Fire, Brimstone and Pony Hooves

by Oddling

5 - New Blood... or The End?

Author's Note:

Well... it's been quite some time since I did any writing for this little project. So, here's a little more to keep it alive and well!

However, I am sorry to say that with the changes that have taken place since the last time I updated this story I'm no longer able to see my personal statistics on the sight. The system I was using in the past is kind of no longer here, so I can't use the same numbers from this chapter onward.

Instead, I'll simply be treating this story as a side project for when I'm not doing anything for any of my other stories. This one is for fun... which contradicts what I originally said, but hey, things change all the time in the world.

Also... I wound up rereading the previous chapters and... well... let's just say that I found myself feeling annoyed with how Chapter 3 turned out. Overall it wasn't a bad chapter, but there were a few spots that I had to tinker with. Seriously though, I can't believe I hadn't noticed how poorly I had chosen some of my wording for the intimate scene. I just had to go over it again and reword some spots... otherwise it would have bugged the hell out of me forever!

So, picking up where we left off, I give you the next step in Yerok's tale! Hope you all enjoy it.

Crystal and Memory sat within the perimeter of the small camp that they had set up, with Yerok’s help. The pearl-white unicorn was busy making the last adjustments to add just the right amount of flavoring to their simple dinner while Memory finally sat down beside the fire and huffed. The earth pony mare had been restless for the past half hour. She was unsure why, but something had made her whole body tremble with a nearly indescribable sensation – like combining a mild panic attack with that feeling you get when you touch a plasma ball, only stronger.

Crystal took a spoonful of the soup and blew on it gently to cool it before she looked to her friend. “Mem, you’ve been on edge for a while now… What’s bothering you? I’m a little worried.”

Memory sighed and looked to the tunnel opening that led down to their latest dig project. Something was wrong… and she was worried about Yerok. By her estimates, her stallion should have come up with another load of dirt some time ago. She looked back to Crystal. “Ah don’t rightly know what it is… but somethin’ ain’t right. Ah can feel it all over my body.”

Crystal’s attention turned fully to Memory as she put the spoon in her mouth to taste the results of her cooking, the flavor taking a backseat to her growing concern. She had learned a number of years ago that when Memory started feeling something it always held meaning. If she was worried over a strong enough reaction from something nearby, it could mean trouble. The writing from the buried structure wall quickly came to mind and a sinking feeling of dread began to creep up from deep within Crystal. Though slightly afraid to do so, she still steeled herself enough to ask, “What kind of feeling is it?”

Memory’s face hardened as she recalled a past event that now rivaled what she currently felt. “You remember that day when they said Discord and Tirek had taken over?”

Crystal’s eyes widened and she nearly opened her mouth in disbelief, swallowing instead so that the soup and spoon would not drop from her mouth. She slowly reached up to remove the utensil when the ground beneath them shook from a deep, thunderous boom. Birds took to the skies, shrieking in terror. The brush came alive as the woodland critters all scattered. The two mares instantly bolted to their hooves and looked to the tunnel opening to see a rush of dust surge forth just moments after the ominous boom.

The unpleasant feeling within Memory’s body came to a sickeningly swift halt and her back legs gave out. Her heart ached deeply, as a sudden rush of adrenaline swept through her and tears formed in her eyes. She barely registered the thud as Crystal also collapsed beside her. Memory spared a brief glance to her friend to see if she was alright, only to stare when she took notice of the glowing mark on her forehead; a glowing circle with an upside-down triangle inside of it that held a dragon’s eye in the very center. She was stunned by the image, but before any thoughts of asking about it could cross her mind, the ground shook again, this time more steadily and for at least five seconds. Her head whipped to the tunnel once more as the faint echoes of a roar cried from the depths.

Crystal struggled in vain to get back up on all four hooves as the pain-filled cry faded. Their protector… their friend and lover… he was in trouble!

