Festival of New Beginnings
Notes: Festival Of New Beginnings is a festival that took place the day after Celestia had become tainted. She’d put it together quickly to find a few agents who would silently take others in small numbrs.
Knowledge of HeartBeat’s history is required for one to understand her as she develops in this story
::HeartBeat’s History::
This is the story of the Queen of Gallion known as HeartBeat... She grew up as royalty and became queen. This kingdom was a kingdom of purely earth ponies. Most of the earth ponies had adapted the use of magic from years and years of no magical interference. As to why it was cut off from Equestria, well, it was the sex capital of the land. Gender-shifting is a spell it's inhabitants wield effortlessly has if walking; orgies were many and the queen must participate if not for her own pleasure, for the pleasure of her subject be they gay, straight, hermaphrodites, transgender... be they what they are simply put: everypony was due their pleasure. Another oddity from the outside land of Equestria was that filly or colt was not a word looked down upon, and young children were not barred from these events. HeartBeat learned this early on; she learned from a VERY young age what pleasure was, as she would grow up to rule this kingdom. It is to be noted that other species were allowed in with an official escort. HeartBeat grew up with many types of pleasure. However, one type of "pleasure" WAS in fact frowned upon, and in this type of pleasure the queen felt the most at home. Hidden away beneath her throne she held in bindings unwilling slaves. She would beat them, whip them, run barbs through their skin, and raze them and put them out after minutes. She loved the screams of her victims, whom she took off the streets at random. This place was a rumor in the city, but no one dare speak of it. For those who went there never left. She tortured them as she saw fit and they died after weeks or months of this torture. She would even feed them, play them music, give them water, and many other things to prolong their suffering, but after so much one's body cannot hold them in this world much longer and so they were discarded. All of this done by her alone in secrecy. One day a simple fluke unveiled the hidden area beneath throne, a simple click she did not make sure to hear as she lowered the royal chair back to the floor. As she tortured and pained these mere skeletons, the guards above were coming back on duty and they began to mock her as they believed she was unfit from the rumors. One small slip and the throne was de-faced from its hole and her secret was well in plain sight. She was proven as evil as those around her spoke. As the guard called for help and rushed in, they smelt a pungent odor strong with death; a pool of acid was built into a corner that had been used for years and years to dispose of the bodies of those passed. She was through as queen. Shortly after, he stated she would step down before being ungracefully dethrone by force and she left Gallion.
Nothing from Gallion gets out of the walls and she was away from all that had happened. Now, she resides in Ponyville in her shop called "Queen's Beats" with a dungeon that could hold 8 *Willing* subjects. For she knew of the laws outside of Gallion, and how things would spread through Equestria and there she resides to this day... running a small shop with an assistant by the name of Pyrous Wright
::Beginning::
HeartBeat stood at the counter of her shop, Queen’s Beats, which was a rather large building at the edge of Ponyville and very near to Sweet Apple Acres, as her assistant Pyrous Wright pushed open the door and stepped into the shop. Pyrous had left a week earlier to take charge as head of the fireworks committee for some new celebration Celestia had abruptly called to order. She raised her head from the vinyl records she had been organizing underneath on the shelf that was built onto the stand and questioned her assistant, “How was it?” she asked excitedly, yearning to know the details of the new day of love her princess had created, “And did you get to do the fireworks as you saw fit?!”
Pyrous turned to her and smiled, “Aye. The princess even called a few of us back to give us a little...” his voice trailed off then back, “Motivational speech.” as the small stallion said these words he cocked his head a bit as though pondering the moments.
::Back At The Festival Of New Beginnings::
“NO NO NO! THE COPPER CHLORIDE IS BLUE, AND THE BARIUM CHLORIDE IS GREEN! Didn’t you interns learn anything at your place of learning? Firework chemistry is ART! And I’ll have it be NOTHING LE-” a hand rested on his shoulder and he turned to look, “WHA-” it was Celestia, herself, who had lain her palm upon him and he turned to kneel, “OH, PRINCESS! I do apologize... Had I known it was you, my Prin-” She stopped him by pulling him to his hooves and putting a finger over his lips.
