"NO, PLEASE, DONT DO --- " The beg of mercy was interrupted by the sweet high pitched scream of pain that came from the humanoid pony before me as I pushed the red hot metal against her right leg. I held the hot metal against the pony's leg until the sweet scream started to lessen, marking the moment when vocal cords started to become too stressed out. Pulling away the hot metal, I placed it back on the fire as I looked at the newest burn wound my prey had been gifted with.
The pony in question whimpered in pain as she was breathing heavily, her eyes shut as her body was shaking from fear and pain. This was not the first wound she had received, but so far it was the most painful after the snapped horn and the broken wings that hanged lifelessly on her back. The trail of blood on her head and face from when the horn had been snapped in two had dried hours ago, but the broken wings were only an hour long.
I smiled at my work, watching the purple pony as I traced my finger along the wounds around her body. As I reopened few of the smaller ones, the pony tried to pull away from my touch uselessly. It was cute to see this pony being so stubborn. Bringing the hand to my mouth, I began to lick the fresh blood out of my fingers as I moved back from my prey and turned, moving towards the old table in the corner of the cave. I could hear the pony realize that I was moving away from my prey, but the pony knew I would return soon with whatever sadistic new ideas and toys I would have.
A sadistic smile came to my face as I stopped in front of the table and looked down, enjoying the taste of blood on my fingers. The set of knives on the side were dirty with dried blood as the young drake was laid on the table, its hands and legs secured rightly as the mouth was shut with metal chains. From the rising and lowering of its lungs, which were currently in view thanks to the chest being left open after my last biological study on the living drake, it was clear that the young pet of pony behind me was still alive.
Taking the scalpel from the tray, I lowered myself a little as I washed the blood away in the water that covered the cave floor. While not too high, it was high enough to reach these ponies to their knees, which would be a waist level for the drake sprayed open on the table. To me however, it was nothing as it only covered the thinner part of my tail, while the thicker part was above water. Even if the water was higher, it didn't matter to me at all, since my kind could breathe in water just as easily as above it.
As I finished cleaning the scalpel, I corrected myself as i put my left hand of the table, leaning on it while the right hand made a small cut below the left eye of the drake, which moved his head away from her tool. Letting a tired sigh, i lowered the scalpel as i took a syringe from the side and stuck it against the drake's neck, filling it's bloodstream with the paralyzing drug. Its eyes went wide as its body tensed, moving its head to the right before it too stopped moving.
A smile stayed on my lips as i took the scalpel again and moved it towards the left eye of my current target of attention, moving the blade around the eye as the skin and flesh was cut. The drake's body was shaking a little, but it didn't matter as i slowly carved the eye out, before cutting it completely from its home and picking it up. The eye hole started bleeding slowly, but i already shifted my attention elsewhere.
Ignoring the bleeding drake, i set the scalpel back to the table as i turned around, drake's eye still on other hand as i moved back to the pony hanging from the ceiling. As soon as the pony heard me move across the cave (thanks to the water, it was easy), it raised its head as it slowly opened its eyes, which went wide as it spotted my blood covered hand holding an eyeball. The pony moved her gaze quickly towards my face, which i only answered with silent predatory smile as the pony moved her eyes passed me to look behind me.
While the pony couldn't see the drake, it was clear who was the owner of the eye on my hand as i moved it closer to my mouth, pony's eyes turning back to me as i licked eyeball before pushing it into my own mouth, watching the pony in front of me look at me in shock and fear as i enjoyed the taste of my snack. Closing my eyes, i focused on the taste of the eyeball on my mouth as i purred in enjoyment, gaining a weird look from the wounded pony.
As i swallowed the piece of flesh, i opened my eyes as my tongue licked my lips and fangs, making the pony look at me as if i was insane (which wasn't far from the truth). "YOU’RE A MONSTER! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HIM? HE WAS JUST A CHILD!!" The purple pony screamed in anger and disgust, which only made me smile more as i took hold of the pony's face with bloody claw, forcing it to stay still as i leaned closer to my prey.
