Master's Will

Luna looked over the young colt’s body. She quickly wiped away a tear that had escaped her eye before any of her guards could notice. She recognized him as the same little colt known as Pipsqueak from Nightmare Night.

She used her magic to undo the ropes that held his lifeless form to the tree and with great care she placed him on the grass. Luna started to place the entrails that had been spread out over the grass back in his body. When she was done she placed his legs back against his body and cast a healing spell. Luna knew it would not bring him back but she just couldn’t allow him to remain in such a horrid state. When the spell was finished doing its job Pipsqueak’s body looked as if nothing had even happened.

Luna carried his lifeless body on her back with her as she left the orchard to return to the Apple family’s farm. By now all the Apples where awake and aware of what had happened to Pipsqueak. Luna stopped at the front door of the house and knocked a few times.

Applejack answered the door and she was a mess. She wasn’t wearing her Stetson hat and her hair was sticking out in multiple directions. She looked at the princess with a scared and sad look.

“Hello fair lady Applejack.”

“…”

“Uhh. If thou doesn’t mind we wish for thou to take care of the child’s body.” Luna said levitating Pipsqueaks Body off her back and laying him before Applejack who was giving the princess a look of amazement.

“How did yah do that? When ah found him he was…” Applejack couldn’t finish because images of the gruesome scene she had found earlier started popping back into her mind.

“Taws’ a simple spell. Now will you do as we had asked and take care of his body?”

“Sure ah will take care of it.” Applejack said trying to hold back a lump that had formed in her throat.

“Thank you Applejack. We must be leaving now to find this wrenched being that dares to harm our subjects!” A hint of anger was in the Princess’s voice.

“Ok but Princess when yah do find it make sure he suffers for what he has done.”

Luna could only look at Applejack with shock because of the venom in the farm pony’s voice. Quickly regaining her composer, Luna turned and with a few flaps of her wings she was off to continue the search. She was off to see the zebra Zicora.

When Luna had arrived in Ponyville the day before the guards had taken her to each of the previous sites where Ponies had been killed. At the first sight where Twilight had gone insane the unicorn detectives that were studying the runes placed all over the walls showed her a very interesting saddle bag. The bag its self wasn’t all to interesting but the marking on it was. It resembled a cutie mark that was very common in the zebra tribes of the East. When she asked the detectives about it one of them said it belonged to an alarmist that lived in the Everfree forest named Zecora.

So Luna decided that this zebra would be a good start if she wanted to find out any information on this demon.

Fluttershy was worried sick. It had been nearly two days now since her little Angel bunny had gone missing. A few days earlier she was going to give Angel a bath but he saw it coming and managed to escape her cottage before Fluttershy could get her hooves on him. She had searched everywhere in Ponyville for him and yet he was still nowhere to be found.

The sun was low in the sky and she needed to call it quits for the day. She hung her head in defeat as she walked back to her small cottage

When she got there she could immediately see that something was wrong. The lights were on and the front door was open. She wondered if she should go in and see who would break into her house.

Just as Fluttershy was about to turn back to Ponyville to go get help a loud crash came from inside followed by what sounded like a scream from a filly. Being the caring pony that she is, Fluttershy dashed into her house to see if anypony was hurt. As she stepped through the door way she stepped in something warm and wet. Fluttershy dared to look down to see what she had stepped in and let out a loud “Eeep!”

Fluttershy jumped into the air and used her wings to keep her up out of the red liquid that was covering the floors of her cottage. Her eyes followed the blood to the kitchen door which was closed. She could hear movement from behind the door as she neared it. Fluttershy pressed her hoof against the door and pushed it open making the hinges give out a loud creak. She peered inside and gasped at what she saw.

Her Angel bunny was strapped down to the kitchen table by bandages and he was looking around frantically. She immediately dropped onto the floor and rushed into the kitchen to untie him but didn’t get very far before tripping over something soft.

Fluttershy looked behind her at what had tripped her up and let out a loud gasp as she looked upon the convulsing body of Apple Bloom. The filly was shaking violently and had red foam bubbling out of her mouth. As the fillies eyes looked on the yellow Pegasus, Fluttershy could almost swear that Apple Bloom was grinning. But she dismissed the thought and picked her up into her hooves and cried as she tried to stop the filly’s convulsions.

If her throat was filled with blood, Apple Bloom would have started laughing…now master didn’t have to transfer into that stupid rabbit for a new body. Fluttershy hadn’t noticed the knife in the filly’s hooves when she had picked her up. The same hooves that suddenly rapped themselves around her next and held her tight.

Fluttershy started to panic and tried to push the filly off her as she felt something sharp quickly cutting at her neck. It didn’t take her long before she was able to push Apple Bloom off, but the damage had been done and the filly had completed her masters final request. The Pegasus threw the earth pony off her and Apple Blooms head hit a nearby cabinet with a solid thump. Fluttershy could only watch in horror as Apple Bloom convulsed a few more times before lying still.