---

~~***~~

---

Pain, hot and brutally searing, coursed through my leg, abdomen, and face as Blood Thirst exploded into hundreds of narrow spikes. My old partner, the very thing that had once been an extension of my own blood and had been bound to me by its very soul, had chosen to reject me – to attempt to succeed where it had failed in the arena so long ago.

That day flashed before my eyes once more. I stood near the center of our battlefield, my impaled hand barely keeping the rest of the massive spike that was once my opponent’s arm from driving deeper into my chest. My other hand held his throat, my claws firmly imbedded into his neck, gently kissing the delicate arteries within. It was a deadlock between the shape-shifting hulk above me and my battered draconic form as I held onto the fleeting remnants of my strength to stay alive. My mind raced as I tried to think of a way to get his arm out of my chest, or to get my claws just a little deeper into his thick neck. Neither option bore survivable results, though not for a lack of trying. He was just too powerful for me. I had been aware of the possibility of being killed in the arena long ago. Hell, I’d watched plenty of others be brutally ripped apart in the very spot I was fighting for my life. Still, I could not let myself die without giving my all, and if I was going to die, I was going to do everything in my power to take that repulsive, oversized mutant with me!

Just as I had done in the past, I clenched my teeth and flexed my body as I reached deep within my core, pushing past the pain as Blood Thirst’s form shifted again to send a thick spike strait through my heart.

~~***~~

That odd feeling… déjà vu I believe it was called, swept through my consciousness as I felt my body die once more. It was such a strange thing to feel yourself die. There really were no words to describe the experience. In fact, the only thing that came to mind in regards to explaining death was to give an understanding of how life worked.

In order to experience life, three things must come together to form it. A body, a soul, and a mind… those are what made life possible. The body contains the other two parts while the mind controls it, but the soul… that was the most precious of the three. Souls were created by a being of great power, even greater than God and far more so than even my lord. It was a bitter pill to swallow for some of the firm believers, but it was a truth they learned eventually in death when the soul returned to her. By taking the essences of a swirling vortex of pure energy, what some have described as a Well of Eternity, or the Font of Life, the entity most commonly known as Gaia brought life into existence by shaping the essences into fresh souls.

Many had tried to replicate her work, none ever succeeded, but all had shown her respect. Without her precious souls, life would never have been possible in the way we knew it. Though a being could experience existence without a soul or tangible form, it was not truly living… it was merely existing.

A body was easy to make; it was simply matter that formed into a container of some nature that could be stagnant and immobile or controlled. The mind was easy to form as all that was required was a link between at least three points of a substance, thus a network was formed and thought could begin. No matter what the Humans might have thought near the beginning of their medical advancements in exploring their brains, a brain was nothing more than a material form where the mind appeared to be housed. The reality was that the mind did not reside in just their heads. It spanned their entire body. If they took any time to actually pay attention to those who could still feel a limb, even after it had been severed from the rest of their body, then maybe they could have started to understand things better.

But in the end, everything boiled down to the soul. Just like every body was fundamentally different, every mind unique in its own way, a soul was never the same as another soul. Gaia made every soul special. If you wanted to be philosophical about it, you could even go as far as to say that the only way to truly measure someone or something would be by their soul.

With the three parts combined, an entity could truly learn what it meant to live; to interact with the world around it and experience everything that the fabric of reality had to offer in all shapes and forms. To lose that life… to lose that gift, that ability to be a part of the universe and influence the world around you directly. That was what it meant to know death. But as I said before, existence was still possible after death.

Just as each fingerprint was unique to a human, each soul was a miracle. Mine… my soul… that was what made me one of the best in Hell's army. It was about time I reminded Blood Thirst of that fact.

