//------------------------------// // Chapter 116 // Story: Blood Curse Hunters // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// Rarity was one of the first that would notice that something was wrong within the walls of the castle. From her chamber atop one of the towers she felt the gate crushing against the stone beneath it. Her wings uncurled and the fangs were revealed in full. Her crimson red eyes had a gander around while a loud, deep hiss was given. Something was wrong. She felt a presence that she hadn’t sensed in a long, long time indeed. “This is not happening. There’s no way in the worlds that it can be happening. Tonight’s the night that will prove everything we stood for,” she growled. Even though she wouldn’t wear anything but her wits and arcane power, Rarity was ready to fight if it came down to it.   The unicorn flapped her wings once or twice and allowed her horn to be coated in the sapphire blue aura. The door gained the same aura and would open for her. The unicorn would leave the room without a sound. She would be heading to the throne room and see what all of the commotion would have been. Near inaudible hisses left her while she went down the staircase. Her wings coiled back around her body. Once again wouldn’t Rarity wear anything else other than her nightgown.   Step by step she went down, feeling the presence becoming only stronger. It worried her to some degree that it would actually be the pony whom she not hoped it to be. Everything would have been fine, as long as it just wasn’t going to be that one cursed pony. Everypony else she could slaughter without a second thought, but that one pony... “Don’t think too much about it, don’t you dare to even think about it. Everybody who enters this castle is going to suffer the same fate, there’s no escaping what they have managed to get themselves in. One way or the other, they will die, tonight.” ~~~~ Trixie awoke from the sounds and jumped about three hooves in the air. Her landing was away from her bed and she fell face down on the ground. With a grumble and a grunt Trixie managed to rise back up again. The unicorn shook her head and muttered old curses to herself. She wasn’t happy with the rude awakening but the rage that went through Rarity was shared to her. Something was wrong of course. Trixie would join her mistress side soon enough. She first had to wake up properly.   The mare would stand up again and headed to the bathroom. There she would wash her face in the sink. “Good heavens!” Trixie said before her head was shaken. The water went in every direction and a towel was levitated to her face. Trixie would dry her face and groan again. The darkness which had surrounded her became apparent enough to realize what time it is. It was the dead of night, the time they should have been most active, but something had been caught in between lately.   “Trixie wonders why she’s gotten so angry all of the sudden. What happened to her? Or, is she having another temper tantrum?” On all of the thoughts would their answers have come with time. But first she had to inspect the other two beings that were still living in the castle. She left the bathroom for what it was and took a gander out of the window. The darkened skies revealed the massive moon standing maybe too close to the land for anypony’s liking. “The super moon has arrived, the time during which Fluttershy is at her most unpredictable... Surely she has noticed that something isn’t the way it is supposed to be, right?”   If there was one place where Trixie didn’t wanted to go, it would be the chamber of Fluttershy during a full moon. The beast would be awoken then and wouldn’t hesitate to slaughter her like the snack she was. No, Trixie would only pay a visit to the room of Soulful Gust. The stallion slept a few floors beneath hers. The unicorn let out a deep sigh and turned away from the window. Something was brewing, anger and regret began to consume her mind. The hold that Rarity had on her mind only seemed to tighten, allowing them to stand in direct communication. One that was mostly was just one way.   The door of her bedroom was closed and her ears perked for any sound that shouldn’t have been there. Only when Trixie knew that it was safe to descend from the stairs would she have done so. Every step she remained quiet while her ears listened for voices in the dark. But those tormenting voices never came. A thing that she could see as a relief.   “Trixie doesn’t like this one bit, but you’re up now, looking for whatever is inside of the castle. The least I can do is drum up the troops,” she mumbled to herself and then arrived at the floor where Gust had taken his residence. Fortunately had all of them a room in the towers, meaning that throughout the main castle, nopony could be surprised if these ponies turned out to be hunters. Trixie gave a knock on the door, only to start waiting for something to come from the other side.   A couple seconds later had the voice of Gust done its turn. “Who are you, to disturb the slumber of a night dweller. Speak, slave, and I might not report this behavior to your mistress.” The voice of Gust was low, rough and annoyed at the same time. He wasn’t glad for the fact that he was awoken so rudely by something. If anything, he tried to get back to sleep since the crashing sound echoed through the castle.   With the door still shut firm and no way of entering the place, Trixie could have only spoken from the hallway. “Trixie is very sorry for the interruption, master Gust, but Rarity knows that I’m doing this and she wants me to gather the residents. Something has entered the castle and we’re not sure what it is. Might be hunters, explorers, anything.”   “Say, no, more...” Those were the only words that Gust said on the matter.   