Blood Letters
In her last moments, before death washed away her thoughts, Cadance felt relieved that she could no longer feel the wolves tearing at her limbs or hear the dying screams of ponies around her. It all seemed a world and a lifetime away as she stared blankly ahead, allowing herself to cry a little.
The world and all she ever knew slowly faded as her life ended.
*
“…”
“…”
“Come now, must I really? You simply have no sense of adventure. No?”
A lion’s paw made a snap in the dark, and a coin lit up the blackness with a warm golden-green light. The coin whispered with a crystal hum through the empty void, polished to a sheen and blinking like a strobe light as it sang. The coin tumbled end over end before landing inside a circle formed by a dragon’s tail. Eyes of red and yellow, ringed with weary black lines, peered up at the four-leafed clover displayed on the face of the coin.
“…”
“You’re just no fun at all. Oh alright, have it your way then, little clover!”
An eagle’s claw peeled the coin off the wall of the void like a piece of old gum. Rocks and dirt crackled beneath the steps of a goat and a dragon. The lion’s paw reached down and grabbed her muzzle, pulling her mouth open. The eagle’s claw shoved the coin in her mouth, and the paw closed it again, patting her muzzle.
“Eat your clover, Princess. Eat it, and let’s never speak of this again.” The dragon’s tail swished the rocks aside in a circle, throwing up a cloud of dust as it turned around. The eagle’s claw raised and made to snap.
It paused.
“Oh! Of course. I nearly forgot.”
The claw snapped and a large, glittering heart of solid crystal fell out of the darkness and hit her over the head with a hollow thunk.
“Do me a favor and dispose of this, will you? There’s a good princess.”
The claw snapped again, and all the lights went out.
* * *
Cadance realized that she had been staring, for how long she could not tell, nor at what she had been staring. She opened her mouth and drew a ragged breath. It took her several minutes before she found the strength to take another breath. With it, the world slowly came back into focus around her. The savaged body of a pony lay sprawled among the barren rocks mere feet from her eyes, its face twisted in a last bleat of agonized terror.
She gasped and struggled with her legs to stand, falling several times before she managed to stand up unsteadily. She turned her head to gaze at the world around her, her jaw slack with horror. Ponies lay scattered on the blood-slick ground around her, some missing limbs, one missing her head, all of them dead. Only one wolf had given its life with them, its body slung across the ground and twisted in a painful display.
Topiary wolves, made all of clovers, stood above the carnage, their faces frozen half-way between fury and stunned surprise at their sudden and nonsensical demise. Cadance couldn’t rationally process that part of the scene. All she could think about was the ponies she had tried to save. They had all died because she had been a fool to think she could march straight in there and free them all.
She closed her eyes, her body shaking with grief. “I’m sorry!” she cried, her voice breaking.
Her left wing hung limp and heavy from her side, bloodied and torn, broken feathers sticking out at odd angles. Cadance sniffled and looked down at herself. Her gaze froze, and her mind struggled to process the ghastly sight. Her left side had been torn open, revealing a glimpse of bone and organs. Her legs were torn and bloody, and her throat was one big gaping wound. Only one wing was relatively unscathed by the savage attack.
Only slowly did it dawn on her that she still couldn’t feel her body, or any of her wounds. The slow realization that she was still dead crept up her broken spine.
Cadance sunk to her knees, staring at the ground, her breath caught in her savaged throat. A dusty heart of crystal lay in the dirt before her, only now catching her attention. She reached out and dug it out from beneath the grime and dirt, tenderly cradling it in her hooves. “Discord …” she whispered in despair at the heart. “Why?”
There was no response.
* * *
The encampment of the wolves lay within the forest, both now silent but for the far-away howls haunting the night. Cadance stumbled forwards and sank to her knees, sudden pain escaping her body in a scream. Drool and blood flowed down her chin as she coughed and lay her head down on the ground, gasping for a moment with her eyes closed.
Slowly her thoughts returned as the pain faded for a moment, and she stumbled unsteadily back on her legs. Determination kept her going, dragging herself forward. She stepped unsteadily through the wooden gates of the camp and stopped to look at the stacks and piles and timber and firewood. Had they all died—had she died—for nothing more than a few pieces of wood? She felt the anger well up inside her, and coughed again.