The scared Pegasus looked at Apple Blooms unmoving body as she slowly crept up to it. Fluttershy suddenly had a lump of dread grow in the pit of her stomach…she believed that she had just killed a filly and not just any filly but her friend Applejacks little sister. Even if it was only in self defense Fluttershy felt terrible about what she had done. She turned away from Apple Bloom’s body and collapsed onto her belly, letting the tears flow freely down her face.

She held her face in her hooves and cried, unaware of the five red orbs that now floated maliciously behind her.

Luna walked up to the oddly decorated hut that was built just inside the Everfree forest. She hadn’t seen decorations like this since before a thousand years ago when she would act as an ambassador between the pony and zebra folk. She admired a rather interesting large wooden mask that was painted with reds, greens, and whites for a few moments as one of her guards knocked on Zecora’s front door. The guard waited patiently for thirty seconds before raising his hoof to the door again. He didn’t get a chance to knock again because the door few open and let them look upon the striped alchemist.

“Come in and you will see, The information you seek will come from me.” Zecora said before looking around quickly. ”But come in quick, for the sky grows dark and the air is thick.”

She turned and allowed Lana and her guards who hesitated before following the princess. Zecora made one last look around outside of her house before closing the door.

“There is great evil walking in the town, and you need help to bring it down.” Zecora walked over to a book case and skimmed it over.

“Yes you are right Miss Zecora but how dost thou know about it?” Luna asked looking at a bubbling green liquid in a cauldron that sat in the middle of the house.

“I know because the demon you seek used to control me, it is why I was banished from my home back in zebra territory.” Zecora stopped and pulled out a large red book from the shelf and brought it over to a table. “He is known only as the Master, And he causes a great amount of disaster.” Zecora turned towards the shocked Princess.

“Wait you were once controlled by that damned thing before? But if that true how is your sanity still intact? When Twilight was controlled she went completely insane!”

“Quiet down now old one, I will explain so don’t interrupt till I am done.” With that Zecora pulled off one of the vials that hung from her ceiling and poured its contents into the cauldron. Once they hit the liquid it started spouting out a large cloud of green smoke.

“Long ago when I had just come of age I was very curious,” As Zecora spoke the smoke twisted and turned showing images of a young Zebra happily skipping around in a village. “Not knowing what was in the world made me furious.”

The smoke changed into a picture of the Zebra looking down into the depths of a large cave. “One day the couriosity got the better of me and I when out to explore, But the heat of the day left me hotter than I had ever been before. I found a cave and took shelter from the merciless sun, That was where it started and where my ordeals begun.” The smoke shifted again showing a altar with a single gem resting on its surface. “In side I found something unexpected, It was a small gem of red. The longer I looked upon it the closer I had to be to it, When I made contact the gem it split. Red orbs shot out and put me in distress, The next I knew I had lost all consciousness.

“When I next awoke, a voice in my head spoke. For the next few weeks I stayed in the cave, While the voice put me through pain and made me its slave. Soon the pain turned to pleasure, and I turned into a complete monster. The Master told me to find him a new vessel, so I went back to my village and did the work of a devil. The vessel he chose was my younger sister,” Zecora said with a tear running down her cheek as the smoke showed a picture of a small zebra filly cringing in fear as a larger one approached her with a curved knife. “He forced me to enjoy it as the knife moved faster and faster.”

Zecora stopped and started to weep. Luna came up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Thou doesn’t have to continue if it is too painful.” She spoke in a quiet voice.

“No. I will continue, for it is the right thing to do.” Zecora said wiping away the tears. She turned back to the cauldron and waved her hoof through the smoke making the last image disappear. “The master can only stay in one body for a short amount of time, for on a ponies soul he does dine. Once the soul has been eaten away, he leaves the body to search for new prey. The previous host dies after the transition, and the master moves on to find a new source of nutrition.”

“Wait hold on if whomever this demon possesses then how art thou still alive.” Luna asked.

“The reason I am still her is because I was the one who released him from his prison, he lets the first go as of an act of appreciation.” Zecora looked up into the smoke as it formed into the next image. The younger version of herself was surrounded by seven other zebras. “After finding out what I had done, my village imprisoned me, they beat me mercilessly and called me a banshee.”

It was obvious to Luna that Zecora was forcing herself to continue speaking. The picture changed again to show a male zebra wrapped up in chains. “Three days later they finally caught the host of the master, binding the body in chains of blood and rust they brought him before the elder. This was not his first time dealing with the demon so the elder knew how to bind him, But the process required three items most grim.”

