Steel Blade!

by Alsvid

V.

The next day, Professor Deborah’s classroom was host to furiously whispered discussion. Poor Deborah, who had slept badly, had her hands full trying to control her unruly classroom.

The conspicuously missing Junebug’s name was on everypony’s lips and tongue; where was Junebug? Here one day, now an empty chair sat in the center of the room, looking forlorn and lost, like the socket of a lost tooth. The students could not help but gaze at it curiously.

“Did you hear? About Junebug, that is.”

“Yes, she’s not here!”

“I wonder what happened to her…”

“I bet she flunked out,” a chubby white-coated Earth pony mare with square eyeglasses, a short, straight red mane, and a superior attitude announced. “Blondes, am I right?”

Professor Deborah snapped the cover of her book shut. “Students, please! Be silent! No talking! The lesson has not ceased, and I am still here if you please!”

Her students quieted down, looking at her nervously. The tension in the air was palpable.

“The matter with Junebug is being addressed; that is all you need to know for now. Rest assured that nothing has happened to her and I expect her to return to our class before long.”

There was a low, mutinous muttering among the students, but they did not challenge her. Professor Deborah’s insides felt as though they were twisted into knots; she hated lying to her beloved students, but what could she say? That a group of lethal, maniacal killers had abducted a student – right under Princess Celestia’s royal snout, no less, in the heart of the Oxbridge University of Canterlot City?

The government of Equestria would issue the order for the University to be closed until further notice, for sure. Professor Deborah felt sick just to think of it.

Now that order had been restored, Professor Deborah opened her book, cleared her throat imperiously, and fixed her students with a steely glare.

“Let us now attempt to perceive what the playwright meant with their portrayal of these warring families. The two lovers, caught in this furious battle between the noble houses that they belong to, are gripped with a sense of foreboding…”

Professor Deborah slowed. She hated this. It reminded her all too well of the war she’d just inadvertently stepped into.

At that moment, the windows of the classroom shattered. Shards of glass and metal flew across the room, cutting skin and flesh.

Professor Deborah gasped and clapped a hand to her face; warm, sticky red blood covered her fingers, and a stinging, white-hot pain filled her cheek.

An ear-piercing, throbbing roar filled the room. It was so deep and loud that the Professor felt as though she’d been physically punched in the gut.

Screams and shouts of panic rose from her students, and they immediately rose from their desks, some covering their ears with their hands, mashing their long, equine ears flat against their skulls, others looking about nervously, some clutching their classmates, some running for the door.

Panic had set in; the Professor watched one of her students tumble on the floor, and another young mare stepped on her fingers with a crunch. The student with the crushed fingers began to howl plaintively and curled into a ball; more ponies tumbled over her and went sprawling upon the ground, and she began to cry as their legs struck her back, her head, her arms, and legs.

“Oh my Celestia, what was that?!”

“What just happened?”

“Help! It’s a bomb!”

“No, it’s Changelings!”

“No, the Griffons are attacking!”

“It’s a dragon!”

Professor Deborah’s book slid from her trembling fingers.

Not here, not now…please, no, not this….this can’t be happening! I knew she’d exact her vengeance, but…why so soon? Why are you doing this?

“Please stay calm! Don’t run, you’ll injure each other! Remain where you are!” Professor Deborah shouted, over the chaos of screams, yells, stamping hooves, snorting, and crying, flapping her wings helplessly. Tears ran down her cheeks.

Then the assailants came.

Huge creatures, half dog, half pony, covered in matted, shaggy, long brown fur, save for bald patches upon their bellies, flanks, lower arms, and calves showing dark umber flesh, with horns like long black spikes, lashing, whip-like tails tipped with spade-like barbs, eyes like burning red lanterns, heavily muscled upper arms, hard, V-shaped torsos with visible, hard, ridged abdominals, powerful hind legs, and teeth like rows of glistening, drooling knives cannoned through the windows, landing on the floor and leaping at the students. The air was filled with growls, roars, screams of terror, and snarls.

