Dark Rites

by Sporkbacon

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Ivy quickly locked up her potion shop and we went down the street to the field. As we ran by, the night time citizens of Manehatten looked at us in confusion, eyeing our outfits. They were clearly shocked about seeing two fillies in full leather armor. Especially Ivy, who was covered in potions. When we passed by, I overheard some of them saying something about how we're "Dressing up," or how we're both "Crazy maniacs," or some other insult that could be directed at two mares being together. We both ignored these, of course, but I was still a little angry at them. I was saving the world, and they're poking fun at me. I'm saving their sorry flanks and they don't even know it.

About five minutes later, we arrived at the field Sophie indicated. It was a park. It had trees of all shapes and sizes, with benches interspersed casually throughout the walking trail that winded around the trees. There was a playground for foals to play on, as well. A full jungle gym and slide combo. A younger me would have been ecstatic to play on it, however there was four Blood Diamond Dogs that were casually sitting on it, lazily picking at their teeth with small bones. The corpses of several ponies were seen around the playground. Parents and their foals. They didn't stand a chance against these monsters.

Slowly, I cast my gaze past the playground and over to the beginning of the walking trail after telling Ivy to come with me into a bush for cover. The sign was impossible to read with all of the blood and chunks of organs splattered across it. Several Manehatten ponies with exercise equipment were carelessly tossed aside after being eviscerated. Three more Dogs stood over them, cackling madly. Cautiously, I scanned the area to get a full gauge of how many enemies we would be facing. In the background, I saw a cave like the one I had entered before. The beasts must have caverns that stretch all across the city, which can probably deposit them anywhere they need to be. Several more of the bloodthirsty savages were gathering in the center of the park.

Tears were welling up in my eyes at this point and I quickly shut them. My anger and hate for them was rising at an extreme rate. They were actually eating the corpses. Ivy saw my concern and put a hoof on my shoulder. "It's not your fault, Spell. We couldn't have known they'd retaliate so harshly." She said comfortingly. She had read my thoughts exactly. Shortly after, Sophie swooped down from her hiding spot in the tree above and joined us in the bush. "So, what's the plan?" Sophie asked, a determined expression on her face. "I...don't know." I sighed, pausing. "I'm just so angry at them for what they did. I can't think straight." I finished. "I know, Spell. I feel it too. But, if you're going to be a Hunter, you have to prevent deaths. You can't bring back the dead." Sophie encouraged.

Wiping the tears from my eyes with a foreleg and after taking a deep breath, I thought about what to do next. "I've counted about eleven or twelve of them and what looks like their leader, from my hiding spot. I'm sure you can snipe a few of them before they even know we're here, Spell." Slowly I nodded. "If they group up a bit more, I can have most of them fried before they see where my bolt came from. Are we ready to do this?" I asked them. Sophie nodded and Ivy commented with, "I'm sure we can do it. We have to, for the sake of everypony in Manehatten!"

At that, Ivy drank a few potions from her belt and stretched, feeling the power rising within her. She also threw a few to us to drink as well. We gulped them down, reveling in the extra energy. The two of us took on a healthy green glow, then it slowly faded into a yellow aura, before fading completely. Ivy's potions gave her a bold glimmer of multiple colors. Sophie took out a pair of demonic looking bracelets and slid them over her hooves. They looked exactly like mine, except the gem set into the piece of jewelry was the color of steel. I was eager to see what power she had, but I quickly focused on my own bracelets and conjured up my crossbow. "Alright, I've got an idea, but it's going to take a lot out of me. You will have to cover me, got it?" I said, almost commanding. Ivy was still drinking potions, but paused long enough to gargle, "Got it." "Right," Sophie started, then added giggling, "You sound like your father. Let's make him proud, eh?"

Concentrating, I imagined a large spell circle in my mind, inlaid with the words "Circle" "Lightning", "Split", "Chain", and "Ice". After I had set all the words inside, I placed it in front of me, ready to fire a bolt through it. Just having the spell in front of me was noticeably draining me, along with maintaining my crossbow. I could only shoot once before they knew we were here and when my power reserves would be too low to be able to fight without resting to regain some strength. I've done four word circles before, but never a five word circle. It was like adding a word multiplied the amount of power necessary to maintain the spell. Sophie noticed first, saying "Good luck, Spell. We'll cover you. Don't worry." She smiled, giving me a boost of courage and self-confidence.

The spell in front of me sat ready. I loaded a bolt into my crossbow and aimed it at the middle of the group. Slowly, I accounted for wind direction and aimed carefully. I couldn't miss this shot. There was a Blood Dog that was bigger than the others, he had a scar across his left eye, making it useless and gray. His other eye was blood red, surrounded by subtle black flames. His skin was a shiny black, almost the color of demon skin, making it slightly more demon, than dog. Armed to the teeth with wickedly-edged dual swords, a bandolier across his chest filled with sharp throwing knives and shuriken. Around his waist was a belt that had a vicious axe on each side, and numerous bloody daggers, ready for use. Being a bit more demon than dog, he also had the strange red aura of demon magic, as well as subtle horns and spikes jutting from the skin of his forehead, wrists, back, and ankles. Definitely the best target to get out of the way first.

Taking in a breath, I focused on him and squeezed the trigger with my hoof and fired as I exhaled. The bolt flew through the air, into my circle and spread into a tightly-knit group of arrows, all traveling at the group of six dogs. As they flew, the dogs sensed something was wrong and turned directly into the onslaught of arrows. When the bolt struck one of the dogs, he was simultaneously chilled, impaled, and electrocuted as lightning rained from the sky, striking the end of each bolt as they hit. Suddenly, the lightning chained through all of them, making each of them a dried, partially-frozen, steaming husk. Well, all except the leader, who was clearly laughing at the destruction. He was barely fazed at the sight of his small army's defeat. Chained lightning flew from the circle of the corpses and into him, causing him to fall back onto his haunches, stunned.

Quickly after firing the bolt, I wiped my spell circle away and dropped my crossbow, causing it to retreat back into my bracers. Panting heavily, I looked back to my companions, which were gone. I pushed my way through the bush to check outside of it. My friends were running, headlong into the fray. Ivy started throwing vials at the Blood Dogs that were too far away from my attack to be hit. Sophie had activated her demon weapon and started to glow a pale green color. Her bracers had turned into spiked steel horseshoes. Seeing that my friends had it covered, for the time being, I closed my eyes and entered a meditative state to regain some lost energy.