• Published 7th Sep 2014
  • 1,497 Views, 173 Comments

Blood and Ponies - GreyGuardPony



Everypony believes that the princesses have always ruled over Equestria. But that is wrong. For before there was a world of harmony....there was a World of Darkness.

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The Wheel of Ages

“LaCroix!”

Elegant doors made of hardwood were staved in by a sturdy, black, steel toed boot. A young woman of asian descent swept through the shattered remains a moment later, angry steel grey eyes staring across the palatial penthouse room before her. It was an island of old world finery in the middle of downtown Los Angeles. Oil paintings in the style of european masters hung from white, golden trimmed wall panels, depicting scenes of war and courtly intrigue. Heavy curtains in the same color and style blocked the windows.

The woman couldn’t look more out of place. Bullet holes riddled her black t-shirt, the white fanged skull that marked it nearly unrecognizable now. At one point, she had been wearing a heavy brown trenchcoat, but it had been lost a few floors down. Her pants were less tattered, but still held their share of bullet holes. Slowly oozing wounds, inflicted by the same bullets were traced across her skin. And yet, despite the damage that should have been lethal, she still stood. A heavy fire axe, stolen from the basement of a dilapidated hotel, was clutched in her hands, its blade stained with a mixture of ash and blood. Blood, fresh and as red as the dye that ran through the front of her long black hair.

A few drops of that blood splattered against the expensive oriental rug that ran up to a wide, heavy looking desk that had proudly been declared an antique by the man standing behind it. Sebastian LaCroix, was as refined as his opponent was grungy. His jaw was set with an indignant rage and he tugged at the silver cufflinks of his dark grey dress shirt with a nervous energy. With his darker grey tie, black suit and pale complexion, he would almost be monochrome if not for his short cropped blonde hair and green eyes.

For a moment, hateful glares were the only thing exchanged. But then LaCroix folded his hands behind his back and smiled, strained though it was.

“Miss Sun. It is customary to leave a message with my secretary if you wish to speak with me, rather than conduct an armed assault on the building.”

Sun Shang’s lip curled into a sneer, revealing her fangs for canines. “Oh, shove it up your ass your sanctimonious piece of euro-trash!”

LaCroix sneered back, his own fangs gleaming in the light of the room. “I will see you burn for this betrayal fledgeling! How you could possibly turn against your own kind-”

With a roar of rage Sun charged forward, blurring across the room with a speed beyond anything a human could achieve, bringing her fire axe down in a vicious overhead smash. LaCroix moved just as quickly, snaking backwards like an aristocratic viper. The axe strike smashed deep into the expensive marble tile of the floor sending cracks radiating out from the point LaCroix had been standing a moment before. Still accelerated, LaCroix grabbed the edge of his desk, whipping it towards Sun.

Throwing her shoulder into the oncoming piece of furniture, Sun crashed through it, already swinging her weapon in a frenzied flurry of strikes. There was no finesse in her swings. No planning or technique. Only anger. The kind of anger that could only come from someone with nothing to lose.

“You are not my kind,” Sun roared, driving LaCroix back towards a corner of the room, step by step, “you fucking vampiric piece of shit! I never asked for this! I’m done with your rules and traditions!” One of her cross swings caught LaCroix across the chest, metal tearing a jagged wound through Armani silk and dead flesh. “I’m finished with being used as a pawn by every blood sucking prick in this damn city! And damn your bullshit society of the darkest night!”

Another over the head smash was stopped by LaCroix grabbing the haft of the axe. The two vampires grappled over the weapon, LaCroix practically spitting at his younger opponent. “So the wandering child shows her true colors? I should have killed you the moment you stepped foot into my city!”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t,” Sun almost smirked as she ripped the axe from LaCroix’s hands. A solid kick to the stomach sent him staggering back into a rectangular stone sarcophagus, tucked into a corner of the room.

The Ankaran Sarcophagus. Sun knew it well. Almost since the had arrived in LA, LaCroix had sent her after the thing for the power that supposedly rested within. Tracking from one end of the city to the other, bickering with and being manipulated by other vampires, being chased and hunted by monsters. But now, that wasn’t going to be happening. Ever again.

“How could someone as low as you injure me?” LaCroix sputtered. “You think you’ve won? That you’ve taken everything away from me? Well, I still have my sarcophagus!”