“W-what’s happening to me?” she gasped through another stab of pain, but no one was there to give her answer. She closed her eyes and drew a long breath. She had promised she’d find them more wood and crystals, and if she didn’t this would all have been for nothing. Now that the wolves were gone, she could search the place properly. She opened her eyes again and stared at the camp. Ghostly flickers of the ponies she had killed walked around the place in her imagination, going about the work she had tried to save them from. Cadance shook them from her mind and turned around.
She found a shed behind the camp, its door locked with a heavy chain. Cadance leveled her horn at the lock and released a blast of energy. A crackling bolt of magic shattered the lock and much of the door. Cadance closed her eyes for a moment before resolving herself and walking into the dark shed.
Tools lined the walls, while legs of meat hung from the ceiling to dry. Cadance ignored the meat, trying to not imagine what—or who—it had come from. She walked through the shed and stopped at a stack of crates beneath a table. Her magic glowed as she pulled out each crate and ripped them open, swiftly searching through their contents. She was surprised to find them filled with golden bits, gems, jewels and pieces of crystal; payment and confiscated goods, she imagined as she went through them all. It could be the first stroke of luck this night, but it did nothing to cleanse the failure and ill fortune from her mind.
All of the gems and crystals were a dull grey or brown, with only the slightest hint of color deep within, like everything else in this world of drained and washed out colors. Cadance quickly emptied one of the boxes and began filling it with all the crystals and gems she could find. In the distance she could hear the howling of wolves growing closer, undoubtedly drawn this way by the scent of blood and death not far from the camp. Cadance picked up her pace, hoping the bodies she had left behind would distract the wolves long enough to let her slip away unnoticed this time. The thought of cynically leaving their bodies as distraction pained her heart, but she shook it off, forcing herself to stuff the last crystals in the box. She placed the crystal heart on top and closed the box tight.
Her back loaded with wood and her magic straining to lift the heavy box of crystals, Cadance hurried into the woods and away from the camp as fast as she could force herself to go. The howling had grown to a cacophony of wild and angry voices in the distance. They won’t like it when they find out, Cadance thought as she struggled down the hill, hiding herself behind rocks and shrubs.
She could only hope it would keep them away from where she was going, if only for a little while. She tried not to think what would happen when they picked up her trail. For now, there simply was no time.
* * *
Another shot of pain flashed through every nerve in her spine, worse than all the ones before it. Her body trembled, and she lost her grip on the box of gems, collapsing to the ground with a choked wail. The shots of pain were the only things she could still feel, and they came like stabs of searing fire up her spine and through her barrel.
Cadance trembled as she forced herself forwards, summoning all her strength to lift the crate again. She had long since given up worrying about the wolves she might run into, or the ones that were sure to follow. She simply didn’t have the strength to keep herself hidden or watch out for any dangers lying in wait. All her energy and attention went into dragging herself on, not even sure how much further it was, or if she would be walking right past the cave in her current state.
She stumbled but kept going, ignoring a new flash of pain. She walked her way through the pain, dragging herself over and down a craggy hill, around cliffs and rocks. She had no sense of how long she had walked when she collapsed again, her energy long since spent.
Cadance lifted her head and blinked at the darkness and the night. She thought she could see the cave, just ahead among the cliffs. She pushed herself up with a groan, forcing herself all the way to her hooves. Magic crackled and sparked along her aching horn as she lifted the box of gems and grit her teeth, taking first one small step, then another.
“H-help,” she hissed and winced in pain, knowing that she couldn’t make it many more steps. She took another step and tried to raise her voice. “Help!”
A mare’s head peeked out from the cave and stared into the darkness. A moment later she spotted Cadance. White Rose gasped and rushed out of the cave, reaching Cadance in a few long strides and propping her up. “Oh sweet heavens, Princess! What happened?”
Cadance was barely conscious as she leaned against the mare, struggling the last steps into the cave. With a final sigh her legs collapsed beneath her, the box clattering to the rocks as well. Pain surged through her body, and Cadance let out a cry of anguish, though she was only dimly aware of what was going on.
