“RUN” the word echoed in the mares head as she ran through the forest avoiding the trees that seemed to sprout up from the ground to try to slow her down.
“Get him to safety I’ll hold them off as long as I can, take him far away where they cannot find him” That was the last thing she heard her husband say before the fire erupted from the small cottage. The small bundle she carried cried loudly as she ran over the uneven terrain hoping she was not being followed by the creatures that attacked them at their residents.
She did not know how far she ran or how far to run all she knew was to get as far away as possible and get her colt to safety, she didn’t care about the pain from her lungs or the blood running down her rear leg the only thing that could stop her would be death itself which did not seem to far behind.
As she cut through the last bush that outlined the forest she tripped on a branch and fell sending the colt into the air, she used the last of her magic to the stop it from hitting the ground, she let him down on the tall grass gently and tried to get up only to find that she could not move her hind leg, resorting to crawl to the baby and comfort the crying child she curled around it to keep him warm she knew death was almost here to take her away from him she only hoped something would come and save him.
***
(Back at the smoldering home)
Jonathan never considered himself the strongest stallion those were his brothers he was the small one till I was older and even then I was still a couple inches shorter than most. But right now I was a warrior in the inferno that was my home killing the dark monsters that appeared out of thin air, all I had was the old sword my father left me, swinging it in the way he taught me to only stopping to look and see if his wife got away or was foolish enough to come back.
Three more of the creatures appeared out of nowhere looking at them they looked like suits of old armor with a black mist inside and two blood red glowing orbs where the eyes where to be, they charged me and I moves quickly and struck them down with three decisive blows to the head, this was the fifth group they where getting smaller every time but it still did not give him any hope to escape.
Suddenly everything stopped the fire froze where it was and the crumbling ceiling stopped in mid air, a dark blue mist flooded the area and a figure came into the room.
Without thinking he took a swipe with the blade at the incarnate of evil only to have his telekinetic hold broken and the sword taken away. As it got closer the mist started to dissipate and he could see what it was a tall mare with glowing red eyes, dark blue armor, a dark red coat, black mane with crimson lines, and a smile that could make the dead cringe.
”Where is the foal” she said in a soft but haunting voice the smile never leaving her face.
“W-what foal” that was all I could say through my fear and it was not very convincing.
“Oh just the one that was born two days ago in this house, the one that has a gray coat, black blue mane, and blue eyes, the one I am looking for, the one that you are trying very hard to keep from me” She was getting visible more mad by the second.
“I still don’t know what yo-“he was stopped by the blade being brought close to his neck and the most hate he hade ever seen in a face.
“STOP LYING TO ME WHERE YOU’RE WIFE AND THE FOAL!” She roared practically shaking the frozen home to its foundation.
For some strange reason that did not scare him it just made him mad and gave him the adrenaline rush of a life time.
“YOU WILL NEVER FIND THEM MAY YOU BURN IN TARTARUS FOR ETERNITY YOU VILE BITC-“Before he could finish the sword was thrust into his chest, he spit up some blood and fell unconscious.
Two shadows appeared and to take there orders she spoke in a less angry but still a lot of rage in her voice “Take him to the manor if he does not die before you get there then heal him if he does drop his body in the forest.” She proceeded to leave the home at a leisurely pace, as soon as she was out of the door frame the home collapsed in on it self.
A shadow approached her bowed and spoke in a pale tone “we found hoof prints leading west we have knights following them now madam Blood horn.” staying in the bowing position
She looked up to the stars and sighed “First good news all day bring me the foal unharmed do what you wish with the mare.” With that the shadow faded away to catch up with his brothers.
“Soon he will be mine and all of my plans will come to fruition.” She let out a laugh and floated away on the mist fading into the night.
***
(On a road walking away from a pony settlement)
A small caravan of carts, wagons and the zebras that live in them are going down the highway to the next town in hopes of supplies and a place to park there carts for a while to rest.
“Wow it took them a whole week to tell us to leave or they drive us out, that has to be a new record or something.” Markel said laced with sarcasm as he pulled a wagon with his less than amused friend next to him pulling the cart with him.
“What do you expect the welcome wagon and flowers, at least they warned us they would attack, some do it out of nowhere with spears, also where nomadic we move to live” Isabella said in a normal tone trying to get him to stop talking with little success.
“Being nomadic sucks” he said with a frown
“You suck” she fired back
“No you suck!”
