The River Runs Red

by Groupiegatalo

Rating: mature
Tags: Slice of Life, Sad, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Original Character
Length: 4013

What happens when yous stumble upon something you were never suppose to.

Shielded River has lived a life as a young, normal filly so far. He has an older brother, Armored Sea, and a caring mother and father. They've lived as fisherman and armor smiths for years now and have been living a life away from any sort of danger.
His mother has always protected him along with his father. But as his father takes on bigger job for no reason lately and questions start being asked. What will happen when you discover something you were never meant to?

Published 2014-09-01 16:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2014-09-01 16:00:01 UTC

Water under the bridge

Author's Note

I don't know if slice of life actually goes with this, but I'm pretty sure it does. If I'm wrong just tell me so I can get rid of the tag. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy.

Water under the bridge

The river beside the smith known as Running River gently down stream towards the town the smith, smooth steal, works for. Currently one of the residents, a young teal unicorn stallion that goes by Shielded River, sits at the bank practicing his magic on the leaves that float down it from the forest right behind the smith and the ones nears it. Every so often he gets a leaf to levitate out of the water before it softly floats back down from the release of the magic hold on it and continues its journey to who knows where.. Every time he succeeds in levitating a leaf higher than the one before he smiles to himself happy of his accomplishment. He has been trying to get a lot better at magic because he learned that he could use his magic to heat things and heal when needed to. He could be a great unicorn smith worker if he worked hard at his magic. Or at least that's what he thinks to himself.

Currently he's out here because the house is too hot inside. Lately his father, a deep blue earth stallion with a lighter blue mane, Blue Bass has been busy with a lot of orders coming in from the town and the ones that usually don't order things. Or at least that's what he's been saying. Lately Shielded hasn't seen a lot of the usual costumers stopping by. In fact, he hasn't seen anyone actually come into the shop after two weeks ago.

His father and mother, a lime green unicorn with a white mane just a bit shorted than his father, have been arguing a lot lately as well and they usually never argue at all about anything. He's been trying to ignore it, but at night he sometimes hears stuff and hears his brother, Armored Sea a mix between dark blue and light blue and a gray mane who is an earth pony like their father, also yelling some nights too. He talks about how his father should stop and they'll come up with another way and craziness like that. Blue Bass has often kept away from Armored Sea because he's been in the basement before. He isn't sure why no one has said anything to him about why they're arguing so he keeps being quiet about it because no pony asks.

He lifts another leaf out of the water and watches it fall with guilty pleasure. He has always found the very simple things in life so entertaining. He starts to bring out another leaf when he hears something clinking down the road towards their little home and smith. He turns to see what it is. Coming up the narrow cobblestone and dirt road that Armored and Bass had made is a wagon being pulled by a pony with black armor on its body. The features he can make out is that of latex wings and oddly shaped ears. Ears like the pixie ponies his mother, Winter Brook, has told stories about that leave just in the woods behind us.. The ear has a cut portion where it makes the pony look to have a ear and half. All long and pointy but it still swivels and flexes like a regular ear.

Shielded stands and starts galloping over there to meet one his father's new customers like he usually used to do till his father comes out of the house in a rush with his gray worker's apron still on his body. He usually takes that off before coming out unless something important was to be done. The colt watches from a far but can't make any of the words shared between the two out.

His father walks up to the weird pony before saying something and looking around as if he's expecting someone to see them. Luckily for the colt he's far back enough from the smith that he has the few trees around to block him from view as well as hide him in a small shadow. If it wasn't for him being a colt he probably would've been seen and scolded for ease dropping like he is right now.

His father and the weird pony talk back in forth rapidly his father's head and ears always moving and watching around them. The armored pony places a hand on his shoulder and seems to try to assure him. It seems to work as his father's ears start to rest on the side of his head like they usually do. The say a few more things before his father takes the cart full of broken weapons to the smithy.

The colt frowns a bit at the thought of him taking up another job. Lately his father has said he's been taking up more jobs, but he's never gotten to see who has been giving the jobs or how he's been doing the job anymore. He's even asked what type of big jobs he's gotten but every time he asks he seems to get a bit more annoyed with him and tells him to stop asking about it. He even yelled at him once before and that got him scolded by his mother. Blue Bass has never been known for getting angry about anything till lately.