~~***~~

Whatever pain I had previously felt faded away until it was merely a warm pressure within me. As the body dies, the brain stops most of its active functions as it tries to compensate. This can have its advantages, but it can also come around to bite you in the ass if you’re too foolish. In that moment, however, it mattered little to me. Though my body had ceased to function, my mind and soul still remained for the moment, and all I needed was that single sliver of time to finish what I had started in that battle with Blood Thirst. With the last remnants of the connection I still had with my body, I unleashed all of the stored up power that had collected in me. In that same instant I also unlocked the limitations of my soul, effectively releasing twin bombs; one being in the form of unbridled energy while the other was an inferno of spiritual rage.

As the two energies tore at my body from the inside out, I could faintly hear Blood Thirst’s dying scream. It was a grating noise, much like scraping your claws along a chalkboard in a narrow hallway. His death cry brought a small smile of victory to my muzzle as I reveled in his defeat once more. The last time I had narrowly escaped death by sending everything I had into my hand to decapitate him and twisting my body so that his dead weight would not trap me beneath his carcass. It was only thanks to the last traces of my energy that my heart had healed after I removed the spike from my chest, ensuring my slim victory back then.

As my body fell to the cold obsidian floor, I let my mind wander to how I had received my old partner. Though I cannot remember what his name was before I killed him, Blood Thirst’s body was left where it fell. The imps had run over swiftly to recover his head and place it beside me before they scampered away. In the next few moments, the most powerful of demonic sorcerers conjured the sealing circle around both of our bodies and I began to hear my lord’s voice echo in my mind. His commanding voice told me of the ritual and the words I must say to invoke Hell’s power so that I might gain my reward for defeating my opponent.

I found it strange at first, as the ancient tongue of the demon race was not one to be spoken easily, but nevertheless I repeated the words my lord spoke to me.

“Lorintak’nogar foren tograkt’nerop, ren Yerok, tilgrok shopon’grelk”

(Through pain of death your life shall end, I Yerok, take your life to prolong my own)

Before I was even aware that I had spoken the words aloud, the floor around me glowed with the vibrant red of the same demonic binding circle that had united Blood Thirst and I so long ago. In the next moment, my body was violently yanked into the air and my limbs and head were pulled to the five points of a glowing pentagram that formed around me. My eyes opened wide as I felt the pain return to my body in full force. Try as I might, I could do nothing to suppress the roar of agony as I felt Blood Thirst’s lifeless, formless substance rapidly surge through the rest of my body.

Then, without any warning, the glow of the demonic circle vanished and my body dropped to the floor. My entire body ached as I lay on the steaming hot floor that was now shrouded in darkness. It was true that I had endured far worse in my time at war with our enemies, but the pain I felt at the moment would have been akin to having your blood flash-boiled without gracing you with the ability to die from it. Every beat of my heart sent another pulse of pain through me, forcing my muscles to twitch and flex randomly as the seconds passed. I stared blankly with only one eye at a time, which ever one didn’t hurt the most at the moment, as I did my best to wait for the pain to lower to more tolerable levels. As I rested upon the cooling surface in the room, I started to see faint wisps of light. Given how much it hurt, I almost wondered if my consciousness was fading and I was hallucinating.

Mercifully, fate seemed to show me a degree of pity for once, as it did not take long for my agony to melt away to merely a dull ache. Once my senses were no longer consumed by pain, I finally began to take stock of my situation and what had just transpired. I gingerly lifted my head from the floor, wincing from the soreness in my muscles. Another spike of pain shot through my head and I instinctively brought my hoof to my head, gripping at my cracked left horn and running a finger over the damage to make sure it had not broken any further. A soft sigh of relief slipped from me as I confirmed that my horn was still in one piece.

My eyes suddenly widened as I realized something out of place with what I had just done. I slowly pulled the appendage in question away to examine it. Despite the low light of the room, my eyes did not lie when they caught sight of the end of my arm. There was a familiar red, clawed hand resting where my hoof had been. Turning my head around painfully, I looked over the rest of my body. Nothing else had changed… for the most part. My body was still equine, same wings, same tail, same blue coat. However, there were two notable additions to my body now.

