taking most of their body with them. By the time he had gotten to the train engine his body was starting to bulge from the flesh he had wolfed down. The engineer at the helm of the train didn't see anything more than a hand that wrapped around his face with crushing force. The train slowed down with no one to feed it coal. As the train came closer to it's destination it became sluggish. It was approaching a the Griffon Gorge train station like a moving morgue. The sun was beginning to set, draping dying red light upon the scene. Inside one of the cars however, there was much movement. Friday's body, now more lethargic from his gorging, was twitching oddly. His blood stained mouth had bits of skin and meat stuck between the teeth. His body heaved with troubled breathing. Strange croaking and gagging sounds came from the back of his throat. His tar like skin morphed as if something was squirming inside of him. Soon he began to convulse and throw his weight around as if he was in a seizure. From his sides hidden fingers could be seen trying to claw their way out of his body. The thrashing of his bloated body turned to the body itself being destroyed. An arm, vaguely human and disturbingly thin and vascular, burst out from the belly. It was wet with bloody fluid and fleshy in color. Friday croaked in pain as this new arm flailed and clawed with it's six fingers ant his pitch black body. Soon another arm burst out. The two hands gripped at his skin and took a handful of the stretchy stuff. The two arms tore open a hole between them. A face was seen in the opening. This was the birth of a lepuric. Friday looked different than most of his kin, his shoulders were far broader and his interlocking teeth tapered into boar-like tusks at the sides of his mouth. The new creature pulled itself out of it's old body like a hellish pupa molting. The black cloak like figure became limp and lifeless as the blue eyes in the mask faded. The cloak body fell onto the new creature like a heavy blanket. The lepuric squirmed under the wight of it's old body, now only half as big as it was. It thrashed around desperately shaking the blanket off it's back. Once free the misshapen monster struggled on it new legs. On the front of it's head was milky blue eyes, soulless and dull. It's body was drenched in moistness and fluid much like it's old form. It's mouth opened with tiny teeth lining it's jaws. Ropes of fluid arched from the open maw. A small, squeaking croak came first from it's mouth. The croak turned into a vague noise that mimicked laughter. The Lepuric began slashing at it's old body. It was throwing ribbons of the old skin with such vigor the train car rocked. It now looked like the masked figure was part of the massacre, not the root of it. When the walls were spattered with both black tar and blood the Lepuric stopped. It looked to it's old face, the alabaster mask. It put one of it's paws over the dish sized mask and smashed it. The beast's appetite was still unsatisfied. It prowled into the other cars picking at the corpses like a vulture. Friday's new body began to bulk up as he picked from the corpses, smelling around for the youngest. As he picked around he shook his drooling head. He had a goal, a reward far more scrumptious than a simple train. He went to the car doors and slipped through them, his old form had already bust them wide open. Before he left he circled back to the outside of one of the cars. Rearing up on his hind legs he easily looked over the roof of the train car. He put his clawed paws on the side of it. He pulled back and threw his weight into the side of the car. The metal walls bent like tin from his strength. Another blow and the car had a hole broken into it. He hissed with laughter at the massacre he staged. Ahead of him was the mountain range which kept the griffons up and away from outsiders. The Lepuric bounded down the gorge. Once close to a rock face he jumped up like a cat. His claws ground at the stone for a moment but soon anchored. He began climbing up the cliff face, his prize a mountain's distance away. Night fell over the Griffon's home. The moon that rose was large and hung low in the sky with eerie clouds drifting by. A warm dry breeze rattled the rafters and old timber of the mountain town. Some of the owl faced griffons stayed awake but were a small number compared to the rest asleep. The rest were curled up in their nests, cuddling with their kin and eggs. On the edge of the town, far from the torches that dimly lit the streets, a six fingered hand reached over the lip of the cliff. The beast pulled his weight up and over the rim, exhausted from the high cliffs he climbed. He held his mouth open, his long lumpy tongue tasting the air like a snake's. In the nearest shack he smelled something wonderful; eggs. Despite weighing almost a ton, Friday's feet padded against the ground softer than a song bird's. Safe from light and any prying eyes he weaved between huts in his search. Finally he poked his face inside the blanket covered door of one of the shacks. Inside was a sleeping pair of griffons keeping their eggs warm beneath them. Friday slipped inside the shack with ease. What little light came in through the windows or door was blocked by Friday. Sitting down, the lepuric reached his paws to the sleeping griffons. His great hands easily wrapped around most of their