"Why, it's simple my dear" I said as my snake-like tongue licked the wound on pony's face, which made the pupils of pony in question extremely small, compared to their normal big look." It is because of your dear princess that i make you, her star pupil, suffer for the crimes she committed against my people. I shall enjoy the look on her face as she sees your lifeless husk hanging there, having been dead quite some time before she ever finds this place. Your precious princess will break, just as shall you, my dear" I said as i brought my fangs to the neck of my prey and started feasting on the blood, feeling myself grown even stronger than before.
My apologies, i forgot to introduce myself. I am Medusa, a Gorgon. Well, last of the gorgons to be specific. What is a gorgon, you ask? Well, a Gorgon is a humanoid creature with snake's lower body and human's upper body, with green skin of scales. In our head, we have hair made of snakes, and while our upper body would be beautiful by human standards, it is covered in scales. It does not make us look ugly, simply more snake-like, even though the eyes and fangs make it clear enough. Our eyes are yellow, with our pupils being slit thanks to our predatory nature.
However, the best thing Gorgons are known is our ability to turn anyone that takes eye contact with us to stone (has to be other species rather than another gorgon of course) consciously, meaning if we wanted, we could easily turn anyone into a stone statue. While few animals in here Equis possess the same ability, we are immune to this completely, meaning we can't be turned stone by abilities that are similar to ours.
This is the reason we lived so long on top of the food chain, as no other species dared to cross into our territory without a death wish. However, that came soon to an end as the ponies suddenly appeared, mastering the unknown magic as they attacked us. Taken by surprise, we were not prepared to defend ourselves from the invading force that these ponies were.
We were peaceful race, so our military wasn't prepared to take down such a force. While they of course died thanks to our superior nature and our natural abilities, we were losing the war. It is because of this that we fled, leaving our old lands as we traveled over the seas to safety and started to rebuild our numbers.
There were barely a hundred of us left when the ponies once again came, trying to force us to extinction. We held strong, experimenting with our own magical abilities to defend ourselves as we killed the ponies in rows when they came. It was only a short until the extinction of our species came however.
I still remember the day when the White One came. I was only a teen, preparing the food for my family when suddenly she came, and without warning, used her superior magical abilities to kill any she came across as she destroyed our homes. I still remember preparing to escape when she destroyed the roof of our home and came down, killing my parents in cold blood with a sword stolen from our now dead warriors. I watched as she finally turned her attention to me, sadistic smile with mix of disgust on her face as she attacked. I tried to defend myself, but i stood no change as she levitated me against the wall and pierced my heart with the blade.
My world was turning dark when i noticed her magic tearing down anything she could see, destroying the last remnants of Gorgon civilization in anger and disgust. It was then when i stopped feeling anything as my world went dark.
I do not know how, but after few centuries (i do not know how long it was, but it was clear it was few centuries at least) i suddenly awoke with gasp that left my lips as my eyes opened. I was confused and scared, unaware of what happened as i looked around, only to see only rotting pieces of skeletal bodies that once were my parents and family. In confusion i watched the destroyed remnants of my home as i turned my attention back to myself, only to see my body in state similar to mummified corpses.
I blinked in confusion as i weakly drew the blade piercing my heart out, only to see it break into pieces as i dropped it on the ground. With quick notice, i realized that it had rusted into a weak metal, confusing me even more as i looked around. As i lied on the floor, i tried to remember the reason i was still alive, only to fail as my memories showed me no answer. It was then when i heard a noise in front of me that i raised my head to look at the source.
It was a small filly, looking around in excitement as its friends flew into my destroyed home from the hole in the roof. I heard them speak about finding a place to adventure in, only to realize where they were as one of the accidentally hit her hoof on the skull. They looked around, terrified as they realized that they were standing in middle of ancient tomb, feeling the fear of situation.
