My Little Pony: Azure's Wrath

by The Grimm Reaper

Chapter 2: Wrath Takes Many Forms

I listened to everything that shouldn’t exist; tortured screams, the sound of the factory, the silence beside and beneath me, even my own heartbeat. I tried to move my hooves again, but they wouldn’t budge. My body was dead, but my heart and mind weren’t. I looked down at myself and tried once again to force movement into my hooves. To my surprise, they were shaking as though I had been tied down. With the memory of Bright Eyes still fresh in my mind, I struggled harder and harder to stand to my feet.

I yelled again in unison with the screams coming from above. Slowly but surely, I managed to roll over onto one of the corpses and lift myself up. I felt as though I were being weighed down by a minotaur as I struggled to remain standing above a recently murdered mare. I looked into her cold dead eyes and listened to the screams from above. I imagined what this mare sounded like when it was her turn. She seemed so innocent, even with her terrified expression forever planted on her face.

I looked toward where the latest victim was being tortured and drained of blood and colour.

“Is this the true nature of Equestria; to hide death and destruction under the guise of a business? I won’t stand for this. It spits on the name of everything the Princesses worked for.” The mare above fell from the bench, limp as a doll. I stood directly beneath her, unmoving. I felt her weight add to mine instantly and my legs began to wobble. She was barely alive as her raspy breath slowed quickly. I looked her in the eye which she returned. Hers was a look of hatred and fear.

“You leave them to me… I swear I’ll get revenge for everypony in this pit.” She continued to look at me and her fearful eyes changed to reassured. She struggled to lean her head against mine.

“In the name of our Princesses, I will eliminate this factory. But for now, I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep.” I heard a little whimper escape her, followed by two small words:

“Thank you.”

I lay her to rest where I had once been and closed her eyes. Her expression was one of relief as she knew she wouldn’t die alone. She was the only pony in this heap of bodies that looked settled and content.

“If this is the future, then I want nothing to do with it.” As I spoke, small balls of light emerged from the corpses, floating around me. I could see them; the souls of the ponies who had suffered at the hooves of the factory. They surrounded me, taking on transparent forms of their bodies and giving me empathetic looks of anger. They closed in and enveloped me, unicorns, earth ponies and Pegasi alike, entering me from every direction. I felt them all intrude upon me and settle in my soul. The last one was the pony I’d reassured. She smiled as she recognised me. But she did not enter my soul, but rather, she rested within my eyes. They burned for a few seconds, then cleared themselves of all darkness and dreariness.

I felt the pain of the stabwound once again and decided it was time to leave. A noise sounded from above, like a monotonous buzz. I then felt the pile of bodies begin to shift, light creaked through whatever gaps were available. The floor was opening. I considered my options. I could have fallen with the bodies and used them to break the undoubtedly high fall that was to come, or I could find something to stand on that wouldn’t fall down, and wait for the floor to close again before searching for another exit.

I wanted to go for the latter option, but my legs were caught in the compressed bodies that were squeezing together as they struggled to get out of the pit. With no other option left to me, I allowed myself to become encased is a protective cocoon of bodies. I felt myself falling with the others, the weightlessness somehow familiar to me. Perhaps it was the fall from the bench, though I couldn’t discern how that would be the familiarity, as I had been technically dead, or unconscious at the time.

My fear began to rise as light started to reach my eyes. The dead bodies that were supposed to protect me were breaking apart. I tried pulling more of them closer, but my reach was severely limited thanks to the open wound on my chest, which throbbed with a sharp burning as the edges opened up. Combining that with the airy pressure that was hitting me as I fell, my body began to retreat on itself.

“This can’t be it. I won’t let this chance go to waste.” I heard a noise and a flash of light reached the corners of my eyes. I looked behind me and saw what appeared to be wings. But they weren’t like any wings I’d seen before. A metal plate was attached to my shoulder blade, which also joined to a metallic, brass coloured wing bone. Branching out from that bone was a thin metal net of the same colour as my pelt that took on the form of a wing membrane, small rods extended at the back to act as Primary and Secondary flights. The same design was on my other side with the same metal plate on my shoulder.

