Chapters <<25 years ago>>
Cerberus gently snored on the steps that descended into the depths of Tartarus. The soft music kept his three heads in dream land. A pair of souls walked slowly past the sleeping hound. The unicorn mare in the lead played gently on her flute, sedating the beast. The demon behind her kept watch, making sure that no soul was following them in their attempt at escape. At least, he was watching in between glances at the flanks of the mare in front of him.
The mare developed an angry blush, knowing that her partner in crime was perversely staring at her flanks. She didn’t dare stop playing to scold him, for if she did, Cerberus would awaken.
The duo continued to trudge up the stairs, their objective in sight. Of course, fate always has to be a bitch. Just as they passed the hell hound, the mare stumbled, losing her telekinetic grip on her flute. The instrument clattered to the ground. Both souls stood motionless, horrified at the noise. Behind them, the hell hound began to stir. One of its head’s eyes blinked open and spotted the duo.
“R rU uN n, Y yO oU u F fO oO oLl! ” The demon’s horrid double voice screamed. The pair bolted up the stairs, terrified of Cerberus’s teeth snapping at their tails. He began to get ahead of the mare, his longer legs easily outrunning hers. He burst through the gates, finally at the surface. The demon looked back, only to see the mare held in Cerberus’s teeth. Her lungs were punctured by a huge fang. The demon wanted to help her, but knew it was pointless. The mare was already dead, so how could Cerberus kill her again? If he went back, he would be dragged back into Tartarus with her.
The Demon shed a tear of blood, mourning his failure to protect such a beautiful mare. Granted, he never even knew her name, but that’s beside the point. He protected those of the fairer sex.
Giving one last look at the entrance to Tartarus, He turned towards the city he could see in the distance and began to walk.
The demonic soul slowly walked through the streets of Stalliongrad. None of the ponies gave the invisible figure any problems. He phased through one drunk stallion, snagging a small portion of his victim's soul in the process. Savoring his last meal before his fast, the demon continued onto his goal.
He at last reached the building he wanted. Making his hoof solid, the demon rang the doorbell. As soon as the chimes sounded, he began to work. His body shrank, becoming solid and visible. Some of his more horrible features vanishes, being replaced with those of a normal colt. His age reversed until he was visibly only a few weeks old. Lastly, he sealed away his powers and memories for later.
When the orphanage director opened the door, she found a little grey unicorn colt crying on her doorstep. She scooped up the poor thing and brought it inside. "Hush now. Everything's going to be alright. I'll take good care of you."
The baby smiled at her kind words.
<<10 years ago>>
White Smile slunk into class via the back door. He wasn't late, but had just come in at the very last moment. It was best for him to avoid any attention. He felt worthless. Whoever herd of a 15 year old blank flank? All the other foals got theirs before they were 12. Needless to say, they teased him constantly about it.
"Hey, look! The blank-flanked freak's here!" Brick said. He was the leader of the ponies that regularly teased White. The teacher, of course, ignored the jock's insult to White Smile.
"Hey, maybe the freak's gonna try to get his cutie mark in magic again," jeered Golden Cup. The filly was referring to his deformed horn. White Smile's horn was curved upwards, a very unflattering deformity amongst unicorns. Combine that with his abysmal magic usage, and his classmates had yet another thing to tease him about. At least they didn't flaunt the fact that he was the only orphan in the class.
"Hey, Smiles, don't go crying to mommy. Oh wait, you don't have one!"
Never mind. White Smile groaned as he banged his head against the desk. After a moment, he sat back up and put on his trademark smile. He wasn't going to let months of torment bother him. Nope. Not. One. Bit.
His smile wavered a moment, then returned full strength.
Little Peach walked up to White Smile. The Neighpanese exchange student was White's only friend, united by a common bully. The little earth filly asked the colt if he wanted to walk her home, to which he readily agreed. The two were the last ones in the classroom. They turned to head out, only to be stopped by Brick and his group of thug friends.
"Where do you think you're going, freak? We have business to discuss," Brick said, smirking.
"Hey! Leave him alone!" Little Peach cried out.
"Oh ho ho, It's White's little bitch. Tell me does the pervert feel you up, too?" Brick laughed. He followed up his insult by punching the small filly in the face. There was a sickening crunch and Little Peach collapsed on the floor.
"LITTLE PEACH! " screamed White Smile. He ran over to his friend and scooped her up. He cradled his friend, desperately trying to wake her, but she would not stir. The gang of colts laughed at the pair's misfortune. White Smile put his hoof on her cheek, gently stroking it, trying to comfort the filly. It was after a moment that he felt something, or rather, he noticed what he wasn't feeling: her breath. He put his hoof next to her thought, desperately searching for a pulse, but to no avail. Her head hung limply, eyes staring at nothing. Little Peach had breathed her last.