Trixie nodded to herself and she then left the room. Her descend would continue to the pen where the lycan was kept. Whether she liked it or not, the wolf had to be brought to the throne room as well. The unicorn muttered words to herself about all sorts of things that she wanted to do with Soulful Gust. Though all of the thoughts were crushed almost in an instant by the mind of Rarity pressing down on hers. An action that made her reach to a temple.   In the meantime had the stallion taken the time to prepare himself. With his black coat worn over his body and the silver shoes fused to his hooves, he was ready to face whatever came his way. But while his eyes had a glance to the moon, he could have sworn to see the mysterious Mare in the Moon on its surface. “My, queen?” Gust asked and shook his head. For the moment, everything was clear to him. Everything was revealed to him. He would continue on with his plan.   The stallion had a look to his silver hooves and the marks of constant burn that were around them. A grunted and stomped the floor, releasing a roar of pain. “There can only be one!” ~~~~ Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had a look around the hall and noticed that the interior was just the same as the exterior. The ominous vibe still hung around them and the three of them had to admit that their hearts were beating in their throats. They could see the many doors leading to many different parts of the castle.   If anything, they felt the same fear that Rarity had felt when she first set a hoof in there, all that time ago. Everything looks like it could have gone wrong in just a fraction of a second. The doors could open and the armies of Tartarus could be emerging to get them.   Apple Bloom aimed her arrow to the doors with a constant rate. She was awaiting the arrival of something, anything. “How big ya reckon the chances are that something is gonna pop out? Or that we’ll find demons on the other side?” she asked to the other two. She was on edge, truly on edge. Because now they were on the turf of a vampony queen. The fight to come wouldn’t be easy at all, no. Something terrible was about to happen if they weren’t careful.   Scootaloo chuckled once, nervous in tone. She didn’t knew how to answer the question and rather didn’t hear it either. But Sweetie Belle was the strongest of the three in sensing the presences present. If anything, the unicorn would give them the answer they dreaded to hear. Yet she took her sweet time to actually give the answer. “Sweets, be quick about it. I hate not knowing which direction to look at!”   “Be quiet will you!” Sweetie grunted, muttering to herself while the horn discharged. She had sensed the beings that dwelled through the castle, knowing that they were making their way to the room behind the doors. If anything, it was their best chance to strike at that time. A deep exhale would leave the unicorn and she had a look to her friends. “There’s nothing in these halls. It’s all behind that door. I can’t tell what’s behind it, it feels like everything is gathering. Demon, lycan, vampony, I can’t tell specifics.”   “Our sorceress everypony...” Apple Bloom muttered while she stored her bow away. There was a relative safety that they could enough. Though before she even realized what happened, a hoof of Sweetie was pressed against her throat. It forced the earth pony to take steps back. All the way up to the point where she had to rise against a wall. “Did Ah say som’thing wrong?”   “Yes you did,” growled Sweetie. She didn’t saw the joke in the words of Apple Bloom. If anything, she didn’t saw the joke in anything anymore. It had been far too long since Sweetie had laughed or experienced joy of some kind. She was torn to pieces by grief and sadness. “Not my fault that I am not sensing everything the way it should have been. All I can say about this place, is that’s the culprit of a lot. There’s interference I haven’t felt before, so can you be kind enough to just cut me a break!” And with that would she let go of Apple Bloom.   The earth pony fell to the floor. She wanted to cram an arrow through Sweetie’s throat. But a shred of self-restraint managed to prevent that from becoming a reality. “Well excuse me, princess. But we only joined this cause of yours, because you wouldn’t survive without us!” Apple Bloom grunted, reaching for her throat and rubbing it. There was a surprising amount of strength in the hooves of the unicorn. Why she hadn’t become a brawler, was a question none of them could answer.   “You’re stuck with me until the end of this, Apple Bloom, there’s no way back so the only way we can go, is forward. If you have a better idea, I gladly hear it from you,” returned Sweetie with a snarl. Her eyes continued to inspect the structure for anything that could help her. There wasn’t a way known to her that could bring the whole place down. It was built around the same time as the Castle of the Two Sisters and could withstand a siege. Both from the outside and within.   “When was the last time ya enjoyed something, Sweets? ‘Cause this ain’t the way Ah remember ya!” Apple Bloom returned. She was about to run back to Sweetie Belle and tackle her to the ground. The madness in which the unicorn had engulfed them wasn’t a thing that was enjoyed by anypony.   Scootaloo had joined the earth pony’s side and placed a leg around her back. She would hold the young mare in her place. She would once more portray herself as the voice of reason between the two of them. The two of them of course had valid points that the pegasus supported. Though in this case did she have to side with Apple Bloom. The pegasus shook her head, signaling that this wasn’t the way in which it was supposed to be done. “We’ll see how this is going to play out, Apple Bloom, if there’s indeed a vampony queen on the other side and we do manage to end its life, we’re going to call it quits. There’s no reason to continue after we killed a queen. Not after everything we’ve done.”   