It was then when i could smell the blood pulsing in their veins, making me feel the hunger as i slowly crawled towards them. They did not notice me until i was close, but it was too late by then. With quick move, i knocked two of the filly’s unconscious as i took hold of the third and sank my fangs into her neck. I could still remember the sweet scream that she released before i drained her dry.
It was most delicious feast i ever had as i noticed that my body started to fill itself again, making my eyes go wide as i hungrily drank the blood of other two fillies, feeling my body strengthen with each drop that i swallowed. In my blood high, i ignored the dried bodies at my feet as i slowly moved myself across the ruins of my old home to outside, only to realize that it was night. As i filled my lungs with fresh air, the new instincts of mine took over as i heard someone call the fillies in the forest. I quickly turned my attention to direction of the voice as i moved, keeping myself hidden as i came closer to the source.
I do not know how long i moved through the forest before i came across the two earth ponies, both of them looking around as they called the names of now deceased fillies, not noticing me as i circled around them and moved behind their back. With quick movement, i knocked the stallion unconscious as i brought my fangs to the neck of mare, silencing her scream with my hands as i slowly drained the poor pony of her delicious fluid.
It was then when i heard a shout behind me that i pulled away from the mare and turned, only to face a young Pegasus in the air as he looked at me in horror and disgust. He started yelling about a monster, but i ignored it as the snakes in my hair all turned towards the Pegasus as my eyes glowed. The pony was ignorant of my abilities as it didn't shield its eyes, only to realize that it should have as its body turned to stone. It was quite fun to see the statue fall to the ground and break into pieces, but i ignored it as i feasted on the blood of the stallion. As soon as both of the ponies were empty of their blood, i noticed my body having been fully revived to its former beauty.
I wasn't sure how long i did it, but i laughed like a maniac at the situation. The White One had called us monsters, but with my rebirth i had become one.
Against the addictive taste of this Alicorn's blood, I drew my fangs away from purple one's throat after moment of hesitation. It wouldn't be any good if i drank her dry like my usual victims, because keeping her alive would replenish her blood, which in turn would turn me even stronger. Sure, 20 years of draining ponies of their inner magic and blood had gathered quite a amount of power, but with 4 Alicorns, Elements of Harmony and Celestia's new pet, Discord, it wouldn't hurt to gain even more....just to be sure.
As I moved my head away from purple one's throat, I could hear her say something weakly. I ignored whatever she was saying as I drew to my full length and backed away, frowning as I looked at her. She looked like she hadn't drank in days, her skin dry and wounds no longer bleeding. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I turned my head to look around the cave for the bandages.
While the cave was big, it was still smaller than the library the purple one owned. most of the floor was covered in water, leaving only a small place to have fireplace, tools and other equipment I managed to gather while near the town. Luckily the fireplace was below a small hole, which guided the smoke outside so that I wouldn't suffocate on the cave.
The cave (and the narrow tunnel leading outside) was mostly dark, with light coming from the fireplace and the hole which guided the smoke out. It was....Comforting place to live, unlike the other places she had previously tried to settle her temporal home. Who knows, she might even purpose it into her permanent home, as soon as she had her revenge against the white one, who these ponies called Celestia.
Well, only the time would tell if I was welcomed to live in this cave after her death, but right now, almost no one knew where it was. As I spotted the bandages next to the raven feather cloak, I moved towards them as I reached and took them, before turning back around to purple one moving back to her, stopping in front of her as she was breathing weakly.
She weakly raised her head to look at me and muttered something, but I didn't listen as I bandaged the wounds I had made in her, seeing her just whimper in pain as I roughly handled her, ignoring the fact that she was hurt. It was slow, but after an hour i had finished bandaging the wounds as I backed away and looked at her.
Most of her fur was hidden under bandages, but the wounds were now taken care, so I shouldn't bother with her right now. Turning around, I moved back to the young drake as I placed the bandages to the side and looked at his wounds. While his eye was still bleeding, he was still alive and apparently held no other wounds (or the ones that bled anyway). A smile came to my lips as I took a needle and the fishing line that the friendly yellow pony had given me.