“You suck times ten”
“You suck times infinity”
“You win this round…” he said in defeat
Quiet rained over them the next few miles Isabella loved it but wondered why Markel was so silent the answer came twenty yards ahead in the form of an annoying voice directed at her.
“I need to pee” he blurted out
“Right now?” she asked “why didn’t go two hours ago when we stopped?” she said with a little anger in her voice.
“I didn’t need to go two hours ago I NEED to go now” he said with his legs crossed
“Everybody STOP!” the caravan came to a slow stop
A random zebra from the back yelled “why?”
“I have to PEE!” Markel yelled back
An echo of a sigh made it to them to give them a less than enthusiastic ok all he had to say back was “two minuets tops,” As he ran out to the brush of tall grass as not to be seen by and peeping toms, it was dark so he could not see much but he heard something strange from the grass what he did see made him wet him self.
“AAAAAAAAHHH!!!”
When Isabella heard a little filly scream she knew Markel was in trouble her and four other zebras ran to where he went thinking it was a monster from the forest or he tripped and broke his leg, what they saw was horror in itself, an unconscious mare panting heavily in a pool of blood curled around a crying foul it was the most horrific thing she had ever seen in her life she start barking orders to break the others out of shock “You three pick her up and take her to the medicine wagon, you take the foul with them and have him checked out I will deal with him!” she looked at Markel who had a blank stare and tears running down his face, she tried to get him to calm down but to no avail after a couple of minuets she hit him in the face with a right hook he snapped out of it finally.
“Are you okay?” he nodded “good now lets get back.” They walked back to the caravan to see everyone around the medicine wagon they both pushed there way through to the front where they saw the healer and the elder of the tribe looking over the mare.
The healer was concentrating on the mare using a mix of potions and bandages to fix and stop the bleeding the elder asked him a simple question “ can you heal with the wagon moving” he asked in a serious tone.
He just thought for a second and spoke up “yes but I will need three to pull as to keep it steady and watch the road so I can operate on the leg.” The elder nodded and told three zebras to start to pull and commanded every one to get ready to move this instant.
“Why do we need to start moving so fast?” Markel asked in confusion
The elder turned to look at him and said with a serious tone and face “Something that does" he stuck a hoof up and pointed at the medicine wagon "that does not let someone escape or live without coming back.” The wind picked up at that moment that was all he needed to say to make him move fast and hitch to his wagon fast, the caravan started to move it was a lot faster than usual in twenty minutes they were miles away even farther when five shadow knights jumped out from the forest looking for there target, sadly for them they where long gone.
They came to a pool of semi dried blood and looked around for the foal or the mare only to find nothing, a short investigation later and they where done and came up with nothing, they did not think to look at the twenty five feet into the tall grass to find a road or to look anymore they all turned around and headed back to base to be the bearer of bad news there mistress did not take bad news well.
***
(Undisclosed location a fancy mansion)
Madam blood just got the news of what happened, she had already killed all the knights that told her what hey found, when they said nothing she started to make spikes come from the ground and impale them where they stand.
“WHY IN TARTARUS CANT THEY FIND ONE CHILD” she exclaimed in the study she was in.
As if on queue another knight walked in to inform her of the current situation that was going on in the clinic “madam the prisoner is awake he is in the medical station if you wish to talk with him” he said before he left.
“That should ease some stress.” she made haste for the medical area only to find the stallion chained to the bed and yelling to be let go she walked over to the bed and examined the wound it was not fully healed but it was enough to stop the bleeding and the internal lacerations all she had to say was “your not going anywhere.” he looked at her and growled.
“YOU!!!” Jonathan tried to get a hoof free to hit her but the chains did there job so he just looked in a different direction to ignore her.
“Now is that any way to treat the person who saved you” she said with a smile.
He said nothing just looked at the wall; she wanted to play with his mind nothing more nothing less she got up to leave but she was stopped when he asked a question “why do you want my son?” she smiled.
“Because your son is the key for me to take over the world and many like me” he obviously did not understand “let me explain someone like me is born with dark magic in there blood and master what we can, others like your son can go far beyond master the skill, they use it with god like precision and can level cities, towns, mountains all in a single spell, that is how I found him when he was born I could sense all the way from here his power, the dark magic within him was shown to the world at his birth.” She finished with a smirk.