A predatory smile crossed Sun’s lips. “But you don’t have the key.”

LaCroix laughed. “Yes! You do! Just as I sent you out to do! You’ve done all the work for me once again. So much to learn. But here you are, having sailed in on a Gehenna wind, bearing my salvation!”

“Funny you should mention the end of the world LaCroix. Because your end is coming soon,” Sun grinned.

“Enough of your prattle! Give. Me. The key.”

There was a sensation of weight on Sun’s mind, a pressure that was pushing in from all sides, telling her to give in. To obey the man before her. But Sun reached up to a golden cross hanging around her neck, grabbing it firmly in her hand. Warmth radiated through her body and mind, pushing the dark sensations away.

“Fuck you.”

“I said, give. Me. The. Key!”

“Don’t waste your time trying to dominate me,” Sun smirked, tapping her cross. “You’re done. You’re all fucking done. Every last one of you. I didn’t bring the key with me. I gave it to my new friends. No becoming a vampire god king for you!”

“Who-”

“My compliments, Sebastian, you couldn’t have picked a more capable operative.”

Another asian woman now entered the room, older and more elegant than Sun. Dressed in green silk chinese style dress, emblazoned with a golden leaf pattern, she had an almost casual smile on her face as she picked her way through the remains of the door. A half dozen men, dressed in black pants and simple orange tops designed to invoke the feel of a shaolin temple stormed in behind her, assault rifles trained firmly on LaCroix.

“Did you find your way up alright Ming?” Sun asked. “I wasn’t sure I left a clear enough path.”

“The destruction you wrought was quite impressive. We found our way.”

LaCroix’s eyes widened in shock. He scrambled back, almost pressing himself against the prize that he had sought so hard. “Ming Xiao? You would side with those asian devils over us? Whatever kinship you might have shared in life means nothing in death, you fool!”

Sun raised an eyebrow, casually slinging her axe over her shoulder. “...So, what, just because we’re both Chinese that automatically makes us kin? I know you're a few hundred years behind the times but that’s totally racist dude.”

“Act serious for once in your miserable unlife!” LaCroix shouted, slamming a fist off the sarcophagus lid. “Do you understand what you’ve done? They’re going to kill us all! They’ll-”

“Destroy every western vampire in this city that they can find. And once they’re done here, they’ll keep on going. Ever wider from Los Angeles, until every damn vampire is dead,” Sun smiled, glancing over at her ally. “What was it that you called it Ming?”

“The Great Leap Outward,” Ming Xiao answered with a slight bow of her head, before giving LaCroix a smug smile. “I hope you appreciate the irony LaCroix. You delivered your own destruction right into my hands.”

“Right, that!” Sun grinned. “So yes, I know what she and her people are going to do. In fact, I’m counting on it.”

“You...why?”

“Because your...organization,” Sun spat, stalking towards the vampire, “tore me away from my home and my family. You turned me into a blood sucking, walking corpse. I haven’t seen the sun or eaten a bite of food in five damn years!” Grabbing LaCroix by his hair with her free hand, she slammed him face first into the floor. “And considering what you did to my sister when she found me, you have some unmitigated fucking gall to ask me why I think the world would better off if every last vampire was gone!”

LaCroix managed to twist his head to the side as looked from Sun to Ming to her gun wielding guards and back again. “You do know that she’ll destroy you too?” he asked Sun.

Sun gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “Na. We cut a deal. I help take out you and keep that power up behind you out of vampire hands and she’ll help me find a cure to this cursed existence. She’ll help me become human again!”

Ming looked over at Sun, motioning towards LaCroix. “He’s yours Sun. Finish this.”

Sun grabbed the fire axe firmly in both her hands, raising it high over her head. “Goodbye LaCroix. Every moment I’ve been a part of this fucking organization has been a sheer nightmare.”

LaCroix didn’t fight or try to run, just keeping his head down. “She can’t give you what doesn’t exist.”

The axe came down, LaCroix’s head went tumbling to the ground, his whole body collapsing into ash a moment later. Sun sighed, glad that it was finally done. No more running at the beck and call of vampires who thought that the light bulb was a fascinating invention.

“So, what’s our next mov-” she began to ask as she turned to face Ming.

But as she turned Ming Xiao moved like lightning. Before Sun even realized what was happening, a wooden stake punched right through her heart. She didn’t even have time to cry out as she toppled to the ground, paralyzed by the shard of wood lodged in her chest.