“My faithful subject, what is your name?” She smiled and asked, a glint through her eyes, “and what is it that you do.”
He shuffled a bit and exclaimed proudly, “I am Pyrous Wright, and I’m the best damned pyrotechnician this side of Equestria... HELL Even in all of Equestria, maybe.” He finished and looked the princess in the eyes with confidence and a smirk lay itself upon her face as she spun around and motioned he follow. Pyrous was flustered that such a small and insignificant stallion as himself was asked to follow royalty away somewhere and as he followed he began to notice there were others swarming behind her; a small party of 12 or 13 ponies was trailing Celestia and he thought it queer, but quickly through those thoughts of doubt aside and quickly replaced them with rushes of eagerness and curiosity.
They passed beneath an arch on a downward sloping pathway that ended with grates as welcoming mats for the massive set of church-like doors before them and their princess turned to them, “Whatever may happen within the walls of my cathedral must not leave. If you speak one word you will be due the harshest of punishments. Is that understood?” The others nodded as Pyrous looked around a bit before catching on and nodding as well and the stepped inside
As the last one to step through the doors, Pyrous was the last to release a gasp of breath, and in an instant noticed the door made an odd noise as it shut, but he thought nothing of it as he resumed his awed look around the gigantic room littered with shelves that held numbers of what looked like potions and scrolls and as he examined more, he realized that around the room were even more grates that led into an unknown draining system. He was in disbelief such a room existed within the castle and never though it would have been possible before now. His attention was pulled towards the front of the room where the princess sat in what appeared to be a throne of... ‘are those... bones?’ he thought to himself but quickly dismissed it as simple decoration to be met with pointing and giddy remarks from the others around him, but he kept his composure and stood still as to not make himself look foolish before royalty.
“My loyal subjects... I have called you hear because I have seen something within you all. You all have a drive to do what you do better than the rest, and as of today, what you do shall be to serve me with no bound. I’ll take you all and give you a gift that you mustn’t expose to a single soul nor soulless.” she stood and pointed to the closest member of the party to her and as he stepped forward, Pyrous took note of the word the princess had used: soulless and he took it to heart as he prepared for whatever may happen.
Celestia pulled the pony before her and ran her hands along his limbs up and down as though looking for something, feeling for something in particular and she pulled him into her embrace and looked out over the room and announced with dulled eyes that shone but a hint of the color they had before and seemed to glow a slight bit red where the pupils once had rested, “What you see here is evolution! What you see here is truth! What you see here IS!” and as she finished her call to her subjects she dove her muzzle down and bit into her pinned prey deeply and held there. Blood was swelling from the bite and began to puddle on the floor.
Pyrous was taken by surprise, as were the other ponies and they all stepped backwards, Pyrous reached a hand back to try the door only to find it was locked and knew he had been chosen for something dark; something he didn’t quite understand, and as Celestia dropped her bleeding subject to the floor she stepped back and allowed the small crowd to watch the body and she smiled wide as fangs began to become far more prominent in her mouth. They stood, watching for a good 3 or 4 minutes in complete silence and once again the body began to stir and bones were heard popping as the subject howled in pain and morphed into something hideous and slowly back to his original pegasus form; his cries becoming weaker and weaker before stopping completely and the princess stepped forward once more, “Rise my subject. You’re QUEEN wishes the others to see of you what they will become!”
He stood and nodded to his new master, “Yes, my liege,” he spoke in a warped, detuned voice and turned to his future brothers and sisters and Celestia looked out at them as some stared in awe and some in horror, but only Pyrous was perplexed. He looked only interested and puzzled as she looked towards him, her eyes flat black with fully glowing red pupils now and he flinched only slightly.
Celestia stepped to the normal looking pegasus and laid a hand on his shoulder, “You are a winged demon of the night. You have the speed of 10 pegasi and can warp between shadows. You must drink of the blood of another to live and to multiply. You must, however avoid sunlight as it will result in instant death unless your wings intercept the rays. Do you understand these changes, my subject?” The pegasus turned and nodded and she directed him away to a grate where he simply kneeled as though being led telepathically and she pointed to a unicorn to step forward and she did.