This was like another sword to the chest for him, was his son evil with all of that dark magic in him or was she just lying to him to toy with him and play mind games could she prove she was telling the truth did he want to hear it, one last question and he would go back to ignoring her “Why cant you track him like before what is stopping you from finding him like the first time?” he was silent after that.
“How did you know I don’t have him?” she said with genuine curiosity.
“You would not be here and I would not be alive if you did” he stated plainly.
“Smart, well the reason is that a few hours after your son was a shining beckon of darkness his body started to cover it up as not to attract any attention so I cant track him anymore, it will only be shown if he uses dark magic or if he feels threatened enough to accidently use it.” She stated with some ire at the last words.
After that she left the room and left him to stew with his thoughts only to think over everything she said one last time she popped her head in “I am not the only one who sensed his birth I was just the first there.” With that she was gone and he was more worried than before.
1 Week aftermath
Darkness a void of black that filled an empty space the only source of light being a small spot that showed a foal sleeping. The mother runs to protect him from an unseen danger.
Fire it came from the ground it self consuming the path to her son but she pushed on past the flames to rescue him.
Blood it poured from her body causing pain to cloud her vision it was almost to much for her to take but she had to get to him she had to keep him safe.
Shadows they appeared from behind her running at the same spot of light that he was headed for she picked up the pace to make it there first to save him.
She was so close to him but when she got near the ground itself opened and sucked the foal into the cracked earth and shut. She slammed her hoof into the ground for what was an eternity trying to dig or even scratch the dark surface but to no avail.
Cry all she could do was cry a puddle formed around her of tears soon it was a lake then a ocean then a sea of sadness that she floated out to. She could hear nothing but her own words "I'm sorry it was my job to protect you and I failed" she let herself sink into the sea.
How long did she sink it felt like days she reached the bottom of the water only to see a light she swam for it.
"So close."
"Just a little farther."
"Almost"
Bolting awake she realized it was just a dream. she looked around this was not her room neither was this her house. Surveying her surroundings she noted every detail. This room was small not much on the walls except for some shelfs with many bottles and some cabinets also a zebra mixing som-...
A zebra huh
She had only heard of zebras from some off hand conversations and what her family told her "nothing but criminals that will steal from you the moment they get the chance" she thought back to what her father said. But she never met one to know for herself so she reserved judgment, but she was in an unknown place with an unknowns situation. Was she a prisoner or a guest in this place was he a guard or a friend. She did not know and didn't want to find out the hard way she was a prisoner. Her first and only option was to sneak out find her son and run to the nearest town all she had to do was get out of the bed and...
"AAAAHH!" As soon as her hoof touched the floor her rear leg was filled with pain she could only describe as being set on fire and thrown into broken glass.
"Hay your awake don't move that leg I stopped the bleeding but it will be painful to move it for another week. I can give you some medicine for it if your not allergic to the herbs I use, are you allergic to anything?" He stated calmly as to not worry her.
Half of his words where to fast for her to hear but what she got was that he was trying to help.
"No I'm not can I ask where I am" she asked timidly.
"You are with reason to ask." Preparing his voice for her " In relation to where we found you we are about a hundred miles away from there. As for where we are specifically we are setup near a town called foalsin we are resting till we decide to move or we are told to move."
"Where is my son"
"I'm not sure?"he could see panic in her face "What I mean is we are taking turns looking after him I'm not sure who's turn it is." Seeing her calm down he went back to mixing and finishing what he was working on.
"Here take this it will help with the pain" handing a vile to her she gulped it down it tasted horrid but it did help with the pain.
"Can you bring him to me."
"Sure give me a moment"
He left out the door and left her to her thoughts her the first thing to do is get to the guard and report what happened maybe the could get who did this.
"Here he is." Walking back in and handing her the boy.
A smile graced her face as she carried him she was happy to see he was safe for minuets she just laid there holding onto him.
She spoke looking at the zebra "what is your name?"
"Everyone just calls me healer I think they forgot my real name you can just call me that." he stated with some mirth in his voice.
Another zebra walked in he looked older than the healer and had a staff on his back his voice was neutral and soft at the same time when he spoke "I see your awake that is good."
The healer left to give them some privacy. She stayed silent and just nodded to him.
"Now there is a matter we need to discuss of grave importance" he pulled out a paper and showed it to her "I wanted to hear what you say before I did something is this you?"