White Smile remembered something, something intentionally forgotten. He smiled with murderous intent; he had the power to take his vengeance. White turned to Brick, and spoke, "Y yO oU u K kI iL lL lE eD d H hE eR r."
Brick only had a moment to process the change in White Smile's voice before the bully erupted in an explosion of blood and gore. It took only a second before the rest of his gang began to scream. They were each slaughtered one by one. In a matter of moments, the only whole pony stood soaked in the blood of his enemies. The shell shocked teen could only think one thing: 'RUN .'
He didn’t see his new cutie mark underneath the blood on his fur.
<>
The stallion known as “Red” packed up his belongings. Books, blood rune covered scrolls, knives, parchment, and bits all made their way into his saddle bags. He adjusted the bandages that covered almost every inch of his body, except for his joints. He still needed to be able to move. The bandages were worn by choice rather than necessity. Instead of covering wounds, the bandages themselves were covered in blood runes that were hidden against his body. Red’s face was covered by a cloth mask that hid all but one of his eyes. Under the mask, anypony cold tell that he was smiling just to hide the pain that lingered in his eyes.
Red looked back for the last time at the room that he had lived in for the past eight years. He dropped of his keys at his former landlord’s desk, and set off into the frigid northern Canadeerian. Just south of the fabled crystal empire, Canadeer was the coldest populated area in the world.
Red headed to the train station, glad to be leaving deer territory and heading to the warmer pony lands. The warmth runes on his bandages were struggling against the frosty wind. Upon finally reaching the station, he paid nearly the last of his bits and boarded the heated train. Red sat down on the bench, glad for the warmth in the air taking the chill from his bones.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Red was returning to pony country. He could not help but think of Little Peach.
Author's Note
*Ding* Have a story!
So, this story came to me while I was reading Naruto fanfics. This isn't a crossover. I just got a little inspired by one of the OC's in that story.
Red = White Smile = The demon that escaped Tartarus.
Red can only remember fragments of the demon's life, but has full access to and understanding of the demon's powers. He also has had a decade of practice as a pony. He cannot use normal unicorn magic.
Canadeer = Canada WITH DEER!
FYI This is probably the darkest chapter I have planned. Yes, there will be plenty of gore in this story, but it won't be so emotionally dark. I'll try to stay within rule of funny territory.
If you want a preview of what I'm going for with Red's personality/powers, It's Sanji (One Peice) + The Deadmen (Deadman Wonderland) + Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland). Well, partially. I don't know. This story is primarily characterization practice.
Ch 1: Today
The early morning train pulled into Ponyville station, it’s brakes letting out a hiss of steam as the locomotive screeched to a stop. The doors opened, letting out a herd of sleepy ponies who had woken up early so that they didn’t miss their stop. The group dispersed, leaving a bandaged pony standing by himself on the platform. Red smelled the morning air. It was saturated with the scents of flowers that didn’t grow up north in Canadeer. He began to trot to the nearby market, which was already filled with ponies going about their business.
As Red trotted along, he couldn’t help but make an important observation: ‘I’m in paradise! These mares, they’re all NAKED! What wonders I have been missing out on. Joy to the weather team for bring about such a beautiful day that all the mares in this town go without cloths. I have spent far too long around conservatively dressed does. ’ By this point, Red’s nose was gushing blood. He had to take a moment to stop the bleeding before he made a mess.
As Red continued down the street, he made notes on all the interesting sights (and mares) in the town, his nose caught the scent of freshly baked goods. Making a bee-line for the source of the heavenly aroma, the hungry stallion found himself in front of a bakery shaped like a gingerbread house. “Sugarcube Corner,” he read the sign aloud. ‘Mmmmm… pasteries ,’ he thought, and strode in to acquire his breakfast.
Red walked up to the counter and peered in. He saw cakes, doughnuts, and pastries galore. His eyes stopped when he found his target. “Two croissants, please,” he asked the yellow stallion behind the counter. Said stallion was giving him a strange look, probably on account of Red’s bandages, but produced the requested pastries.
“Two bits, sir,” the stallion said.
Red handed over the requested bits. ‘That’s it. I’m officially broke, ’ he thought to himself.
“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be new around here? I don’t think I’ve seen a unicorn with a horn like that around here,” the baker spoke.
“You know, It’s rude to point out somepony’s birth defects.” The baker gulped and muttered an apology. “Ah, don’t worry about it. Yeah, I’m new around here. Just got off the train a few minutes ago. Why do you ask?” Red asked.