bodies. He lifted them quickly, before they realized they were awake his forearms flexed with power. The pair of griffons' bodies were crushed like grapes. Friday let them down gently so not to make a sound. Underneath the pair was hidden three eggs. Friday's milky blue eyes shone with gluttony. He delicately picked up the eggs, covering them in their parent's blood. One by one he lay them on his tongue, chewing them to savor the flavor of youth. This is what Friday had been waiting for... As he ate the unhatched chicks, a surge of power flooded through him. It had been ages since the flesh of such innocents had been on his lips. All reason and caution was lost. He reared up, the shack's timber and thatch utterly destroyed. He began running. He went to the next hut, tearing down the building with ease. The family woke with a start as did the rest of the town. Friday saw no eggs in this hut, just some more heads to squeeze in his hands. The griffons woke in a chaotic panic. The sound of griffons screeching and beastly, guttural roars filled the air. Several took to the skies in an instant. Friday saw some fledglings flying for almost the first time. Like a giant wild cat, Friday jumped high into the air. His swiping arms easily bringing down several of them at a time. They fell to the ground like leaves, crushed under Friday's feet as he went up for another leap. Like some wild nightmare, the beast ravaged the town. He tore through houses, swiped at flyers overhead and smashed those guarding their eggs. His flesh colored skin became stained with blood, gore and bits of bone stuck on his teeth. After a few nightmarish moments a flock of griffons formed. A burning light for revenge was in their eyes, the Griffons had dealt with foes before. For centuries they were a proud race, never before had there been such a molesting of their pride. The flock of furious griffons swooped down upon the beast. In this mass of griffons was one Rainbow Dash knew well: Gilda. It was a thrashing mess of blood and feathers. Friday bucked like a rodeo bull at the racking claws on his back. His mouth snapped up like a bear trap and tore anything close to shreds. He reared up and landed like a chopped tree on his back, pulverizing any griffon still clinging to his back. The resistance thinned. Their fighting force was downed a dozen in seconds. The survivors fled for their lives, ready to carry any crippled victims. One of the last fighters was Gilda. She and a few of the towns fastest or most powerful griffons stayed to fight. Friday let out a bellowing roar that rumbled like an engine. "We'll keep this monster at bay, " One of the Griffon's called to those fleeing," Fly as fast as you-" His shouts were cut short by a long piece of timber thrown at him. It impaled him to the ground like a nail. The rest of the fighters made a charge forward at the beast. Friday's milky blue eyes scanned the oncoming attackers. He noticed Gilda above the others. He saw in her mind memories of Ponies that had to do with Volm's plan. Friday dug at the ground like a bull with a tremendous growl. The hulking beast lunged face forward into the mass of Griffons. His jaws snapped over three of them at once. Dropping them like spoiled meat he began bucking and swiping at the rest as the orbited him. His heavy hands literally smashed an Griffon they made contact with. Every time Gilda attacked Friday, the beast seemed not to notice. Friday was occupied with the others more than her. One by one the militia was slaughtered. Before Gilda knew it she was the only breathing Griffon left in miles. She stared at her surroundings with horror, her eyes shoeing how much this night had traumatized her. She flew to earth and landed clumsily, her senses drained. She stopped moving. Her mind telling her to run away like the rest but her body was frozen. She stood like a cat ready to jump in the air but her muscles were locked stiff. She looked to her side and saw Friday moving toward her with a grin that could spoil milk. Gilda looked up and saw the monster, it easily took up her field of view standing in front of her. Gilda's body shook with terror, waiting for the end. The beast crouched and stared at her face to face with his milky blue eyes. "What is your name?" Friday asked, his voice was disturbingly sweet and kind. The voice sounded in Gilda's head. Gilda's beak twitched to move but only choked breaths came out. A claw from Friday's index finger quickly came up and poked Gilda's neck. It's sharp point making a red trickle in the griffon's white feathers. "Your name?" Friday asked again. "G-g-gild-da," she forced out. Friday's mouth hissed," What a pretty name. A perfect stamp for such a pretty creature." Gilda whimpered,"W-why did y-you do-" Friday's claw nudged up again," Ah ah, no questions. You must deliver a message for me." Gilda nodded," Anyth-thing" Friday's lips curled up," Go tell the little Sun Princess we're coming. From far across the sea in a land she's abandoned, we're coming." He pulled his claw away from Gilda's throat. Sitting back up he looked down at her. She was still frozen in fear. Friday piratically unhinged his jaw and bellowed into Gilda's face like a clap of thunder. He body panicked and jumped up into the air away from him. She flapped her wings fitfully and flew away numbly into the night, leaving the massacre behind her.