The scent of brimstone, ash, and male musk rolled off the creatures. They pinned any student down that they could catch, some forcing the thighs of the students apart, other opening their massive jaws and biting down on their limbs or bodies, others lashing the students with their tails, others clawing and swiping at the students.

One of the big creatures hurled itself at Professor Deborah, who was brought to the floor in a twinkling. It planted its knees between the Professor’s thighs; she screamed and forced her thighs together as hard as she could, her muscles burning, but the creature was as strong as an ox, and held her arms outward to prevent her from resisting.

It brought its muzzle to hers, its hot breath steaming against her face. Slimy, clear drool dripped upon her muzzle, and she closed her eyes in disgust as it thrust its long, dagger-like red tongue, seemingly a foot of muscular flesh.

She strained with all her might, pulling her right arm free of the creature’s paw. It grunted and snarled and stabbed at her face with its tongue.

The Professor wrenched and yanked and pulled at the creature’s paw as its slippery tongue licked her face; then with a strength born of desperation, she managed to yank her hand free. The creature was so fascinated with licking her flesh that it had gotten complacent.

She ripped her sword from its sheath and thrust it through the creature’s exposed abdominal muscles; it slid forth with a wet slurping sound and penetrated its spinal cord, parting muscle and nerve effortlessly, thrusting out the back of the creature’s torso.

It whined, almost as if surprised, and went limp, the big, heavily scented body collapsing atop Professor Deborah. She rolled it off her, pulling her sword free.

In the midst of their carnal pleasure, the creatures suddenly found themselves with a terrifying vision; the Professor, streaming with blood, sweat, and the oozing drool of the creatures, her face set in a mask of rage, every muscle standing out under her skin like cords of steel, her mouth opened in a war-cry, her dueling blade held aloft.

She lunged at one of the creatures and took its head off with a single furious swipe; rounding on another creature, she lopped its arm off at the shoulder, then cleaved its skull in two with another.

She became a furious whirlwind, darting to and fro, slicing up the bestial creatures like so much meat. She was panting, sweating, bathed in hot, coppery blood.

She thrust one creature off a student, and flung it to the ground, stabbing at its heart. Another creature leaped at her back; Professor Deborah whirled about and raised her blade, impaling the demonic being upon her blade through its belly. She withdrew the blade and stepped aside as its body collapsed to the floor and slid a few inches leaving a trail of blood upon the floor.

The remaining creatures dropped the students they’d been clutching and fled out the windows, yowling and yapping like beaten dogs.

Professor Deborah watched them leave, breathing hard, blood rolling down her arms and legs in thin crimson fingers. Her blade was covered in blood, shreds of flesh, viscera, and other gore; she wiped it effortlessly upon her leg, and twirled the blade. She had gone into a state of no-mind during the battle; no thought impugned the tranquility of her brain, allowing her to react instantly, her reflexes commanding her body, a blissful purpose banishing the fear from her.

---

Later, the Professor lay in a bed in the Canterlot General Hospital, having her cuts, bruises, and scrapes attended to by dutiful nurses. Princess Celestia herself sat at her side, surrounded by her retinue of ministers and her Royal Guard. In this case, she had opted for her elite guard, the proud SCHOLAE PALATINAE of her inner citadel, commanded by Princess Twilight Sparkle herself.

“You…you’re going to close the University, won’t you?” the Professor asked, choking back a sob.

“No.” Princess Celestia smiled warmly. “I have ordered my Minister of Information to put it about that you were the subject of a fire. It caused an explosion and injured some students.”

“But…the beasts…”

“Hallucinations induced by smoke inhalation,” Princess Celestia said, off-handedly.

“And the injuries?”

“The fire did that as well. The smell of those creatures lends credence to our decree; even after the bodies were removed, the smell of ash and brimstone remains.”

The Professor had to admit this made sense.

"How much is the butcher's bill?" she asked, steeling herself for the answer.

"Nopony is dead," Princess Celestia assured the Professor. "Your students are being treated for their wounds as we speak. However, a few of them are very badly hurt and will take some time to recover from their injuries. It may be a while before they can return to class."