“My employee, Pinkie Pie, is probably going to give you the town welcome. I just hope she doesn’t do it in here, or she’ll wake my twins up. Name’s Carrot Cake, by the way.”
“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Red,” he spoke. The oven timers in the back sounded with a ding, drawing Carrot Cake into the back. Red sat down at a vacant table and reached into his paper bag for the croissants. ‘I hope they’re as good as the ones in Quebuck .’ When he looked back up, he jerked back in surprise. Only inches from his face were a pair of big blue eyes staring intensely into his uncovered grey eye.
The mare attached to the pair of blue eyes spoke, “I haven’t seen you around here before. *GASP* You must be new here! HI! I’M PINKIE PIE! ARE YOU A MUMMY? WHAT’S YOUR NAME?” Her voice grew louder as she spoke.
“Red. You must be Pinkie Pie.”
“*gasp* How did you know my name? Magic?”
“Nope, your boss told me.”
“Oh, hehehe. Well then,
Welcome welcome welcome!
Throughout her song, Red couldn’t help but stare at her flanks. In fact, he was so engrossed with her ‘dancing’ that he didn’t even notice her pull out a wagon from behind the counter.
“Welcome welcome welcome
”
A moment passed. Then Pinkie said, “Wait for it!” and the wagon exploded in a burst of confetti.
“Hahaha! Wonderful! That was-“ Red was cut off by the sound of babies crying from upstairs.
“Oh no. I woke up the twins. Now Mr. and Mrs. Cake are going to be mad at me.” The pink mare dashed upstairs.
‘I wonder if that happens often, ’ Red thought to himself, ‘perhaps I can help .’ He followed Pinkie upstairs. Red found her in front of a doorway. The sound of upset babies could be clearly heard here. “Umm… Can I help?”
Carrot Cake popped his head out of the room, “Oh uhh… Red. No, I think my wife and I have everything under control. Don’t worry about us.”
“I know a quieting charm. It would help stop this from happening in the future.”
“Really? Oh, that would be a big help. Could you do that for us?” Carrot asked?
“I wouldn’t have offered otherwise, Mr. Cake. Here,” Red spoke as he walked into the room. He saw Mrs. Cake cradling the two infants, who were busy crying their heads off. Red reached into the his saddle bags and pulled out a silver quill, which was quickly jabbed into his arm. Blood quickly flowed over the quill, encasing it in a crimson coating. The ponies around him gaped at his actions. He removed the quill from his arm, the blood flow stopping almost as fast as it started. Red tossed the blood soaked quill into the middle of the room, where it landed tip down without falling over. The blood began to flow off of the writing instrument and spread in a circle around it. The flowing blood began to collect into thin lines and darken until it looked almost like ink. When the whole process was finished, the now silver quill fell over in the middle of a half meter circular rune. Red concentrated for a moment and the rune flashed briefly. The noise from the restaurant below instantly dropped to a mere whisper. Even the cries of the twins sounded muffled.
Red gestured for Mr. Cake to come outside. Upon leaving the room, the noise resumed it’s normal volume. “I’m sure you want an explanation. That was a blood rune. Specifically, one for an auditory illusion. It makes you think that everything is actually quieter than it is. That way, anypony outside the room will still hear your twins if they cry, but they won’t hear any of the loud noises from below. You can turn it on and off. Just stand on the rune and imagine making it come on or off. If you want it gone, you can wash it out with soap and water while it’s turned off. While it’s on, however, this rune cannot be damaged, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Well thanks. That’s really helpful, if a bit creepy,” Mr. Cake said.
“No problem. Making runes is what I do for a living. Hehehe… Even though I’m broke right now, consider this one on the house.”
“Oh, well thanks!” Mr. Cake said.
“Don’t mention it. Hey, and thanks for the croissants. They smell delicious. Maybe I’ll see you ‘round?”
Red walked through town, munching on his croissants. His eyes wandered around the marketplace, stopping to glance at the wares (and mares) available. He enjoyed looking at what was on display.
Eventually, he came to an empty spot in the area. He glanced warily at the statue of Princess Celestia nearby. He shivered, the feeling that the statue was watching him came just like it had any other time that he had seen a representation of the sun princess. Ignoring the feeling, he pulled out a blank scroll and his silver quill. A quick jab of his arm, and the blood began to form six runes across the paper. Four identical runes occupied each of the corners of the scroll, and two unique ones sat in the middle. Flipping the scroll over, he activated the two in the middle. The scroll stiffened and grew in size. Then the four on the corners activated, a spike erupting from each. Now supported, Red had himself a makeshift table.
