Castlevania: Portrait of Chaos

Chapter Thirteen: Hallway Shenanigans

Rainbow now stood in the second floor hallway. The lights were on, which was a good sign.

All of the shouting and screaming that echoed from one of the rooms wasn’t.

“What the buck is going on now…?” Rainbow asked herself as she took cautionary steps forward, careful to avoid making any noise. The shouting and screaming grew more intense, and she could’ve curse words fly from mouths that shouldn’t have spoken them.

The thumping noises ceased for an unsettling moment. The cursing didn’t die down, however. In fact, it got much more vulgar by the passing second.

Rainbow’s muscles tensed to the point she couldn’t move them without added pangs of pain assaulting her nerves.

Rarity trotted out of another room and shut the door. She saw Rainbow sluggishly approaching the commotion at the end of the hallway. “Oh, darling, what could possibly be happening in there?”

Rainbow gulped hard. “I dunno Rarity. It sounds pretty bucked up though.”

The shouting grew even louder now

“Get away from me! I am not a mare!” Yelled what sounded very much like Jonathan.

The thumping sounds returned, and it was accompanied by a crashing sound. A voice said “But I love you!” in a very creepy, slurred inflection.

“I SAID GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU CRAZY *&^$!!” Jonathan hollered again as another thump and crash followed soon after.

“Oh my, what vulgar words...” Rarity murmured, shaking her head sadly. She and Rainbow got closer to the door at the end of the hallway.

“YOU WILL NOT *&^$ING DEFLOWER ME!” A voice sounding like that of Stella’s shrieked.

“Deflower... why would somepony behead a flower?” Questioned Rainbow, now curious.

“Deflower is a slang term used to address losing one’s virginity, dear. Whatever is going on in there is very serious.” Rarity answered, ears flat as she trotted to the door. The cyan mare followed suit.

“Wait, you mean….OH SWEET CELESTIA!” Rainbow gasped, eyes wide as a lump formed in the back of her throat.

“TAKE ONE STEP CLOSER AND I WILL RIP YOUR DAMN FACE OFF AND TURN YOU INTO POULTRY!” A voice like that of Charlotte’s snapped, accompanied by a low growl.

“Poultry...Gilda once told me that means dead bird, I think…so does that mean the invader is a Gryphon or a cockatrice maybe?” Rainbow sighed, trying the knob of the door. As expected, it was locked.

She turned around and kicked the door. It swung open, nearly flying off of the hinges in the process. A figure landed in front of the mares on the spot. It had a body the size of a pony and its front quarters had bird-like talons and wings. It also had a beak and some strange attire covering the chest, back, and shoulders. The rear quarters was like that of a pony’s that had a strange lion’s tail.

“Wait a second…. I remember seeing this dude in that book of Charlotte’s… it was called Zacchino, I think...it said he is a demon of some sort...” Rainbow sighed before a horrid stench invaded her nostrils.

“Oh great Celestia, it absolutely reeks of alcohol!” Rarity cried, her nose curled upwards because of the smell.

“I wasn’t aware demonic being could drink…” commented Twilight as she teleported into the hallway behind the mares, concerned for her friends as they were up there for a good fifteen minutes.

“And neither was I!” Jonathan yelled from within the room.

“H-He tried tainting me…” Vincent whimpered, sounding like he was on the verge of crying.

“........ HE DID WHAT?!” Rainbow shrieked in shock.

“According to the book he only goes for mares and attacks stallions...” Twilight sighed before her nose curled up in disgust.

“So, that’s what happened...he got so drunk he couldn’t tell mares from stallions…” Rarity commented, holding her nose with a hoof.

Sweetie Belle came up the stairs and saw the mares at the end of the hallway. She ran up to them and tapped Rarity’s leg to get her attention.

“Mr. Wendigo sent me up to see if everything was alright.” She said, unaware of the unwanted house guest in plain sight within the adjoining room.

That was when Sweetie Belle smelled a stench that was mingled with rotting flesh, mares, and--strangely enough--roses. There was a fourth undertone of the horrid smell, but the filly couldn’t quite tell what it was. She threw up on the floor right then and there.