Apple Bloom listened with great care and attention to the words of Scootaloo. She did saw a form of reason in them. She was glad that at least one other pony understood the reason why she had been angry. Although it hadn’t been the first time that the earth pony and the unicorn had been going at each other. Ever since the death of Rarity had the two been butting heads against one another. A fact that wouldn’t change anytime soon.   A grunt came from the earth pony, who was just about having her limits with everything. She nodded to herself and let out a deep sigh in response. Scootaloo’s voice of reason was more than enough to calm her down, for the moment. “Yar right, after this, we’re calling it quits. Dunno ‘bout her, but we’ll see. Ah hope she’s seeing the same as we do.” Whatever would have come their way, the three of them would be ready for it in their minds. They were ready to face the queen that had taken her residence in the woods of Everfree.   Sweetie on the other end had already wandered up to the door and tapped it light with a hoof. She was feeling just how thick and how easy it would be for her to open the thing, but to no avail. It was barred on the other side. Not even with her magic would she be able to get it open. Which meant that the only pony of their ground who was powerful enough to make an opening, Apple Bloom.   The unicorn gritted her teeth for wanting to ask Apple Bloom. Out of everypony, she had to ask Apple Bloom. Sweetie wasn’t in the mood to ask her just yet. Not with the insult to injury fresh in her mind. On the other end, with all the other times that their head-butting had been causing turmoil in their group, it was a wonder they were still together.   Of course had they thought about separating their group over the course of time. It only led to the conclusion that they were at their strongest when they were together with the three of them. “Apple Bloom, I hate to ask it of you at this point, but we’re going to need your legs.”   “What? Ya need what now?” Apple Bloom returned with a confused tone. She couldn’t believe that Sweetie had managed to work up the guts to ask something of her. Though in her defense, the way in which sweetie spoke hadn’t allowed her to hear a word.   A sigh left the unicorn who then shook her head with a grunt. She wasn’t in the mood to explain the whole situation again but would have done so either way.   Apple Bloom finally understood just what was asked of her and moved to the door. No words were spoken nor glances exchanged. The earth pony prepared herself by the door and grunted to herself. She turned around and set one of her hindlegs against the door. She prepared herself for a massive kick. A kick even her sister and brother would be proud on.   The body shifted, both legs left the ground and wood, only to be thrust forward. With a massive crash would the door be flung open, the wooden bar behind it shattering into a million pieces. It wave the three of them the access that they needed to enter the room in which Sweetie sensed the beings.   Though as the door opened, the dust flung up, blocking their views. The three of them remained silent and drew their weapons, ready to rush in. Their battle tactics were known in their minds and they wouldn’t give any mercy to anypony present.   Little did they knew just whom and what was actually present within the room. ~~~~ With her heart beating in her throat had Trixie arrived at the chamber where the lycan was kept. In her eyes had a pen-like structure come and she saw the beast right there. It paced up and down the given ground while the magic kept it safe from not going on a rampage. The hunger that it emitted from the eyes was just terrifying to see. It was hard to believe that the monster that roamed there was in fact the embodiment of kindness.   Trixie didn’t have the guts to open the pen without a word. The creature had to get accustomed to her first. “So, we meet again, Fluttershy.”   The lycan growled only once while it changed its direction. It stepped in the direction of Trixie and only the magical barrier kept her safe. Though that very same barrier would be lowered soon to let the monster out. A sharp inhale came from the wolf. “So, you what do you, want?” it asked of the unicorn, growling soft with every exhale that came.   The unicorn knew what she wanted of course. Amidst everything was there something else that troubled her mind. The growls of the wolf were the cause of it and Trixie much rather would have just left the being alone. “Well, we’re going to need you. Something has managed to get in the castle and, you are our only line of defense. We need you in the throne room, everypony else has been gathered there as well.”   The wolf growled loudly, the veins in the eyes only became wider. With a howl was the paw moved and slashed against the magical barrier. “Lower this cage, and guide me...before the carnage, begins.” She was eager to get out, that was a bonus.   It was all the approval that Trixie required from the wolf. Her horn was coated in the arcane aura who then began to lower the shield. The wolf would join Trixie’s side and thus join Rarity against the beings that had entered her castle. Who knew whom had entered.   The two would hurry to the throne room. With Rarity and Soulful Gust already present, the wolf laid down on the stairs leading up to the throne. Trixie managed to keep herself a bit in the background, which was a good thing. It wouldn’t have been much later that it happened.   The bar was shattered and the doors flung open to either side. Everypony remained quiet while the dust was flung up. Neither side would knew what was going to happen. Neither side would knew what they were up again. Only once the dust would settle would all be revealed.   Tensions rose, terror coursed through the veins. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Rarity, Trixie, Fluttershy and Soulful Gust, were all on the verge of discovering the unbelievable.