Castlevania: Portrait of Chaos

Chapter Four: Thirteenth Street

(please note that this chapter will be of a different perspective)

Night fell in the town of Manehattan. Ponies were gathered around in a crowded circle. They whispered worriedly as a night-blue alicorn looked at what had happened.

In the center of all this were precisely two mares clutched in a tight hug. One of which was a light green unicorn with a straight purple mane and tail. On her head was a green bonnet with red, false roses on its sides and her cutie mark was a purple spell circle with three different kinds of snowflakes surrounding it. The other, a light purple pegasus, had a curled mane and tail that were both held up with intricate clips. Her cutie mark was a double-edged sword bathed in a green breeze.

“Ponies of Manehattan!” Bellowed the alicorn in a regal, feminine voice. “Please disperse at once! We shall deal with the matter at hoof! You are to leave these ponies alone!”

The crowd begrudgingly dispersed. They went into various buildings and apartments as the alicorn’s horn took on a blue glow the color of her wispy, star-dotted mane. It soon bathed the two embracing mares and their bruises disappeared. As soon as the last scratch went away, the mare flew off into the night.

The mares began shifting, opening their eyes which were both a shade of evergreen. The pegasus quickly jolted awake and helped the unicorn onto her hooves. They quickly glanced at each other and then to their own bodies. Both wearily looked around, seeing that they were quite clearly in a city.

At once, the pegasus mare let off a shriek imbued with anger and shock. The unicorn jumped back a bit, nearly tripping over her own hooves in the process.

“FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS IN GOD’S HOLY NAME, WHY HAVE I BEEN TURNED INTO A WINGED HORSE?!” She bellowed, stomping her hooves in a fit of rage.

“S-Sister! P-please, calm down!” Yelled the unicorn, raising her hooves as if she were about to be mugged. “J-just try to think rationally and--”

The pegasus snapped, quickly cutting her off, “Loretta! We aren’t here to dillydally!”

Loretta, the unicorn, was taken aback by that remark. “I know full well we aren’t supposed to be dillydallying! But please, for my sake, calm down!” She remarked, ears flat and eyes widening.

“Fine.” Hissed the pegasus, again stomping her hooves. She rose onto all fours, steam blowing out of her nostrils and earholes. “I’ll calm down.”

Loretta sighed. She glanced around, making sure she wasn’t hallucinating or something like that.

“What should we do?” She asked, also rising to all fours.

“What else? We look around, of course.” Replied the pegasus, taking in a deep breath. She began to walk slowly, making sure she was walking correctly. Loretta quickly followed suit, but not before taking another quick glance at everything.

The duo began walking side by side, with just enough room for the pegasus to spread her wings. The street was dimly lit despite the clear overabundance of street lights. Perhaps there had been a power outage.

The mares stopped, tensing up a bit as they could’ve sworn they heard a third series of hoofsteps following not too close behind them.

Loretta took another glance, this time turning her entire body around in a full circle. “S-Stella, I don’t like this.” She whimpered.

“Nor do I. We have to move quickly.” Stella agreed, feeling her wings twitch. She began to trot forward again, her sister closeby.

The wind blew, somehow carrying the ominous and melancholic sound of violins and pianos from far away. A few leaves blew past the sisters as they stopped once more to listen to the distant orchestra.

Loretta suddenly felt sick to her stomach as the putrid stench of fresh blood invaded her nostrils. Her face wrinkled a bit as she tried very hard not to breath through her nose.

“S-Sister, please don’t tell me it’s--it’s a…” Loretta was cut short, gagging mid-sentence. She reeled herself in, shaking her head.

“It’s a what?” Stella asked, also noting the smell. She glanced around, seeing if there was a nearby corpse or something of the sort. Because the moon was blotted out by clouds, she couldn’t see too well.

Again, the smell hit Loretta. She sat on her rump and quickly held her hooves to her nostrils.

“Well, what?” Stella snapped. She turned to her sister and put her hooves onto Loretta’s shoulders. The unicorn found herself being shaken as though she were in an earthquake.

“Vell, vell, vhat do ve have here?” Said a masculine but very creepy voice, possibly Romanian.

Stella stopped. She let go of her sister and scrambled to all fours, glancing around hastily. Loretta held her head in one hoof, swaying back and forth as her eyes spun in their sockets.

The moonlight returned, casting a soft blue light on everything. Nothing was behind the sisters, and nor was anything to the front or sides.

“...I see your point. Loretta, we need to move now.” Stella said, wings snapping open as another faint breeze blew past.

Loretta shook off her dizziness and stood on all fours as well.

“Hmmm….I spy vith my little eye two pretty--no, gorgeous--mares. Unique, I should say.” Sounded the voice again, this time louder and probably closer.

“I hate this.” Loretta complained, finding her tail shifting between her hind legs.

“I can see why.” Stella agreed, closing her wings and turning around. She burst into a full gallop and her sister quickly followed. The moon blotted out again, but only briefly. And when it’s light returned, the sisters had already saw a dead end.

“S-s-sister Look out!” Loretta shrieked as she skid to a complete halt on her hooves. Her sister complied, her muzzle only inches away from the wall.

The pegasus pounded the wall with her hoof. “Dammit!” She cried, wings snapping open again.

“Trapped, are ve? You two have nice, young, shapely bodies that I vish to use for my own needs.” Sounded the voice again, this time accompanied by hoofsteps.