"That is fine...I'm just glad nopony was killed. There's been enough loss of life."

"Loss of life?" Princess Celestia repeated, sharply. "Do you mean to say that these things attacked before? Have they been killing students, then?"

"No, no. But I saw something strange last night..."

Professor Deborah told her story to Princess Celestia, who listened with a frown.

She thought for a while after Professor Deborah had finished. Then she said, "Sir Michael told me something of the sort. I would help you, Professor Deborah, but until we have more information about these mysterious creatures, I can do nothing. My Ministers would never approve of me posting guards at your university without a formal council being held on the matter, and by then your students would be in further peril. As such, I give you my Royal approval to seek these enemies down and destroy them. Sir Michael tells me you have mercenary forces in reserve to protect your household, and that you have sought out a Zebra intelligence officer to locate and observe the foe. Should you require any further help, please send word to my castle straightaway and I shall lend what aid I can."

"Thank you, your Majesty." Professor Deborah bowed her head.

"My pleasure, Professor. Now I'd better get going. Sir Michael and a friend of yours await you without; we shall talk later. I myself will visit your university if possible. I implore you; find these evil ponies and deliver justice to them before they can cause further harm to the existence of our monarchy."

---

To access the inner sanctum of the Villa Potentia, one must walk down a winding iron staircase in the Triclinium, or Dining Room, past cobwebbed, damp, drafty stone corridors twisting left and right in a labyrinthine style, the stone walls old and decrepit, covered in a clear centimeter of dust, with pits and crevices swarming with insects – beetles, cockroaches, centipedes, ants, and other stinging vermin. Here and there, rats dart out of the shadows; large, fat, big-bellied grey-furred monsters with wriggling pink worm-like tails, blunt snouts with long yellow teeth and red eyes, squeaking, gnawing, and scratching away, crunching worms and cockroaches between their jaws.

Ethereal blue flames atop corpse candles in the walls provide an eerie, flickering light, although Claret and her ‘sisters’ can see as well in the dark as you and I can see in broad daylight; conversely, bright lights fatigue their vampiric gaze.

Once one exits the corridor and enters the cellars proper, a great, musty, wet stone cavern dug many feet into the heart of the mountainside upon which the Villa rests, one finds a stone dais three steps high.

A Dark Altar sat upon the dais; an awful, looming monster of granite worn smooth with age, covered in dust and abandoned spider webs, depicting a horned demon planting its cloven hooves upon the chest of a prostrate Earth pony, its teeth bared, on a wide, rectangular plinth. At the corners of the plinth are iron candlesticks with more corpse candles, the wax a pale white mottled with green and blue, the color of dead flesh, with flickering blue flames giving off a stench of rot.

At the foot of the altar are three coffins – two tombstone-grey, hulking, massive affairs with huge, humped lids and bright silver handles, and one slender, angular coffin done in black and golden, with gold scrollwork, gold handles, and a pointed lid.

A tiny crowd has come to observe the coffins; empty-eyed, horribly grinning skeleton ponies, resplendent in their maid uniforms, their white bones glimmering in the blue light of the corpse candles, and the remainder of the demonic beasts the Professor had defeated; lathered in blood, perspiration, and the gore of their comrades.

With a low, resounding “THUD”, the lids of the coffins swung upwards.

The skeleton maids hastened to the sides of the coffins; Poppaea and Julia lay in their two tombstone-grey coffins with their arms folded over their breasts in purple silken sheets and pillows, with Countess Claret in the center, upon black silk sheets and a red pillow.

Claret’s burning green eyes snapped open.

The skeleton maid at her side, holding a single shiny Red Delicious apple, perked up hopefully; she had no facial flesh to convey expression, but one could almost imagine a look of excitement upon her bony muzzle.

Claret lifted one elegant leg, extending it from the coffin, the blue corpse-candle light glittering off her sleek black thigh-high boot, clinging to the supple curves of her thigh and calf. Her boots were platform-soled, six-inch heeled studies in shiny black vinyl, the tops squeezing the supple flesh of her upper thigh, forming a shallow indentation in her skin.