She bit all the same with this subject and, again everyone winced and whimpered as the painful sounding transformation had begun and she changed back to her normal looking unicorn form and did the same as the one before her and stood and faced the crowd as Celestia explained to her the powers she now had. “You are the purest of the vampony forms. You may bend blood to your own paths simply by willing it. You may take the minds of others simply my peering into the windows to their souls. You may weave the shadows to your spinnerette by simply ordering them to do so. However, you may not use your telekinesis once in your feral form and will burn in the sunlight and must be very aware of that. And so long as your head rests on your shoulders, you may live on. The unicorn nodded and was aimed towards another grate, to which she walked and kneeled the same as the other.
Pyrous stood near the back and awaited his turn; though he thought of attempting escape he realized there was no way out and that it be better to simply go along with this as his Princess ordered and then he realized her finger rested pointing towards him. He flinched once more before reluctantly stepping forward to Celestia as she grabbed his hand and pulled him to her. She was as cold as ice and let off no warmth in the least. He saw as she sniffed his neck and reared back to bite and he braced himself only moments before her teeth sunk into him. He was gripped in unbelievable warmth as he felt her venom shoot through him in the blink of an eye and then he was gripped with an ungodly cold and his body began to shiver again as she dropped him to the floor and stepped back. He thumped to the floor and shivered there for a little over a minute and he began to feel his arms extend themselves and the bones began to break and reform, his muscles growing and his skin began too rough to depress* and too numb to feel as though it were solid stone and his vision began to go and he was nearly blind and unable to see more than a hoof-length in front of him. His mouth began to dry and almost instantly re-wet itself with an ill-accepted taste that was of no discernable liquid to him at the moment in this strange transformation. He writhed in pain and screamed as, suddenly, it all began to slink back to normal and slowly, but painfully be came to rest on the floor and she spoke, “Rise my subject,” and as she said this his body was willed to rise by something outside of his control. However, he did notice within his control was greater strength and sense of smell and he was able to tell apart each body within the room individually purely by scent before his vision had come back. Celestia turned to him and began to tell him of his strengths and weakness as she had done the others before him, “You are a warmonger of stone. Your body is unscathable and your strength unmatched. You can scent those you seek out with ease. You need to simply wound and envenom your prey simply with your saliva. You do, however, lack many strengths when in comparison to your weaknesses. You are near blind in your true form and you must eat your fill to have any nourishment. You turn to stone in the sun and, thus, are easy to shatter and kill.” She spun him to her and asked, “Do you, my faithful subject, understand all that wills you to live and all that wills you to die?”
Pyrous felt strength run through him as his master spoke to him and he let out a strong and confident, “My Queen, I will prosper even with my shortcomings!” She smiled wide and pointed him to a grate of his own and he heard her commanding voice in his head as if she was their with him and he marched to his spot and kneeled and waited.
As the last of her selected few stepped to her grate, The Queen sat in her throne and said to them, “Now, then, my children, you must feed to prepare for your mission tomorrow!” as she said this a door opened and a line of shackled, naked, royal guards were led in by two in-form Master Vamponies who shoved them forward and led them around the room, one resting in front of each of the ponies who had been bequeathed with power by their Queen. “You shall each feed of and either kill or change these ex-guards. Do as you please with them and feel not for their pain but only for your yearn for sustenance.” She rested her arms upon the rests and nodded and many of the ponies began to grip into their prey and drink and eat from them. the two gargoyles other than Pyrous began to tear at their prey and rip them limb from limb, biting down and jerking the flesh and bones both into their maw and chew it bones and all and swallow it down.