Of course I had to heat up the needle before I could start closing the opened chest, so I moved skin and muscle back to their position as I took the claw tool I made for myself (to mimic the claw of manticore) As I made the wounds around his body to make it look like manticore had attacked him. The wounds that had been opened by the scalpel were widened, removing any evidence of them being opened with tools. The eye was harder part, but with quick wounds, it was replaced from surgical wound to claw wound.
I smiled as i finished faking the manticore attack and started heating the needle, watching with interest as tip started to heat up. After a moment of heating it, I quickly tied the fishing line to the needle and started sloppily to close the opened chest, as if it was done in hurry. I could see the drake whimper in pain, since the paralyzing medicine I had given him was slowly starting to wear off.
As I finished closing the wound, I put cut the fishing line as I put the needle away. As the drake moved his head to look at me in fear, I took hold of his head with my hands as i made sure he kept the eye contact with me, forcing my magic and will into his mind as I erased and reshaped the memories he had, making his memories false.
The real memories would end with purple one and drake walking through the Everfree Forest, trying to find my home so that purple one could ask me a few questions. The false memories replaced my ambush with the pack of Timberwolves attacking them, separating them as the purple one carelessly used magic to teleport away in flash of light, not realizing she had left drake behind. The drake would run through the woods before finally managing to escape his hunters, wandering aimlessly down the woods until he was ambushed by a manticore.
Of course, he would have false memories of me saving him by petrifying the manticore before he blacked out. As I released the drake from my control, his mind blacked out from the stress as I backed a small kit of tools in my pack. The fishing line, hook and rod were placed in chaotic way to the pack, as was the small knife and the matches to make a fire. With smile on my lips, I closed the pack as I placed it on my waist, hanging it from the belt as I took my cloak and put it on, before releasing the young drake from his bindings as I took him into my arms.
With smile, I turned towards the exit as I heard the purple one trying to yell something, but failing because of her weakened body. I once again ignored her as I moved through the narrow tunnel leading outside, smiling as I took a look at the sky. It was almost a night, so it shouldn't bother me much. Crossing the small lake that was between me and the shore (my cave entrance was on the side of the cliff, deep inside Everfree Forest) as I headed the general direction of Ponyville.
I couldn't just kill the drake and purple one, because then the ponies would know it was me. So, making myself look like a savior of the drake would make the ponies accept me in the town.
After all, I still needed a sword to kill the white one, Celestia........
It has been few hours since I found myself back in the land of the living, but currently it didn't matter as I searched my old home for any signs of others surviving the massacre. From the movement of the stars and the fact that the trees are quite older than the last time I saw them, it was clear that a long time had passed since my....slumber and reawakening. How long exactly? i'm not sure, but at least few centuries.
As I searched the ruins around me, i felt my chest tighten as the fear and sorrow surrounded my mind as I started searching for any clues more and more desperately. Out of 111 survivors of initial massacre of our ancient homeland, 106 was counted for so far. As I reached the egg chamber, the sad sight stood in front of me. The room was circular in design, with small but deep pool in the middle, which served as bathing station of little ones.
Broken pieces of dozens of eggs laid on the floor, most decomposed while some surprisingly fresh looking, even though they were centuries old. I could feel my heart break as the tiny skeletons of little ones littered the floor, their bodies having been ripped apart even before they hatched from their eggs. In the front, near the door, remains of the four remaining gorgons were laying on the floor, their decomposing skeletons only remains of their heroic, but meaningless sacrifice to protect the little ones.
As I moved towards the pool, I could feel the hot tears move fall from my eyes as I stopped in front of the small pool and looked into the depths. I could see mostly the darkness of the bottom, but I could feel the hope in my chest as I saw two white eggs in the bottom. Unfortunately that hope was crushed when I noticed that the lower half of said eggs were in pieces and two, almost unnoticeable small skeletons beneath them, half buried in the mud bottom of the pool.