Ming watched Sun collapse with a snort, motioning to her. “Take her and prepare to move the sarcophagus.”

- - - -

The lights of Los Angeles were distant behind Ming Xiao now, the boat her ally had chartered having done a fine job in racing across the waves. The fact that the captain of this fishing vessel was the unscrupulous type, willing to not ask questions about the massive stone burial receptacle that had been hauled aboard was another boon. Looking down at the main deck from just behind the wheelhouse, she frowned at her men as they scrambled to lash heavy chains and irons around the sarcophagus. There would be no doubt that it, and its new occupant, would be sent to the bottom of the sea. And yet….

“You should have let me kill her,” she glowered, glancing at her companion. “Her kind is an abomination.”

The man at her side was handsome. For a westerner at least. His striking blonde hair seemed to come with a natural wind tossed look that enhanced his almost perfectly classical features. He was dressed casually, his open white button down shirt flapping in the ocean breeze, dark shorts stopping just above the knee. Like Ming, he glowered at the scene but after a minute shook his head.

“What she is, is cursed. The end result of a whole legion of bad decisions and mistakes. Show some respect for what she’s doing for us.”

“Yes...because she really has a choice,” Ming huffed, rolling her eyes.

“We do what we must, to remove the weight from the axle of the world-”

“So that the Wheel of Ages does not break,” Ming sighed. “I...am aware, Lou.”

“Then remain aware. If this world has a chance to survive, then sacrifices must be made.”

A squealing shriek tore through the air, the sarcophagus grinding against the metal of the deck as it was pushed to the edge. Ming watched it with a wary gaze, before shaking her head. “Let us hope that this sacrifice does not come back to haunt us.”

The door to the wheelhouse swung open, their captain- Ming believed his name was Phil- leaning out. Scarred, tattooed and with salt and pepper hair that came from a hard career, he peered past Ming and Lou towards the sarcophagus.

“Scratchin’ my boat is going to cost extra you know.”

How dare he make demands! Ming thought, but Lou just raised a hand.

“Acceptable. Are we there yet?”

He nodded. “Passed the edge of the continental shelf just a little while ago. Whatever ya toss over here ain’t coming back. So...you know. Be sure.” His eyes roamed almost greedily over the mass of stone, ready to topple over the edge. “Cause I’m sure that some museum or something might be interested in buying that.”

Lou sighed. “Do it Ming.”

Ming Xiao barked out a command in Chinese, her men jumping into action. Arms and shoulders hit solidly against the ancient rock, another round of screeches filling the air as the sarcophagus pitched violently. For a moment, it seemed to hang, precariously balanced on the edge of the deck, in a gap of the gunwale. Then it toppled over, the the dark waters of the Pacific swallowing it whole in a moment. The deed was done.

“Captain, if you could return us to the city please?” Lou asked, the words coming out tired, almost as if he was dreading what was to come.

Their captain nodded. “Aye. Best we get going anyway. Radar’s picking up the beginning of a storm. Don’t want to be caught in it.”

Ming looked towards the horizon as he ducked back into the wheelhouse. Indeed, a storm was brewing. She had been feeling it for months now, this vague feeling of dread always looming over the horizon. Change was coming and it was coming soon. It was just a question of whether or not any of them would make it through to see what would be on the other side. That kindred would be spared seeing the chaos to come at any rate.

One thing was sure. The world was probably never going to be the same.

Author's Note:

I'm back bitches!

As some of the readers of this fic might be aware from a blog post I made a few months ago, I ended up putting the fic on hiatus because I didn't like the direction it was going. I broke the first rule of writing a crossover and got more involved in showing off how clever the crossover was, instead of telling a good story.

After a major overhaul, the updated version of this story is going to be a bit more character focused. And as you can tell from the updated tags, will feature less of the Mane Six once they get involved. We're also going to be in Manehattan, because it feels less overused as a crossover spot than Ponyville/The Everfree. Also feels more appropriate a place for a vampire to be stalking around in.

I have decided to keep the old chapters up. Partially because I don't want to loose the comments and conversations that took place in them, and so that people can comapre and contrast the new version to the old if they want. All the old chapters are now marked as such.

Anyway, I hope you'll all enjoy the updated version of Blood and Ponies!