There was one peculiar subject, however. A Master Vampony. He only looked into his preys eyes and seemed to stand still as if in a trance. Then, the stallion before him began to raise his arms and rest the tips of his fingers centered on the skin of his chest before piercing them through. The poor pony was visually in pain and tears fell from his eyes and his face shown of hatred and sympathy; both for the beast that stood in front of him, still in his normal unicorn form. The fool began to run his hands down in between his rib-cage, tearing his chest down the middle until it got to his stomach and he began to pull his chest open and the Unicorn began to smile as he began to realize the power he had and the abilities he held and he began to guide the stallion’s hands to his own innards and began to force him to rip them out piece by piece until only his heart remained beating. The unicorn began to warp and change into his true form and he looked down upon the poor bastard before him and gripped his beating heart and began to siphon blood from throughout his body via one central point and as the last of the sweet red nectar finished through him, he released his control and the guard dropped to the ground into his own insides and Celestia had looked on in this and called him over to hear and she stood to face him and she looked at him as though he was true kin and she spoke, “You are beyond your mere abilities... Your ruthlessness and pure drive of pain may make you a very useful ally to keep close by. After you are finished with your duties at the festival tonight you will report back here and wait for me. You shall become the first of the private guard I shall dub ‘The Shadow Claws’ and you will captain and train them to be within your way of mind and thought. They will have no fear and no falter and you shall guide them to be the greatest power in this world.
After this show, Pyrous turned to his prey and as he tried to plead for mercy he noticed his tongue had been cut out and looked down on this lower being and began to morph. Pyrous had never felt this way: no pity for the one lower than him. He was usually the one below looking up, but not this time. He was the big man and he intended to do his damage, but to only change this helpless wretch. As he had finished his change he reached down to lift the stallion and gripped his left hand and jerked so quickly and with just enough strength to rip it off and the fool began to wail in pain as Pyrous threw the hand into his mouth and quickly chewed it with ease, he came to find, and pulled the wrist to his mouth and held his tongue to the wound to stop the bleeding; the venom making its way into the stallion he held and into his body and he began to wretch and Pyrous dropped him. The bleeding had stopped almost instantly, but the hand not returned and the pony yelled and writhed on the floor for a while. Once the pony became still, The Queen stood up, looking perplexed at the single brute who had chosen only to change his prey instead of eat him and she shadow-stepped to him and looked him deep in the eyes and began to question him, “Why have you, a gargoyle, who needs to eat of the flesh for nutrition, allowed your prey to live? Why have you not eaten him hole as the other two have done?” She was obviously confused as to why this had been.
Pyrous shifted to his pony form and kneeled and looked up at her, “I wish for the lowly ant to taste of the power of those bigger than him so he may see why we have done this. Why we have killed his brethren. He deserves to see it isn’t by simple choice who urge, but by PRIVELEGE as GREATER BEINGS we deserve to do as we please with those lower than us.” He looked up at her and she was smiling. Not a smirk or a sarcastic smile, but a true joyous smile and she reached down to him and he grabbed her hand and was hefted up.
The Queen looked around to the others and even to her chosen Master and then back to Pyrous and her voice boomed, “THIS SIMPLE GARGOYLE, WITH KNOWING HE MUST FEED; WITH KNOWING HE MUST INGEST FLESH; WITH KNOWING HE CANNOT SIMPLY DRINK OF BLOOD; WITH KNOWING HE MAY BE THE LEAST GIFTED OF HIS VAMPONY SISTERS AND BROTHERS... HAS THOUGHT FOR HIMSELF! HE HAS NOT SIMPLY LISTENED TO URGE OR NECESSITY! HE HAS THOUGHT HARD ABOUT HIS PAST LIFE! HE WAS ONCE SMALL AND WEAK! AND IN HIS PAST HE HAS SEEN WHAT I HAVE GIFTED HIM! THE ABILITY TO BEQUEATHE TO THOSE IN THE SITUATION HE ONCE WAS: HELPLESS, FEEBLE, SMALL, AND ALONE THE ABILITES THAT I HAVE GIVEN HIM! THROUGH INDIVIDUAL THOUGHT AND REASON HE WILL DECIDE HIS OWN FATE AND THE FATE OF THOSE AROUND HIM, AND SO SHALL YOU MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS!” She settled down and looked around once more and began to speak quietly to everyone, “As of this night, you shall be part of my select few subjects who shall be sent out in the world to slowly infect as to not bring suspicion. ONLY IN THE FUTURE, will a large scale plan be put into place. ONLY IN THE FUTURE, will we have the army we need to have the ability to do such a thing. ONLY IN THE FUTURE, can you help to lead those new to their new forms on the correct path!” she began to hand out the scrolls which had been bundled on the shelves out to her new children, “These scrolls will tell you of yourself and your siblings in far greater detail then I have given. Take them and study them to hone your skills and learn to work together with your fellow vamponies if need be. She returned to her thrown and let out one last sentence, “Now, return to your lives.” as this was said the door made an audible sound that resembled unlocking. As the ponies left through the door Pyrous thought about what he’d become and knew he must give this power to his coworker, HeartBeat.