“Clean up on aisle four,” Rainbow joked as she trotted into the room the out-cold drunkard was in. The room was clouded with steam that was fleeting.

Rarity and Twilight soon followed inside, and all three mares saw Vincent trembling in a corner with a frightened look on his face. Stella was still blowing steam out of her ears, Charlotte’s fur was matted to all hell, Loretta looked down at the floor blankly, and Jonathan appeared to have a rather bad case of unpreened wings. They trotted out of the shower and tidied themselves before approaching the door.

“Let us never speak of that demon again, or what he has done here for that matter.” Twilight said, to which everypony else nodded.

As soon as that was said, Stella had walked right into Sweetie Belle’s and found herself sliding down the hall. Her wings opened and she took flight--had she not done so, she would’ve broken into a large vase, which flew up into the air and landed on her head.

“And this is one of the bad things about being a pony…” Stella hissed, her voice echoing in the vase as she got onto her backside. She attempted to pry the vase off with all four of her hooves, but with little success.

“Bwah HAHAHA, that was funny!” Sweetie and Rainbow both hollered, mouths unable to close from how much they were laughing.

“What in Tarnation is so funny?” Applejack asked as she came up the stairs to the hallway. She quickly saw the hapless pegasus who had found herself with a new hat. “Hehheh heh, Ah can see how that is funny, sugarcube.” She commented with a false smile.

Loretta had a slight chuckle at the bizarre sight.

“A little help would be very much appreciated!” Stella shrieked, rolling off of her back and taking flight. She began bumping into walls and doorways blindly.

“I’m not sure if I should help.” Jonathan said, trying very hard to stifle a laugh.

“Where’s the popcorn?” Vincent asked, starting to break out into little fits of laughter.

“Here, did somepony say popcorn?” Shouted Pinkie, who appeared from out the shower drain with a bowl of fresh, hot morsels.

“I have no idea how she did that, then again, she did do it to my bonnet earlier…” Loretta commented, rather impressed by the sight. Pinkie got out of the shower and placed the bowl in front of Vincent, being careful to avoid the vomit puddle.

“That’s Pinkie for you…” Twilight sighed, watching Stella fail horrendously at attempting to get the vase off of her head.

The vase sucked the pegasus in and fell to the floor before rolling towards the stairs. Stella began cursing again all the while, struggling to get out of the ornament that seemed to have taken a liking to her.

“The vase is possessed.” Charlotte murmured, pointing a paw at the ornament accusingly and waving it up and down.

“WHA?” Exclaimed Rarity, who was very much surprised. “I remember that I got it at an antique shop but….now that you mention, it the pony who sold it to me said it may bring bad luck.”

“The vase is possessed.” Charlotte repeated, her tone of voice sounding more frantic this time.

“That explains everything, NOW GET ME OUT OF HERE!” Stella shrieked, struggling in the vase in such a way the damn thing began bouncing about the room and glowing with a dim light.

“Oh dear, I’ve heard of this kind of possession….from what I remember it’s an urn spirit. It’s good we found out now, or else Sweetie Belle would be dead soon…” Rarity sighed, ears flat on her head.

“It requires a sacrifice…” Vincent said, sounding like he was going to cry again.

“No, this type finds a home with a child and over time--about a year or so--will kill the child and eat them, it prefers fillies though...” Twilight explained with a sigh.

“Hence why I said sacrifice!” Vincent snapped angrily, though he didn’t look mad.

“I don’t fully understand, since Stella’s not a filly nor a child…” Twilight retorted.

“GET ME OUT OF HERE, I FEEL LIKE I’M BEING VIOLATED!” Stella cried, still trying to get out of the vase.

“How do we drive this thing out?” Charlotte asked, looking at the alicorn princess for an answer.

“What is going on here?” A voice asked as Eric ascended up the stairs and found himself in the hallway.

Charlotte pointed to the floating, vibrating vase. “That thing is possessed and it has eaten Stella.” She answered, a look of worry on her face.

