Blood Curse Hunters

by Rarity Belle

Chapter 7

High up in the loft of the throne room was Rarity just glancing through its entirety. Hidden away in her nest of blankets and pillows did her crimson pupils glance like a hawk for any movement. The beast inside of her had been awoken by something that could only be described as her own consciousness. The very thoughts of being what she was, still hadn’t fully dawned upon her and it made Rarity vulnerable. It made her vulnerable for anything that could have come to hurt her. Not to mention the thoughts of years prior wanted her to remain the pony everypony should have known, but at the other side of the equation stood the beast she tried to deflect for the longest of times.

A beast that would have won the battle eventually. It was just biding its time until it was ready to strike out. Which was exactly what it had done. It had tried to get the power over the unicorn and make the ruthless monster that history wanted her to be. Yet in order to suppress that very darkened nature of herself, Rarity had built that nest in the loft. To remain there and rampage all that she wanted until her much more civilized self would have dawned again.

Though there was nothing that could ease the aching heart she had. Nothing could have stopped it from reminding her to how her life used to be, how it all had changed and how those past two years living as monster weren’t worth it. Her heart wanted to end her cursed life more than anything.

That very same heart always got a kick in the back thanks to the brain. The devious state in which Rarity thought. The way in which the vampony conducted business would have always brought everything to a screeching hold. It was thanks to her brain that she was kept alive. It was thanks to her own ingenuity that she remained alive in the way that she did. The price that she had to pay for it was neither deemed worthy or unworthy.

Her eyes went left to right, searching and scanning the entire throne room for anything that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Her eyes glanced over the stained glass window depicting scenes from the past, to portraits that she had hung there since the others held no meaning to her. Portraits gained in manners she didn’t have a recollection of. Portraits that depicted the mare herself spread around, together with one that she could tear to pieces in the moment.

The eyes became obsessed by one portrait. One portrait that fueled her with both rage and despair at the same time. Tears wanted to flow while anger boiled. Because the depiction on the portrait was none other than her family. Her family drawn in paint a long, long time ago when even Rarity was just a young mare of her own. It was a lovely piece, but it was placed far away from her. Only when she was in the nest would she have been even able to look at it. It was horrible to say the least, but that was the way how Rarity tortured herself.

Though how much of it would have been needed in order to make her snap whole? The question was never given an answer on and nopony wanted to know either. Rarity remained a mare of mystery and a lot of deception. A true mistress of the dark in which she was thrust to live. Rarity would have always been, a rarity.

~~~~

Galloping through the woods of Everfree and staying on the paths lit with sunlight, Twilight made her way over to Zecora’s hut with great haste. She wanted to reach the place before tea-time would have come. Her head turned up to the sun, reading the time. She was still on time for now.

Closer and closer had the unicorn come to the hut of the zebra but also felt the eyes watching her every move. How Zecora could have ever lived in such a place remained a mystery to her. Then again, a lot was different in faraway land she used to live. Twilight kicked her legs into a higher gear before she noticed the treehut in which the zebra lived.

Arriving at the hut, Twilight was unable to express her glee that she had arrived. It all seemed to be just in time, because Zecora was already preparing a potion for something. Perhaps she had discovered something else about the mysterious wereponies all together? It was a long shot and a distant wish, but the chance existed.

Twilight closed the door behind her and she engulfed herself in the entire atmosphere of the hut. It was just as she remembered it to have been and Zecora came out of a side room. With a gentle smile across her face did the two greet each other with a tight hug. “It is good to see you again, Twilight. Though I say it in spite, that our future might not be too bright,” the zebra began.

Of course didn’t the unicorn understood a single word from what she said. Once the hug was broken, her head tilted over to one side and an eyebrow rose. “I don’t get it, what do you mean?” She had to know what Zecora meant with her word. Twilight had to know, what kind of doom had been called on Equestria now.

Zecora only let out a light chuckle at first. The answer had been obvious. The answer had been the thing which they had been talking about for little over a year. “With the rise of the strangeness, we might have been exposed to a certain blindness. When the time of wolves came, we might have forgotten one other claim. Those who come in pairs, ponies have no intent to meddle in their affairs.”

The mind of Twilight raced over those series of words time and time again. She knew that the answer had been staring them both right in the face, but neither of them ever dared to answer the one question they had. The wereponies were on the rise, that much was obvious, but what other supernatural being could have been created in order to counter those beasts? A hoof was brought to her head in order to tap it. She had to figure it out, she had to say it!

And then, like a cloister bell, did it hit her. A gasp for air was made before she took a step back. All of the scrolls she held in her magic fell down to the ground and she shook her head. It couldn’t be possible, it just couldn’t be. “No,” was all that Twilight could bring out.

“Afraid so,” answered Zecora while she began to pick up the papers.

“But, those beings can’t be real, right?! There’s no way that, no! I gave up studying those things about ten months ago, there was no evidence that supported their existence! You, you can’t be serious on the matter and yet, why does it feel, as if, as you are?” Twilight asked of the zebra with dying curiosity. She had denied the facts for the longest of time, but now they couldn’t be denied any longer. There was another race of supernatural creatures that roamed over their world.

Zecora laid all of the scrolls atop of a small table before her focus returned to Twilight. In the light of the green fire over the kettle did she finally spoke the truth. The truth that could have unleashed a war. “A mere fortnight ago, it came to me as a strange know. A being drained from its blood in this very wood, left behind by a creature with the blackest hood. Risen from the grave it came, while it only had one true aim...”

“To consume the blood of those it sees, only to leave with the first breeze between the trees,” finished Twilight. It was an old rhyme that Zecora had told her some months ago, but then she didn’t believe it either. Now Zecora claimed to have some kind of proof that they existed. “You claim to say, that they are actually walking over this earth?”

“Say their name, Twilight, and we will engulf ourselves in their game,” answered Zecora.

“V-Vamponies,” managed Twilight to stammer out.

Zecora only gave a nod to that.