::Current Day::
HeartBeat snapped to him from behind her counter, “Yo, ChickenLittle, you there?” She walked out from behind the counter and up to him and flicked his forehead, “Hello?”
Pyrous snapped from his confusion and blinked a few times and smiled and grabbed her hand, “Oh, I’m great, and the celebration was an absolute success. Those ‘Rainboom’ fireworks I prepared worked like a charm: Perfect picture of the Qu- I mean princesses filled the sky,” he shook away that word and hoped she’d not noticed.
HeartBeat smiled and pulled him close and put her arm over his shoulder, “Well, the greatest pyro I know has gotta be the best,” as she finished this statement she noticed a small difference in height, “Are you a little taller? I could have sworn you were only up to my bust last week. You’re a bit higher now; almost to my collar bone.” She pulled away from him and walked over to the water jug and got herself a little paper cup of water and turned back to him, “So... Meet anyone special?”
Pyrous blushed and looked away, “No... And I don’t think I could have gotten spontaneously taller over the course of a week.” He thought to himself, ‘maybe I can come onto her for once... and use that to get to her... She must feel of this power I’ve gained no matter the price,’ at this thought he turned to HeartBeat and walked over to her and grabbed her free hand, “Maybe you can be someone special?” He forced the words as his normal tendencies were very timid around his boss.
“Oh, I... Uh...” She was caught very off guard by this sudden confidence and it did seem a little weird to her, but she pushed it to the back of her mind; however kept the note in her head before she threw the paper cup into the trash and smiled, “Yea, alright... I’ll let you be on top for once.” she winked and Pyrous blushed as their previous “sexual interactions” came into his mind before pushing them away for he knew what he must do and he pulled at her hand and began to lead her up the stairs. “So.... where did this boost of confidence come from? Did someone try to get a little goofy with another guy?” she joked and continued, “And now you need some of HeartBeat’s patented rough lovin’?”
As heartbeat talked to him his face became more and more red and they topped the stairs and passed by his room and turned into hers, “So... Um...” he said awkwardly as he stayed facing the bed. HeartBeat stripped her shirt and filed in behind him, standing tall and resting her breasts on his head and the thought came back, ‘he is taller... and this confidence is weird.... something’s not right.’ she wrapper her arms around him to try and calm him down but he was cold and growing colder. His lips parted and a soft phrase left out that caught HeartBeat semi off guard, “I’m sorry for the pain I’m about to cause.”
She stood and backed up a bit and asked him, “What do you mean?” her eyes began to auto-focus themselves on his right arm and it had began to twist and warp; the bone cracks rang loudly and she backed up out into the hallway and stood in fright, “W... What’s happening to you!?”
Pyrous replied with a soft line, “I’m sorry” and swung his arm around backwards towards HeartBeat. Fortunately she was far enough back she could do a quick reaction backstep a split second before the monstrous arm destroyed the majority of the wall and door frame, covering the floor in debris as HeartBeat quickly jumped to her hooves and rushed to Pyrous’s room but he had gripped her right arm before she left his reach and he jerked slightly on the arm but he had misgauged his on strength and has HeartBeat turned into the next bedroom her arm was torn clean off and she shrieked in pain as she fell next to Pyrous’s bed. Pyrous looked at the arm in horror and realized what he’d done and that he’d need to stop the bleeding with his own venom or she’d die. Devouring the arm quickly he stepped into his own room and he was completely changed to his gargoyle form. As he slunk towards HeartBeat she’d remembered the box that Pyrous always kept that seemed to produce explosives from unknown sources and she glanced over and saw it under the bed and, while taking the push to lean on her wound to stop the bleeding and reaching for the box with her left arm, Pyrous grabbed her leg just as she had just managed to clasp something of unknown power and heard it hiss and she quickly rolled back out from the bed and threw the thing at him. Pyrous knocked the charge away but to his dismay it went straight up and went off, blowing out a large section of the roof and letting sunlight in and as he recoiled backwards he was hit by the light and instantly was layered over in stone; completely motionless. HeartBeat, still panicking managed to reach under and grab the box itself and she lugged it at the stone monster and everything went white.... then black... and then a thud... and then pain... She lay on the surface she was on with no idea where she lay when she heard voices approaching quickly.