She exited the coffin like liquid being poured from a tumbler, all in one fluid movement, her slender back arching; then she bent forward, her arms bent, hands twisted into claws. She snatched the apple from her skeleton maid’s bony fingers, bringing it to her lips; she breathed on its skin, panting.

“Hah…ah…”

She opened her mouth, thrusting forth her long pink tongue, licking the red curve of the apple, soaking it in her saliva, then she buried her fangs into its flesh. In seconds she drained the apple of all its juice, leaving a withered, faded looking thing behind, which she handed off to the maid at her side. Two other maids ran forward, bearing a makeup kit. Claret remained still as her maids began combing her long black-and-red mane, applying rouge to her cheeks, earthy, dark green eyeshadow to her eyes, and dark, blood-red lipstick to her full, pouty lips, her eyes closed.

While this was going on, Julia and Poppaea had exited their coffins and had fed; their maids were busily applying makeup to their faces and attending to their manes.

“Julie, does my mane look alright?” Poppaea fretted.

"No! It looks like a red rat's nest."

Poppaea gasped, wide-eyed. "Noooo! Someone get me a mirror!"

“It’s fine, Poppy,” Julia responded, gazing fondly at the red-maned vampire. "I was merely teasing you. Besides, you can't see yourself in a mirror. No vampire can."

"Oh," Poppaea said, sounding embarrassed, with a silly smile. "I'm glad my nice red mane looks good, at any rate,” Poppaea cooed, clinking the blades on her fingers together. “I wonder if Her Grace will take us out tonight again…”

Claret’s maids withdrew from her side. She strode forward towards the cringing demonic beasts waiting upon her, running her hands over the supple leather of her tight black corset, hugging the swells of her wide hips and round breasts.

“Well? Where is Hellhound? I hope that blood upon your fur is that of the Professor, then? Is he busy sucking the marrow from her bones and, therefore, too occupied to present his report in person?” she snapped.

The demonic beasts looked at each other nervously. Finally, one whimpered, “He’s dead, Your Grace.”

“Dead!” Claret screeched. “How did this happen?”

She raised her left boot and planted it squarely upon the beast’s belly, causing it to whimper weakly as her cruelly sharp, spiked metal heel dug into its flesh, and she narrowed her eyes, furrowing her dark eyebrows.

“Explain yourself, cur,” Claret growled, her long white fangs bared, as the beast squealed in pain beneath her; she ground her hoof back and forth in response, causing the beast to howl afresh.

“The…the Professor wiped half our pack out! Hellhound didn’t stand a chance…I saw her sword go right through his belly and out through his back! Then she set upon us…”

Comments

[Alsvid]

7628033

Yes, they are innocent bystanders. They don't deserve their fate, but, as tends to happen, you can get dragged into circumstances beyond your own control.

A quick funny tale related to the concept of this fic:

I went to go get an energy drink today at that deli where I noticed the thin, pale white girl who served as my model for Claret, and bumped into her again when I went to pay for my stuff. Now, I'm a busy person and don't have time to sit around the deli drinking coffee and talking about trucks like the other old guys who come to the deli just to ogle the girls there, so I didn't really expect to see her again. I was quite surprised.

She was being supported by a chubby blonde white girl who could have been Junebug in human form, and to make things more coincidental, she asked 'Claret' - as I shall nickname the thin dark haired vampiric looking white girl - "Why are you so sleepy?'

"Because she's a vampire fruit bat posing as a human," I thought to myself, amusedly.

I briefly thought of telling 'Claret' that I was working on a story where she is a feature character and that I needed her to put on a leather corset and gesture grandly while making speeches about vampire supremacy to fuel my creativity, but I wouldn't even know how to break that to someone. And anyway my life isn't a romantic 1980's comedy like "When Harry Met Sally" or "Sleepless in Seattle".

The next chapter is coming Monday!

[Alsvid]

7630060

I know, right?

It rained today, so they let us leave work early. Next chapter may drop tonight.