“O-oh dear,” White Rose stammered somewhere beside her. “W-what—how did this …” Lost for words she knelt down beside the anguished and bloodied alicorn, her eyes meeting Cadance’s.
Cadance gasped for breath, and her eyes rolled back in her head. Fire burned inside her body like a miniature dying sun. Distantly, as if through the veil of dreams, she heard White Rose call her two daughters for help.
“Silene! Silica! I need your help now!”
“M-mom, what’s happening?” Silene stammered, her voice tiny and scared. Close by, Silica was crying openly. “W-what’s happening to her?”
“She’s foaling,” their mother said. “Now help me, both of you. She’s very badly hurt.”
Cadance gasped and cried out again as her body was wracked by the shots of pain. A tiny hoof brushed her mane from her eyes, and Silica’s voice whispered to her, “I-it’s okay … it’s okay. Can you breathe, P-princess? Just try to breathe.”
“Push, princess,” White Rose said somewhere far, far away. Cadance let out another cry before the last awareness left her.
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I'm very confused...and I kinda like it :)
OOOOOOH!!!!!! This is freaking AWESOME!
I got chills. Chills I tells ya. Discord you evil genius, what are you up to now? I must have to know! Loving it, keep em coming!
Please keep writing, I'll keep reading!
4576582
I too am puzzled by the turn of events and Discord's Draconequus ex Machina in this chapter.
Blimey!
I hope Cadance does not push too hard and squirt out the holes in her side like a tube of toothpaste!
4578007
I do try to keep the graphic gore out, since it wasn't tagged for it
Eeeww
Ten bits says the baby's a draconequus
4578007
On the other hand, that may make the delivery much faster: just pluck out the baby and it's done!
An interesting start. Let's see where this goes.
*checks your blog posts*
Okay good, nothing in there. Now I can ask this without looking like an idiot. There any plans to continue/update this in the near future?
5364709
I was thinking of writing a blog post about it. The honest truth is, I don't know. I've been so caught up in other stuff, I just haven't been writing a lot of pony. I've also found that I don't like what I had planned for the next chapter, it wasn't working at all, which means I have to figure out what to do instead and options are kinda limited. The problem is I know how the story must end, but I've found that it's not as easy to get from here to there as I had thought. I've sort of dug myself into a corner with the last chapter.
In theory, it shouldn't take me long to write a new chapter. In practice, though ...
Early January at the latest, I hope.
Your storytelling is excellent, but you're overdoing the mystery.
Mysterious letter shows up relating events from a parallel universe? Good hook. Mysterious fog blocks off the view of the destination? Predictable, but not bad. Mysteriously, all the guards disappear in groups until none are left? Getting into horror tropes now, but still tolerable. Mysteriously everyone's memory of past events gets altered for no apparent reason until they don't remember who came with them or why? Now we're pushing the bounds of credibility. Cadence explores the new town, meets a wolf, rescues the kids and hides out - cool. The kids mother is hurt, and the cure that brings her back from the brink is (medicine? a spell?) going to sleep for a while. Okay... Kids play with toys, then suddenly the solution to everything involves making paper and glitter?? Setting out to get the wood for the non existent (mysterious?) paper factory, Cadence finds it guarded by wolves (they're guarding the wood?! They live in a forest!), and pulls a trick worthy of Scooby Doo to rescue the slave ponies. This works about as well as you might expect, and she finds herself in a battle, which she inexplicable fights on the ground and then loses?! She's dead now? WTF?! Oh, but its all okay, because discord exists in this dimension too, and he feeds her leprechaun coins, turning her into a zombie pony. But not just any zombie pony, a pregnant zombie pony!
Your story started strong, but by now its wandered off into the distance like an Alzheimer's patient walking onto a NASCAR track in his underpants during a race. You need to go back and add in or expand the details that explain what's happening; some mystery is a good thing, but when the author is the only person with any idea whats going on you've overdone it.
*Pokes with stick.*
5721989
After much delay, I promise you it's nearly here. I'm on the last editing run right now, which shouldn't take more than a couple of days.
5678671
I made some mistakes with this story, and it never really turned out as I had hoped. There's an update coming where I try to patch over some of it a bit, but unfortunately there's not much I can really do at this point.
This chapter is certainly eerie.