“The first is the dried up heart of a diamond dog chieftain, for that is where the demons life began. Next is the feather of a red swallow covered in the ashes of a burnt body, to weaken the Masters will and make him sloppy. Last you will need to acquire moon dew from flowers that grow on a dragon’s grave, for it will make him separate from who he has a hold on and wont let them misbehave.”

Zecora went back to her table and picked up the book. “Take this book and on the sixty second page you will find, the very spell and procedures you will when you will need to bind. Once he is sealed the insanity will seep from Twilight’s mind, but keep close eye on her for her memories will be unkind.” She said giving it to Luna who took it up in her magical aura and floated it onto her back.

“Thank you Miss Zecora for the information you have given us. Now we will be off so we can stop this ‘Master’ and put an end to all this bloodshed.” Luna quickly left the hut with her guards in tow so she could tell her sister about what she had just learned.

Once Luna had gone Zecora returned to her table and sat down looking over an assortment of different herbs. There came the sound of a twig snapping outside the hut but Zecora didn’t jump because she knew about the pony still outside. The same pony who had been hiding in the bushes so she could listen in on the conversation that had just transpired.

“Come on in Twilight Sparkle I know you are out there, do not think that I am un a where. You have been out there since the beginning, come on in and finish it for I am tired of waiting.” Zecora called out.

The front door opened with a creak as the lavender unicorn stepped in laughing to herself.

“Damnit I missed him again!” Screamed Celestia from inside of Fluttershy’s cottage. “How the buck can this demon keep eluding me time after time!” She stood in the kitchen being careful not to step on any of the still warm blood covering the floor. She was glaring at the little yellow filly lying in the corner of the room. Celestia could see the Runes that had been carved into the poor things hooves. Suddenly one of her guards called her name from outside.

“Princess Celestia you sister Princess Luna is here to speak with you. She says that she has very important information that you need to hear about!”

Celestia left the cottage and walked out into the darkness of the night. Luna was waiting for her by a small tree planted not too far away from the small bridge that led to the cottage. She had an excited look on her face.

“Luna what is it you have found?” Celestia asked with a hopeful look on her face.

“Oh sister we have found out a great deal about this demon that plagues Ponyville. Some of the news we have acquired is good and bad.”

“I will take the good new first please.”

“Ok so we went to check out the zebra Zicora that lives in the Everfree forest and she told us a great deal about how we can stop this demon. The good news is that once we do stop it we should be able to save whomever he is currently possessing and Twilight should return back to normal. The bad news is that what is required to defeat him will be incredibly hard to find.” Luna then listed off the separate ingredients that they had to follow and she told Celestia about how they would need to create a highly powerful pentacle.

“This news you have found is indeed very good but also very disturbing Luna. I do not wish to use such harsh methods to stop this demon but I will not count it out. I will have a few guards take care of gathering up the supplies needed but I will only have them used as a last resort. I don’t want to see this demon locked away, no I want to destroy him and make him suffer for all the pain and grief he has caused. “Celestia said not even trying to hide the anger in her voice.

“Oh we nearly forgot sister there is one more piece of information that can be seen as good and bad. The demon can only stay in a body for a short amount of time before it dies and he has to find a new one. Its good because he will be unable to lay low and hide from us. But it is very bad because then he will be harming more and more of our subjects.”

“That is bad news but it is still very valuable. Good work Luna now return to patrolling the western side of Ponyville.”Luna saluted to her sister and was about to take off when Celestia spoke up once again. “Oh and Luna keep an eye out for the barer of the element of kindness Fluttershy. You do remember her don’t you?”

Luna nodded.”Yes we have met her before on Nightmare Night. She gave us lessons on how to control the volume of our voice. Why is she responcible for what has happened here?”

“No I do not think so. I believe that she may be the most recent of ponies to be possessed by this demon.” Celestia said getting a shocked and angry expression out of Luna.

“He had better not of or we will burn his essence in the most fiery of hell chasms.” She said in an angry voice.

“Save your anger for when we find the demon sister. Now go! For every second we waste is another second that he could be harming one of our subjects.”

“Ok sister.” Luna said as she started flapping her wings with five guard ponies joining her as she flew off.

“Hehehe. One two three, eyes on me.” Sang a yellow mare in one of the dark alleys between two of the many houses of Ponyville. ”Four five six, I`ll show you some tricks.” She said staring into a window at two ponies. One was a gray Pegasus with a gold mane and the other was a filly unicorn with the same gold mane but had a pail purple coat. “Seven eight nine, their blood will be mine.” The yellow Pegasus slid the window open and climbed inside without making a sound.

Sorry to disapoint all you blood hungry fans but i felt like i had to make up for what i did in the last chapter. That said, I'm sorry if the whole Zicora part wasnt all to good...first time ever having to rhyme like that and honestly I'm not all that good at it. Anyway leave a comment below on what you think about it.