The wendigo looked at the vase that then flung itself at a wall. It landed on the floor and rolled a bit.

“I see what you mean...NOT.” He said, quite clearly not amused.

“IF YOU CAN SEE, GET ME OUT OF HERE, FATHER!” Stella cried, this time sounding more desperate than ever. The vase began shaking wildly before spinning in place. A large shadow was now looming over the vase and it had two huge, glowing red eyes and said “SHE’S MINE SLICK!”

“WHAT IS GOING ON UP HERE?” Yelled Princess Luna, who was using the Canterlot royal voice as she came rushing up the stairs.

“W-w-what was that?” Stammered Loretta, who fell onto her rump shaking madly, since she had slipped on some water.

“Oh darling, that was just Princess Luna using the royal voice...” Rarity sighed, gulping hard.

“RELEASE ME AT ONCE!” Stella hollered. Whatever was going on in the vase was making the thing bounce about the room like it was made of rubber.

“No, no, no, no not her, she was the one who sealed me in this Celestia-forsaken thing!” The shadow wailed, its red eyes locked on Luna in pure horror.

“Now thy know thou are, you were the demon who killed mother, by possessing one of her guards with a knife when I was but a filly!” Luna hissed, her eyes developed slit pupils and dark blue sclera. Her pelt became jet-black and her ethereal mane became a sinister purple. Her wings changed drastically, the larger feathers becoming merged into an even stranger shape.

“Lulu, what are you doing, and is that shadow what I think it is?” Celestia asked as she teleported into the room.

The bouncing vase fell to the floor again, and this time it broke into about a million pieces. In the mess of shattered glass lay Stella, who was gasping for air and trying very hard to get up.

The shadow growled, “I WILL BE BACK SOON, CELLY AND LULU MWAHAHAHAHAH”!

It would’ve fled had something sharp not pinned it to the wall. It was a dagger holding it by the throat.

“Not so fast, ugly!” Jonathan hissed, pulling out another set of five daggers from his wings and readying them in his hooves.

The shadow laughed nervously as he said, “Oh buck.”

“Okay, okay, Princess you clearly know what that thing was? Now I want to know in ten seconds flat!” Rainbow sighed, preparing to take flight with rapid flaps of her wings. Jonathan thought to himself, “I would have demanded the same thing too, but not in the same disrespectful tone.”

“Whoa, nelly girl, cool yer jets!” Applejack said, trotting to Stella and helping her onto her hooves.

“It has no identity; it once possessed one of mother’s unicorn guards and killed her using his body. He was unaware of anything until it was much too late.” Celestia said solemnly.

“So, that was how your mother died? It was unclear on how in the books I read…”  Twilight said with a frown.

Celestia’s horn flared up and the shadow was bathed in a soft, golden aura. It began to hiss loudly.

“Auntie, what is that magic?” Cadenza asked as she came up the stairs, unfurling her wings in shock. The shadow began hissing even louder as it started to shrink.

And then a blinding flash bathed the entire hallway. When it went away, the shadow was no longer there.

“I just defeated a nuisance who was the bane of Luna and I.” Celestia answered, a very displeased frown fit for a queen on her face.

“Umm, a nuisance, Auntie? What do you mean by that?” Cadenza inquired further.

“Everypony, let’s just calm down, take another bath, and then think things over.” Charlotte called from the end of the hallway. “This is getting too out of hoof for us to handle at this point.”

“How so?” Cadenza asked once more, raising a brow.

“You really want to know?” Charlotte retorted, sounding very much like she should’ve been in the middle of a rant. “Just look in the bathroom. Tell me what you see.”

Princess Cadenza looked in and she saw the passed out drunk... whatever-it-was on the floor, its beak short of a puddle of vomit. And it wreaked of vermouth, mares, and other disgusting things; however, the smell of roses mixed in was unusual.

(That was when she realized it was the scent of the popular Canterlot Rose Vermouth, purchased generally by nobles, and was a personal favorite of Prince Blueblood.)