~~~~

Even though Trixie had removed herself from the throne room, she still wasn’t entirely comfortable with the whole situation. Not even with her mental state attached to Rarity could the unicorn thrall understand what was wrong with her mistress. What kind of cruel fate had fallen on them in order to make such a thing happen? Of course had Trixie seen Rarity angry before, numerous times even. Not just at her, but also at ponies who had dared to enter the castle.

Rarity’s malice and forgiveness were two things that had been discarded whenever she was frustrated. The sheer anger that were shown moments before she went to her nest, made Trixie frightened. Her heart was still beating in her throat while she thought back about the glance in the eyes. Those eyes emitted just a devastating glare. All the anger, all the hatred, all the devastation. Rarity wanted to see the world burn and everypony on it.

But would Rarity have been able to do such a thing? That was the question that Trixie had in the moment. Was Rarity strong and capable enough to bring the world to her hooves? She certainly hoped not, but something told her that in a far and distant future, that outcome could have been possible. A gulp was then given by Trixie. She didn’t wanted to live in that kind of world. Not anymore at least. Trixie wanted to just serve her mistress to the best of her abilities, even if it meant that she could have come to die.

Rarity wouldn’t have let that happen though. Trixie was too precious for her to make that happen, she thought to herself. She never dared to ask what happened to Fleur Dis Lee though. A fate that she rather kept unknown to her mind. “And so it begins anew, the state of anger in which she delves, before her more reasonable side comes back,” mumbled Trixie to herself. Perhaps it was just for the better to leave Rarity alone and start doing something else until she had cooled of.

Yet what could she have done in that place? Everything was done already and she wouldn’t be cleaning up the entire castle just because Rarity was having a tantrum. No, she would keep herself occupied with something for the time being. Something that could have helped her, in fact.

When Trixie came to the front gate of the castle, the twilight had already been setting in. The very day would have come to an end soon enough but she could have sworn to have seen something. Trixie thought to have seen something that was scurrying around their premise. No, it wasn’t scurrying, it was coming right from the entrance way. Trixie blinked with her eye a couple of times before she wanted to speak up.

The words were formed in her mind, hoping to stop whatever being came that way. “This property is private and violators of that rule with the persecuted with gruesome consequences,” yelled Trixie to the mysterious figure. The figure didn’t heed the words though. If anything, Trixie could have sworn that she had heard some kind of sick laughter coming from it.

Her magic had started to coat her horn, she would be ready to lay an attack on whatever came closer. Hidden among the darkness did it crawl closer. It just walked as if it was the most normal thing in the world. It just came closer to Trixie without any intent of stopping. Even though Trixie wanted to fire at the being, she had to wait and see what it was. Perhaps a flare over it could have shown it? No, doing so would have been too risky, not to mention brief. Time was up.

Time had come for the other being to reveal itself before her. While it still stood outside of the gates, Trixie felt that it was her who had the power to do everything. Trixie grinned just a little bit moments before she saw the face. A face whose features couldn’t be determined by a hood that covered all of it. “What is your purpose here?” Trixie asked with a stern tone. She wouldn’t have let the thing enter, not with her mistress acting the way she did.

The being underneath the hood just gave her a chuckle. A hoof was brought up to the hood, which was slowly removed. Underneath it was a black coated face revealed to her. A stallion’s face with a black coat combined with a pair of haunting, blood red irises. “If the ma’am would be so kind to let me in, and allow me to speak with her mistress, then the matter will become clear soon enough,” he spoke to Trixie with a well-meant smile. A smile that revealed his fangs to her.