“BIG MAC! I CAN SEE SOMEONE OVER HERE! HURRY! HELP ME GET HER UP! USE SOMETHING TO KNOT THAT WOUND!” and HeartBeat felt a pressure on her shoulder seconds before she blacked out
::Four Days Later::
HeartBeat began to wake up. She could smell the strong scent of apples and a young voice yelled, “SHE’S WAKIN’ UP!” and she heard a few foot steps and suddenly there were 3 faces looming over her and she jumped in surprise and crawled back against the couch and tried to use her right arm only to find out the incident had in fact happened as she slowly remembered it and she decided to keep it to herself for the time being lest she sound crazy.
“Whoa! Settle down. Do you feel alright?” a yellow pony said to her, “Apple Bloom, go get her something to drank.” and heartbeat saw the smallest one of the three run off in the other direction. “Does ya’ll remember what happened a few days ago? Your house went and exploded and YOU fell from it one armed and unconscious. Big Macintosh, here, carried you all the way here to the farm” HeartBeat looked up to the red, sturdy, muscled stallion and he nodded and tipped the hat he’d been wearing as ‘Apple Bloom’ ran back with the cup of water for HeartBeat and she gently took it and nodded to the filly and gulped down the water and it splashed through her and filled her with a bit of a cold energy.
“H-How long was I out?” HeartBeat asked unsure of the time frame she had been unconscious for.
“It’s been four days,” Big Mac answered her, “Ah’ve kept up with the cleaning and re-patching of that mighty bad wound right there. Ah figure we can get a prosthetic from Princess Twilight, or at the least she can make you something to replace your arm.” He turned to the yellow one who had yet to introduce herself.
“Ah’m Applejack. I pretty much manage this, here, farm. I make sure the apples grow and get replanted and the same with the crops. I figured ya’ll’d be mighty hungry so we went and picked you some apples,” she sat the basket she’d been holding on the couch next to HeartBeat and she reached in to grab one and realized how different it was doing things with her left arm, but managed to grab and eat a few apples in a rushed hunger once she’d realized just how hungry she was. She finished the apples and let out a burp as she’d just noticed she had been re-clothed and blushed as she looked over herself and Applejack smiled and chuckled, “Don’t worry, Big Mac didn’t change your clothes too. That was Applebloom and I.” as she finished the sentence HeartBeat noticed Big Mac had blushed and AppleJack cut back in, “However, you were topless when we found you...” she trailed off and smiled and Big Mac just looked away embarassed that he’d been the one to carry her all the way to the barn. Applejack sighed and breathed in, “So... What happened back there?” she frowned.
‘I... I was attacked.” was all that could be managed by the purple mare.
“By what?”
HeartBeat took time to think back and she had been able to recall the entire event. “My assistant.” She said under her breath.
Applejack cocked her head and sighed, “I don’t think a simple assistant could do this to you, sugarcube.”
She jumped up and ran outside and just fell to her knees and looked up, glad the sun was out and she was safe and began to weep. Applejack and Big Mac followed her out and were confused. HeartBeat looked down and remembered who she’d killed: A good friend. But she had no choice! It was him or her! It HAD to be done! That didn’t make her feel any better, though, as she began to speak, “He wasn’t simple... He changed... Into... something... something huge and monstrous and warped with evil. I-I don’t know what it was. All I know is that I am down one friend now.” and her face fell into her hand.
She felt two hands, one on each shoulder and she looked up to see Big Mac and Applejack resting their palms on her shoulders and AppleJack said to her, “Stick with Big Mac and I and you’ll always be alright...” and AppleJack straightened up, “Now, then, there’s an apple pie that’s almost ready.” and she helped HeartBeat up and the three walked into the barn....
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