“M-metal wings?” With little time to question their existence, I tried to use them to escape the quickly approaching ground. To my surprise, I felt a propelling force from my new ligaments, and the sound of a strong fire from behind. I looked behind me again as I levelled off and realised that the wings weren’t flapping, but acted as little more than a gliding device. What propelled me were small exhausts from the ends of Primary Flights. I was unable to find the source of the fire, but I had little time to consider the science behind it as I noticed a familiar body falling above me. I grew angry as her body was disturbed once more.

“How many times must I lay her to rest?” I used my newfound wings to reach the calmed mare. I caught her easily enough and I took her far from the cloud of falling bodies. I looked back and noticed that they were heading for a lake. A clever place to dump bodies as that particular lake was connected to the ocean through a tunnel. All it took was a shift in the tide for the bodies to be flushed through the tunnel and lost at sea. I knew that I couldn’t allow this innocent mare to join the rest of the unfortunate. I didn’t understand why I felt such an attachment to this particular pony, but it didn’t matter. I managed to land somewhat gracefully in the depths of the Everfree forest. My hooves burned slightly at the long skid that I made and my wound had split even further apart, stinging like a Timber wolf had his claw in it and was digging around for my heart. I placed my catch on the ground gently, making sure not to disturb her still calm expression, and then I proceeded to dig a hole roughly her size.

“You’ve been through so much. You deserve at least this much.” I gently placed her in the hole, fixing her position to make her seem more comfortable, despite the fact she was unable to feel anything anymore. As I was about to place the first pile of dirt over her, I suddenly realised why I favoured her over the others. Though her colours were different, she bore a striking resemblance to Ocean Heart. Her expression was exactly the same. I dropped the dirt over her body and began to bury her, saving her face for last. I patted the dirt pile and took a wall of bark from a tree and gently carved Celestia’s symbol on it. Inside the sun symbol, was Luna’s Crescent moon carved on one side.

Satisfied with my work, I shoved the bark into the head of the pile and laid some flowers over the grave. With the desire to give the mare rest, I looked up into the sky and yelled as loud as I could for as long as I could.

Too many have died at the hooves of those in that Celestia forsaken factory. As a loyal servant of the Princesses, it is my duty to obliterate the Rainbow Factory. If not for the Princesses, then for Bright Eyes. I can’t bear the thought of her in that hellish place. My mind travelled between my desire to destroy those involved with the factory and my primary desire to protect the only family I had left.

I wondered where I needed to go next in order to gain information about the factory’s employees as well as receive medical aid, and perhaps answers relating to my new wings. As memory served, Ponyville was the closest place to the Everfree Forest and between it and the factory. The Library was the best bet for answers to the questions I had, and the hospital was what I required for my wounds.

“No, I can’t. Not only might I be endangering more ponies, but the possibility remains that Ponyville is in cahoots with them.” I growled in frustration as I made my way towards the village. As I walked, it dawned upon me that the Librarian there was Celestia’s student, Miss Twilight Sparkle.

“Yes. If anypony can help me, it would be her. And of course, somepony of her prestige would have medical knowledge among other things. She might be able to aid with all three problems.” With that in mind, I picked up the pace.

The Everfree forest was rumoured to be a dangerous and creepy place, what with the weather changing of its own accord and the wildlife being different to what one would find anywhere else in Equestria. Such a rumour was ill proven as the wildlife kept well clear of me throughout the trek to the edge. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being followed. I wrote it off as natural predators too scared to attack me. Why that was the case, I didn’t know. Perhaps it was my slight connection to Discord that caused them to distance themselves.

Ponyville was a sight for sore eyes as I heard the lively humdrum of its inhabitants from the forest edge. I went to take a step forward to exit the forest entirely when I felt a sharp pang coming from my heart. My body stopped in its tracks and I fell to the ground, motionless. I began breathing heavily and I realised that I’d over exerted myself in such a short amount of time. A heart attack. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I lost all sense of consciousness.

Bright Eyes.

Comments

[The Grimm Reaper]

1538422
Then don't read them. Or at least read the descriptions before you disappoint yourself.

[501st Party Brigade]

1538425 i won't lie the song is stuck in my head right up there with gypsy bard from friendship is witchcraft.

[MuffinZone]

Intresting, just hope you don't give up on this story like a bunch of other authors do

[The Grimm Reaper]

1538550
Well it's my favourite theme song relating to DBZ, so I had to use it.
1542158
I have no intention of giving up on Azure. Though there may be times when chapters become scarce.