Loretta’s muscles tensed up. She felt as if those words violated her soul. She tried very hard to not scream, only letting a few frantic whimpers escape her mouth instead.

The sisters slowly turned around, seeing a black-pelted stallion approach them. A horn was on his head and his eyes were a pure, piercing red and his mane was a ghastly white. He soon spread a pair of bat-like wings wide.

“A-a-a-a-a…..A VAMPIRE!” Loretta cried, quickly backing up against the wall in fright.

“Great. First, I turn into a winged horse, then we reach a dead end, and now we’re cornered by a vampire of all things? This is the best day ever….NOT!” Stella hissed, also being backed up.

The vampire raised a brow. “I believe the term you are looking for is ‘pony. Never mind that, I just vant to get down to business. Smelling a mare in heat is easier than it sounds.” He said, looking straight at Stella.

A blush overcame the mare’s face. “Great. Another reason to avoid the locals.” Stella snapped, spreading her own wings wide.

“S-s-s-sister, we might have to fight him….besides if we don’t, what would dad say, we are the daughters of Eric Lecarde.” Loretta stammered, her legs shaking. “A-and t-this v-vampire said that h-he’d use us….for his own needs….” She stopped short, a headache now present and making the situation that much worse.

The vampire grinned. “I have followed you two here. Maybe I should turn you and make your family look down on you in shame.”

Stella was wide-eyed. “So….what happened to us happened to you as well?”

“Becoming a pony?” He asked, again raising a brow. “Vell, of course. Can you not see that ve all have hooves here?”

Stella fell silent. She mentally kicked herself for briefly forgetting that she became a pony….horse...thing.

Loretta’s horn took on a soft glow the color of ice. The energy shot out into the sky and stayed in place, hovering well above the vampire.

“Your spells are useless. Give up already.” Said the vampire, grinning once more and showing those deadly fangs in the process.

The energy widened into a large, purple void in a circular shape. Its outermost margins had strange characters bound by two smaller, lighter-colored circles. Large icicles slowly began descending from the bottom of the void. Once they were almost out, gravity kicked in and the gigantic masses of ice rapidly descended to the ground.

The vampire looked up a moment too late. He was impaled back-side first by the frozen water and he screamed as his body became dust. His last words were, “Oh buck, I had a bad feeling about following those two...” However, as his body was turning into dust, the last part of his body hit a passing caravan, and made it partially dusty.

The entire thing stopped. The sisters saw that two equines were pulling the caravan forward. From it came another equine who glanced around before seeing the sisters. It said something to the other two equines and all three came forward.

They were all unicorns. One was skinny as all hell and he had a dull orange pelt with a sickly green mane. The other was a grey, and he had an orange mane. He was so short he would’ve been mistaken for a foal had it not been for his bulbous, seemingly-deformed head. The thing was shaped almost like a damn octagon, for crying out loud.

The last one was a light blue, and she wore a hat and cape that were purple. Yellow and blue stars dotted the mass of the outfit, and there was a gem holding the cape around the unicorn’s neck.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie has witnessed your arcane magic!” Bellowed the blue unicorn, stepping forward. “Trixie wishes to challenge you to a magic duel!”

The sisters exchanged glances. Stella shook her head, trying not to laugh at the sheer absurdity of Trixie’s words. Besides, she could sense that her magic was very weak, about the level of a Student Witch on drugs.”You, challenge my sister? That’s foolish!”

Trixie started to get angry and she yelled out, “The Great and Powerful Trixie said that she challenges you to a magic duel!”

Loretta sensed Trixie’s so-called magic, it was lightning-based, and her true magic talent is fireworks that don’t work half the time...and could not refrain herself from laughing in a taunting manner.

“You dare laugh at the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

Stella also burst out into a mad giggle fit. She stomped her hooves, unable to contain her swing of emotions.

Once it ended, Stella then asked in a serious voice, “Trixie, what do you think of vampires then?”

Trixie raised a brow. “They aren’t real.” She answered quickly.

Again, Stella laughed. “Oh really? See that dust on your caravan?” She asked, still laughing.

“What of it?” Trixie asked, her horn flaring up in a girly pink glow.

“The dust is the last remnants of a vampire we just slayed.” Stella answered, her tone serious again. “Sense it if you don’t believe me.”

Trixie did as told. Strong, vampiric magic still lingered about. “Even Trixie hates being corrected.”

“So, about that magic duel…” Loretta started, a sinister grin on her face as her horn flared up again. “....we have a test of attrition. You against me and my sister.”

“And before you say anything, you yourself didn’t specify the rules.” Stella was quick to point out, also with a sinister grin plastered on her face as her wings spread wide.

The night-blue alicorn saw everything unfurl. Things took an ugly turn for Trixie, who was trying to dodge a giant ice sword created by the unicorn and wielded by the pegasus, who was surprisingly quick to slam the damned thing into the ground despite its sheer size.

The pair of ponies were indeed a deadly duo. Trixie tried lighting up fireworks and they didn’t go off.

She teleported away and found herself before another alicorn. This one was snow white with a mane of light pink, green, purple, and blue billowing out and defying gravity.

“Luna, what has happened?” She asked.

Luna, the blue alicorn, quickly began explaining everything she’d seen this night. The white alicorn listened intently, and when Luna wrapped everything up, the other alicorn produced a scroll and quill before hastily writing something.

“I am sending this to Twilight. I saw three more ponies crash in Ponyville. She is to bring them here, at once.” Said the white alicorn as the letter disappeared in a flash of golden light.