The paper was a wanted poster with a sketch of a similar looking mare similar but not exact what worried her was the almost perfect picture of a cross-air cutie mark. The charges on the bottom where murder, kidnaping, and conspiracy against the crown rewarded 15,000 bits dead 20,000 bits alive.
"We'll is it true?"
"No! Where did you get this?" With a mix of anger and sadness in her voice.
"A member of the caravan saw it in the town while she was getting supplies."
We'll now the guard is out of the question who ever attacked is now framing her for crimes she didn't commit. She needed to go into hiding lay low she ant go into any populated areas what was she to do.
"I believe you when you say you are innocent."
"Thank you for believing me, but the real problem is where will I hide. I need a place to stay while I decide my next move." She said going into thought.
"What is your talent?"
Bringing her out of her thoughts. "Why?"
"If you are going to stay with us I need to give a reason to tell everyone why. We stay on the move and people avoid our camp so it would be good to lay low and out of peoples way."
The more she thought the more it sounded like a good idea it would solve both her problems a once "Well my cutie mark is for targeting with mostly bows and spears I've also got a good set of eyes for long range spotting. I competed professionally in archery before I married my husband and settled down." She stated very simply.
"Where is your husband?"
"He told me to run when we were attacked I ran into the forest, he stayed behind to fend off the monsters." Tears started to role down her face. "I don't know what happened after that."
"Monsters?" Curiosity slipping into his voice.
"I don't know what they were, they just looked like suits of armor filled with black mist."
"Dark magics are at work I will see what my books say. As for your situation we could us a lookout you will stay here until you are healed after that you will move to a new sleeping quarters." This was good news for her she only had one thing to say.
"Thank you for all of this." She said smiling at him.
"Get some rest what's your name?"
"Nightshade my name is nightshade."
"And his name?"
"Aidan."
"Sleep well nightshade." With that the elder Left and the healer came back in grabbing a vile from the shelf.
"Take this it will help you sleep."
Taking a swig from the container she felt herself leavening day and entering the sleep realm. Pulling her son closer she drifted off for the rest of the day.
(Main guard post canterlot)
In the dark office of the royal guard captain crimson lance. A privacy spell protected the room from wondering ears and pop in officers.
"Madam blood there has not been any word on the mare or the foal yet." He spoke in a calm tone to the small standup mirror that showed his master.
"Nothing? There has been no word not a single work in all of Equestria?"he nodes yes "Are you sure Celestia knows nothing about this and has not involved herself?" She asked with anger in her domineering voice.
"She felt the shift on the winds but has other things to worry about like the griffons attacking pony settlements along the border and the nobility bugging her about her new social reforms." He had a little to much confidence in his voice.
"Well I'm glade to see your so sure" anger flowing off her words "raise the bounty to 45,000 dead 60,000 alive and put extremely dangerous on the new poster I want every eye in Equestria looking for her."
"Yes madam blood it will be done." Saluting then putting the mirror away he dropped the privacy and gave a sigh. A tap was heard at the door with that he said "come in."
"Sir I've just come for this weeks patrol schedule." He said meekly to the much larger captain.
"Give me a second to grab them."
(Unknown location a fancy mansion)
Leaving her study blood decided to gets drink in the kitchen something strong to help ease the stress of the last week. No leads no trails not even and people around to know what happened she had her knights combing the forest for three days and nothing.
Entering the drink cabinet she grabbed a large bottle of stalliongrads finest vodka and proceeded to pour her self a glass. Taking the glass with her to the dungeons she came up to the one prisoner she had she did not have a habit of leavening enemies alive. Coming up to his cell she could hear him trying to get the magic suppresser of this horn when she got close he stopped and refused to look her in the eyes.
"Well your rude why do I let you live?"
"I have no idea maybe your just really stupid or you just hate me so you let me live."
"Cheeky today are we"
"Piss off and die!"
"Not before you." It gave her great joy to torment this prisoner other than the drink it was the only stress reliever she had.
Walking up to her quarters thinking what she will try next to locate her target going over the facts in her head
Fact one Celestia was to busy to interfere with what she was doing the griffins did make a good attention hogs.
Fact two she basically had the royal guard looking for the mare and all of Equestria was her eyes.
Fact three she still had no idea where to look neither did anypony else.
With all this she decided tomorrow was a better day to work on this.