Both of my front hooves now ended in red draconic hands, with three fingers and a thumb each. Said hands were connected by what appeared to be a spiderweb of black, metallic armor that spread up my arms. The armor thickened as it rose up my arms, forming into plates at the shoulders. The shoulder plates then connected to a small breastplate on my chest that seemed to hold a triangular bloodstone in its center. The armor continued onto my back, though instead of solid plates of armor, it became more reminiscent of my old dragon scales.

As I continued to observe the new addition to my person, it slowly dawned upon me that this was no standard issue armor. No, this armor was connected to me as if it had seeped out of my body. Not only could I hardly feel the weight of it, there was no give as my body moved. The armor did not shift on my skin or coat, nor did it pinch or impeded my movement in any way. It was… too perfectly formed, too smooth to move around in, for it to have been real and removable armor.

I had seen other demons before who had natural armors. A small part of me was envious of them for having such convenient defenses, but the more sadistic part of me smirked at them. True, having a naturally formed and replenish-able armor was advantageous to a degree, but when such an armor was damaged… it caused injury to the wearer as well. I groaned as I remembered that fact and I took back what I felt about fate giving me a break. Now I just had another thing to be mindful of in combat and a hell of a lot more to explain once I got out of this place.

Speaking of which… if I could ever meet with the being that was rumored to be the one responsible for controlling the events of all in existence I would make their next following moments very unpleasant ones. You see, when one frowns upon fate openly, fate tends to take offence to it. As a result, things then transpire in a less than favorable way for the one that fate affects. I bring this to your attention because, yet again, I feel that I had spoken too soon in regards to explaining myself to my mistresses…

My ears swiveled around as I heard the quickly growing sound of hooves clopping against soil. For the first time in my life, I felt a lump form in my throat and I became fearful of seeing Crystal and Memory. So strong was my fear that I tried to stand so that I might run deeper into the shadows of the room. Unfortunately for me, my efforts were not fated to be rewarded and I hissed in pain as my legs gave out beneath me and I flopped back to the floor. I turned my head back to the entrance just as my mistresses charged through it.

Crystal and memory both slid to a stop as their eyes fell upon me. For the briefest of moments, I could feel my heart as it sank when I saw their fear of me. It was yet another odd situation when I look back on how I used to be. In the past, my old self would have smiled maliciously at seeing fearful eyes turned upon me. Now though… now I only felt hurt. My heart felt as if it had become filled with lead and was slowly pumping poison into my body as I watched them continue to stare at me in shock and fear.

I tried to stand once more, to approach them and tell them that they had nothing to fear from me, but as soon as I moved they both took a step back from me. My body froze as I saw my demonic seal of servitude appear on their foreheads. The seals were beginning to crack down the middle, a sign that they were about to break the contract with me… to reject me. But why? Why would they fear me so? What was it about me now that had changed how they looked at me? I know I had not told them about the binding contract that I had placed upon them, but why would it be breaking while they were looking at me like that? Why did I feel like some… monster… in front of them?

They… they wouldn’t destroy the bonds we shared because I looked different… would they?

Comments

[JazzyWaffles]

Cliffhanger NOOOOOO

[Oddling]

8701471
Lmao!

Thanks for your comments, they were a pleasant surprise this morning. Yes, the more mature version that I would have gone with held a lot more intimacy and a deeper, more in-depth selection of words to enhance the mental visuals.

As for the short stop in Ponyville, I didn't intend to have any main characters involved in this story, sorry. This is still just a side story that I work on for fun as a change in pace.

And yes... I too am a horrible writer with a sinister craving to keep my readers hanging on the edge, keeping the next deliciously enchanting step of my tales just outside of their reach.

Thanks again for your comments and I hope you enjoy what comes next when I get around to it. :)

[Oddling]

9158904
Well thank you. I haven't read any of her works, but I've heard of her. :)

[Starlight Nova]

Why was this cancelled?