Trixie was both frozen and mesmerized by the words that she heard echoing through her ears. Deep in his tone did he command Trixie to let him enter. A command that was countered by the will of Rarity. Would Trixie let this mysterious pony enter the castle, or would she have stuck with the will of Rarity? The choice was difficult, perhaps too difficult to do anything. Without her even knowing it though, the muscles did make a gesture of entrance. “You’re welcome here,” she said.

The moment when Trixie realized just what she had said to him was the moment in which Trixie placed a hoof before her mouth. The last thing she wanted was to speak even more to him than she already had. Yet the stallion only nodded before he entered the place. Coming in the light of the candles, his broader build gave away that he had seen action before. There was no horn to speak of and the brown cloak just seemed to clash against his coat. A fashion disaster, Rarity would have called it.

When the stallion went passed Trixie, he turned his head to her and with his fangs still out, he asked her an important question. A question to which she had the perfect answer on. “And just where, might your mistress be, thrall?” he asked of her in that charming, comforting tone.

The hoof was slowly removed from Trixie’s mouth in order to answer. There was just a sheer force of dominance that the stallion seemed to have over her. It overruled Rarity’s very own words and that was what made him just so dangerous. The words came out of Trixie as if they were always meant to have been. “She’s up there, in the throne room, but Trixie doesn’t think that she wants to see visitors now.”

“Oh is that so, Trixie? Perhaps when another of her own kind wanders in, her mood might change. Don’t do anything stupid, that is all I am going to say for now,” the stallion replied. He turned away from her. His eyes faced the open door that led to the throne room and he strolled further. The time had come for him to meet Rarity and for Rarity to meet him. Step by step he came closer to the doorway, but he never seemed to have gone through it. Instead he waited just before it. With Rarity not on her throne, she could have been anywhere and the stallion knew that danger all too well. “Miss, Rarity, word has it that you are tough company to keep, yet here I stand, amidst your realm, awaiting an audience with nopony else than you,” he spoke to the room before his eyes glanced to every corner.

High up in her nest had Rarity heard the words spoken clear as day. The vampiric unicorn made the decision not to reply to them. She would be watching the entire thing first while the stallion couldn’t be seen from her position. Just peeking over her little nest, didn’t gave her the advantage of seeing what was standing in the doorway. He just had to come closer, closer to the belly of the beast.

The stallion gave a nod to himself before he entered further. Step by step he made until he stood in the very middle of the throne room. He stood almost directly beneath her and Rarity had the perfect opportunity to strike.

Almost like a cat had Rarity left her nest and walked with the tips of her hooves across the stone beam. Her tongue went passed her lips to make them wet while not a single sound came from her. She was in the perfect spot to attack him. She could just drop down and attack him. But she sensed that something was different about him though. Something ancient, he carried. Something that shouldn’t have been. Something that she was too. A certain kind of danger he carried inside of him. It was exciting for Rarity. Finally would she have gotten a pray that was worthy of her time, worthy of her might even.

Even though she tried to be as quiet as she could, the stallion knew that she was above him. Dust and accumulated gravel on each of the high positioned beams gave her position away. It fell down, just tiny little bits, but enough for him to realize that she –or at least something– dwelled above him. Time would have been the judge as to what would have come next. But he wasn’t going to just remain silent though.

“Your rage gives your position away, my dear. Something fierce burns in your heart. A long lost desire to see the world burn. I know it, I have felt it too. But now is not the time to do that. No, now is not the time indeed. Yet that very rage, that anger you carry inside of you can be of aid,” he spoke to the whole throne room. In one swift motion had he turned to a portrait.

His eyes fell to the one portrait that Rarity never wanted to see yet still kept around. The portrait of her and her family was the one to which the stallion’s eyes had fallen. One with which he would do his own advantage. Just a simple nod was given by him before the words continued, “Imagine if you could use your anger, use your hatred to achieve even greater things. Let go of your mortal self and dwell in the creature you have become. Your rage, your powers, could topple the princess of the night. It has the power to crown you, the true Queen of the Night. You, will become everypony’s nightmare!”

Near the doorway, the head of Trixie had appeared and she only had eye for the stallion. She had heard all of his words and didn’t like them whatsoever. There was something about those very words that just wasn’t right. She dared to pin the part where he told Rarity to let go, as the one where everything could have gone wrong. Trixie tried to reach out in her mind, but Rarity’s mind had been blocked off. She was too fixated on the stallion to hear anything else. But in return, it also meant that Trixie had not a clue as what Rarity had planned for him.

Comments

[cosmic flash]

Interesting perhaps the bad future that was prevented before may yet still occur.