I do not how long I was curled up around my self, laying on the floor as my body shook with sadness as tears fell from my eyes as I sobbed there for hours, before falling asleep because of mental exhaustion. What I do remember however was making a proper burial for all of those dead long ago the next morning, taking my time to properly recollect the shattered remains as I put them all in their own graves, leaving them unmarked so no one would try to loot them.
I can still remember when I had set our former home aflame, in both traditional thing and to burn all that anyone could try to loot in their greed, that I made a promise, binding myself with my own blood that as long as I lived, I would avenge those who had fallen and kill the white one, or die trying. Failure was not an option.
And where else to begin my revenge than the small pony settlement that happened to be nearby?
I could feel the smile on my face as I looked around me, the small town near my old home ablaze as I held the freshly drained body of mare in my hands, my lips still tainted with her blood as I hungrily looked around me. The buildings were burning with great heat as the streets were filled with dried bodies and shattered remains of petrified ponies. I could hear the screaming from the buildings and far away as some of the ponies were trapped inside, fated to burn alive in their homes.
These ponies were the descendants of those who had tried to slaughter my race, before they had been forced to summon the white one to do their dirty work. It was clear that their legends and myths knew what I was, since the moment I decided to attack (the next night after burying my fallen sisters and brothers, after scouting the town during the day from afar) I could hear the ponies scream 'Gorgon's are attacking' .
Ignoring the ones in burning buildings, I moved through the town as I hunted those who had managed to escape my initial attack. I knew that if other towns would hear about me, they would gather their precious ponies to hunt me down. It left me with the only option to ensure I survived until I was ready to kill the white one.
Leave no survivors.
With quick motion, I took hold of the pony that happened to be trapped beneath a fallen rubble of burning building as I held her in the air. The filly in question was looking at me terrified as I sadistically showed her my fangs, my tongue licking the blood from my lips as she tried to escape my grasp. These ponies had grown weak in their time of peace, but after a fight with militia, it was clear that even a half-decent training would cause trouble unless I gained more power.
Luckily however, the ponies held the answer within them as their blood and bodies were filled with magic. I had already drained several unicorns dry before I used the magic gained to set the town ablaze, enjoying the screams of panic and pain as the ponies either died by my hands or the flames of their own homes.
The filly tried to hit my face with her hands, while kicking the air with her hooves uselessly as I checked her. She looked fairly similar to humans (I only met them once, though I was still a child back them. There was something about dimensional displacement and them returning to home, but I'm not sure about that anymore. Not that it matters anyway) , only with fur covering around her body and equine looking face.
Her coat was pure white, with her mane and tail blue and small circled heart on her flank. She was a young earth pony, barely reaching into her adulthood as she was still smaller than most of the adults I already killed. True, all of the ponies were smaller than me when I was in full length (even the cursed white one), but it was still a shame to see such young creature to waste away.
Her screams were delicious as I sank my fangs into her neck, small amount of paralyzing poison leaving my fangs and filling her bloodstream to keep her body from resisting my desire too much. She tried to weakly get me off her, but her blows to my face felt no more than a small tickle thanks to my new strength and her weakness.
It was fun to hunt down the rest of the ponies in that small town. I believe I heard that the royal guard investigated it, but found no survivors of clues of what happened, other than the dried and burned bodies. It was later marked as bandit attack.
It was good that one of the ponies had been carrying a small map with them while fleeing, since it showed all the nearby towns and cities. So much ponies, with so much time in my hands to clean them all. Of course, I didn't want to attract too much attention by starting another massacre, so picking the ponies one by one as they left the towns and cities to go elsewhere was more than enough to satisfy my hunger.
I could remember the months go by as the winter came and went, with more and more ponies joining the dead at my hands. After 4 years of hunting those leaving towns and cities, it became clear that the royal guard was sweeping through the forests and surrounding lands for the cause of these death. So, it was time to move away.
Now, if only I could book a boat for the land marked Equestria.......