From his saddle bags, he pulled out a huge quantity of scrolls, some filled out and some blank. Red also produced several paper talismans, books, vials of blood, and other odds and ends from his bags. His bandages began to unravel, exposing several layers underneath. Those that did come off began to writhe around like tentacles, scooping up the talismans and suspending them in the air. The entire spectacle made him look like a decorated hearth’s warming tree. Satisfied with the setup, he pulled out one last scroll that read ‘Red’s charms and enchantments: magic for everypony’ and placed it on the front of his stand.
He was ready for business. Now Red just prayed that he gets some. If not, he’s going hungry and sleeping on a park bench tonight.
Author's Note
*Ding* Have a chapter!
If you didn't catch it, RED IS A PERVERT!
Other than that... I don't have much to say about this chapter.
Incoming Spike/Red rivalry
Ch 2.
“Come one, come all! Come look at my spells! Magic for those that cannot use magic on their own! Earth ponies, pegasi, griffins, deer, zebra, donkeys, and even unskilled unicorns can use my advanced magic charms!” Red called out to the market. Ponies were starting to wander over to his stand, entranced by his claims. A skinny amber colored colt walked up to the stand.
“Uhhh… What kind of magic?” the colt asked. Red noticed the short horn on his head. The colt looked a little young for his magic to be very strong.
“Ohh… all kinds. Charms, illusions, wards, hexes. You name it, I’ve got it. If I don’t have it, I can make it, for the right price. Here,” Red said, passing a black notebook to the colt. “Take a look through here. See if anything catches your eyes.”
The colt opened the notebook and began to flip through it. He stopped on a particularly complicated rune and asked, “What’s a sensory deprivation curse?” That got Red a few odd stares from the crowd.
“Oh buck. Wrong notebook. Sorry,” Red said, snatching the notebook away. “That’s my personal collection. Not for sale, especially not to minors. Here, this is the right one.” He passed a dark blue notebook to the colt and stowed away the black one into his saddle bags.
“Ooohhh… This looks cool!”
“Ahh the quick hoof charm,” Red said. He lowered one of his bandages that was supporting the charm in question. “Really useful when escaping. It makes you run five times as fast as normal for a minute. Be careful though. You won’t think any faster, so it’s easy to trip. And you’ll exhaust yourself five times as fast, too. But it’s well worth the money, so what do you say?”
“Wow! How much is it?”
“Normally, I’d sell it for 3 bits, but because you’re my first sale of the day, I’ll sell it for 2. How does that sound?”
“Deal!” the colt cheered. He hoofed over the bits and took his charm.
“Now to use that particular charm, you just have to wear it and really WANT to go fast. It will take care of the rest. To stop, you just have to want to stop. Easy, right? Now go on, give the crowd a demonstration.”
“Uh… Okay!” and with that, the unicorn colt zoomed off at a speed that would rival a flying pegasus. The crowd was awed by his speed. Moments later, Red’s stand was swarmed by ponies wanting to see what he offered.
The sun was hanging low in the afternoon sky. By this point, most of the market stalls had packed up for the day. Rarity walked up and down the rows of empty or soon to be empty stalls. Spike trailed behind her, little hearts filling his eyes. “I must know where those charms were coming from,” Rarity said to Spike. “They seem absolutely marvelous!”
The pair spotted the bandaged stallion packing up his stand. His back was turned to them as they approached. “Excuse me, darling. Are you the stallion who was selling those marvelous charms?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah, I am-m-m-mother of FAUST!” he screamed as he turned to look at Rarity. At the sight of the gorgeous mare, Red’s nose violently gushed blood with enough force to knock him over. “I can die a happy stallion!” he said from a growing puddle of his own blood. “To think that such beauty exists in this world! I am such a lucky stallion. I am not worthy to behold such… a sexy mare.” He slowly stood up, and with a wave of his hoof, cleaned himself of his blood.
From the size of his blood puddle, Red should have been in shock from blood loss. Yet he seemed unaffected by the loss. Rarity, worried by this fact, asked, “Darling, are you alright? You lost an awful lot of blood. Do you need to go to the hospital?”
“No, no. I’m quite alright. In the presence of such a beautiful mare, I could bleed forever and not lose any of my strength.” Spike growled at Red’s attempts to flirt with Rarity. “Haha! Is your little dragon friend trying to ‘guard’ his ‘treasure?’ Don’t worry. I get it, she’s yours.” Red gave a slight chuckle, “In all honesty, though, I quite literally can bleed forever. My special talent is blood magic, after all. What kind of blood mage would I be if I let myself bleed to death? Name’s Red, by the way.”
"My name is Rarity, and this darling little gentle dragon is Spike. I was wondering, were you the stallion that was selling those charms? They're the talk of the town and I wanted to get one for myself."
As Rarity made her request, Red's lone visible eye constricted to a pinprick. 'Oh no no no no. I've got to have some left. I can't have sold out. There's no way I can let such a beautiful lady down! ' He set his saddle bags down on the ground and began to dig through it's contents. He produced the blue notebook and handed it to Rarity. "Feel free to look through this while I look for more paper. Excuse me." Red dug deeper into his bags. Not finding any, he went even deeper on his quest for paper. Soon almost his entire body had contorted itself into the bag, with only one hind leg sticking out of the bag that had no right to hold a stallion his size.
"Is this guy related to Pinkie Pie?" Spike asked. Rarity could only wonder the same thing.
"I'm sorry, Miss Rarity. I seem to have sold every last one. If you have any paper or cloth on you, I could make you one. Or, depending on your choice, I could make it on your own fur."
"Oh dear. I do believe I have some paper. Now as for the charm I want, do you have any recommendations?"
"That's a first," Red said, taking the scroll from Rarity. "Well, I have some illusions or transformations. This healing rune is good for you aches and pains. Of course, if you really want something that really screams 'Rarity,' then I would recommend getting your personal rune."
"Ooh, what's that?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean, 'you don't know?' You made all of these. How can you not know what they do?"
"I've never met you before. I couldn't have made your personal rune before today. But I can now. Lift your chin up." As soon as Rarity's thought was exposed, the silver quill shot out and stabbed her in the jugular vein. She screeched out in surprise.
"RARITY!" roared the small dragon. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU CREEP?!?!"
"Just watch."
Rarity was confused that the quill didn't hurt very much. Blood flowed quickly from the wound, turning the silver quill red. Once Red was satisfied, he pulled the quill free. A wave of his hoof sealed the wound and cleaned the area up until it was impossible to tell that she had just been stabbed there. "That was quite uncalled for, you ruffian."
"Sorry about that. It's the only way. Don't worry, I already cleaned the area. It won't get infected or anything. Now, for your personal rune..." Red held up the bloody quill and pulled back his mask. Behind is lay a pair of very sharp fangs. He took the quill and dripped a few drops of her blood into his mouth.
"V-v-v-vamp-p-pony!" Spike cried out.
"I can understand the confusion, but I am not a vampony." 'Similar, but not the same thing. Now, AB+, healthy Red blood cell count, healthy iron levels, slightly dehydrated. Ahhh, there we go ' the image of a new rune filled Red's mind. He quickly drew out the rune on the parchment.
"Here you go. This should make whatever you're concentrating on temporarily appear to be made out of crystal when you invoke the rune. 12 hours base time, 24 hours because it's your rune and you are still alive, 48 hours because it's written with your blood, and then 96 hours if you are the one to use it. Under these conditions, that scroll will make anything crystalline for four days. Go ahead, try it out."
Rarity grabbed the scroll with her rune and looked at her bag of cloth. A light flashed and the whole bag glittered in the setting sunlight. She reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like a flexible sheet of ruby. Spike was drooling at the cloth. "How much do I owe you for this wonderful charm? "
"Not a thing. I never charge money for personal runes. I learned a new one today, and that means you've paid in full." Red picked up the blue notebook and began to fill in a new entry for the crystallization charm. Rarity had turned to leave, when Red called out to Spike, "Hey, dragon! I need to tell you something!"
"Oh, what is it?"
"Two things. One, you have a beautiful mare there. Don't let anything happen to her. And two, dragon blood makes powerful runes. If anything happens to Rarity, I may have to... restock, if you know what I mean." Spike found himself unable to control his body. The killing intent in Red's fanged smile sent shivers down the paralyzed dragon's spine. A small stream of blood was forced out of the young drake's mouth and drifted over to the unicorn who lapped it up out of the air. Suddenly, Spike found himself in control of his body once more. "Now, run along. She's waiting for you," Red said without any of the former hostility. He smirked as the youth bolted away.
Red's quill returned to his notebook, quickly drawing another rune. 'Fire transport charm. Who would have thought? '
Tomorrow, Red had large scale runes to sell.
Author's Note
*Ding* Have a chapter.
Snails is now fast. Go figure.
Red made his own bag of holding.
The rules for Runes:
So rarity had a x8 effect when she uses her rune, while Red would have an x4. If he used his own blood, it would become an x2 effect. If Rarity dies, all copies of the rune half in strength.
Oh, and he wasn't lying when he said he could bleed forever.
As for what happened with spike. See Legend of Korra or Avatar: The Last Airbender about blood benders.