As the armored pony leaves the colt watches his father go from towards the smithy towards the cellar where he says no one is allowed to go to anymore. The boy once tried to get a sneak peak but found it locked tight. Now as he sneaks forward towards the cellar he finally considers this as the chance to finally see what his father has been working on for so long. He makes it to the cellar doors and waits for his chance to sneak in. He wonders how he'll pull this off without his father finding out. His prayers are answered as his father comes running out completely forgetting to close the cellar doors behind him as he takes off down the road calling out for a Dusk.

The boy ignores his father's cries as he sneaks into the basement his heart pounding against his chest with every step he takes down into the darkness. He wonders to himself how his father sees down here until a blue light flickers on. Something is completely new to him. As he reaches the ground floor and walks forward looking around the dark area, he sees a lot of things he remembers like the workbench he had got from his father, the toys he made, and the blue shield that Shielded and Armored made together one week.

Shielded touches the shield a smile playing on his face as the sweet memory of the moments he and his brother have shared fills his mind. He sighs and wishes he could return to those sweet moments. Ever since three days ago, when his brother went missing, he has found it hard to keep happy and a lot of those sweet moments are gone. He has his moments of where he feels great inside, but never truly happy as the times spent with his brother.

He moves down the row of stuff that has been stored down here remembering stuff of his past which only makes his smile grow bigger and bigger. The times with his family, his father, his mother, his brother, his friends. They're all down here. Locked away so they can't be brought up again but he doesn't know why. He turns around and heads for the other side until he eyes catches something to his left deeper down in the shadows. He stops and walks down further till his eyes start to recognize the outlines of crates that hold nothing but chests in them with broken and rusted weapons cast aside. The crates remind him of the one that weird pony had brought, but surely that's a coincidence. He hopes it is.

He walks closer and finds dread slowly spreading over his body before it shifts into a kind of soothing feeling. Like he should keep walking forward into the darkness that slowly shrouding him. Its like something is asking him to come forward and his body is complying. Eventually he finds the source of the strange impulse. A black orb the size of a marble lays on the ground surrounded by burned marking and what looks like puddle of liquid. Shielded lifts up one of his hooves as he step into some of the liquid pool to see what it is. Only now does her realize how dark it is over here compared to the other part. In fact the more he thinks about it the more he wonders when the lights stopped shinning down this way and when did the darkness take over.

He completely forgets these thoughts as he puts his hoof down and walks forward towards the small black marble again. He places a hoof on it and it suddenly lurches up his hoof covering it in black and before going up and going into his fur. He feels spikes of pain lance up his right foreleg as the dark orb turns into liquid that sinks into his fur and skin. His entire right foreleg turns black up to his shoulder before the pain goes away and his fur turns back to its normal teal color. He catches his breath after he realizes he's been screaming that entire time. He sits down in the liquid staring at his right foreleg wondering what the hay happened and how angry will his father be once he learns about what happened. He looks around to find that he can actually see just a little bit better in here than before.

He can even see the way he came from and quickly heads back that way hoping his father doesn't find him here. As he gets closer and closer to where the light is he feels compelled to walk to the right and stop moving. He does so and watches as his father passes him by, without looking in his direction, heading towards where the weapons, chest, and liquid is. He goes back onto the path he was taking now galloping towards the exit/entrance hoping to get out fast before his father realizes the marble is gone.

He hits the stairs running and eventually comes out, opening the cellar door in the process, to the outside world. He closes the doors and heads back over to the river where his mother knows he'll be. He starts to catch his breath again from how tired his is after all of what just happened. He isn't too sure what happened down there, but he is positive that his father and that Dusk character won't like it when they find out what happened to him.

"They won't." A low disgruntled voice speaks up from all around him and yet from no one at all.

The sudden voice even made Shielded's heart skip a beat. He looks around to see who had said that and asks out with his voice squeaking, "Blazing? Spark?"

He figures his friends are playing another prank on him. Blazing concert was always good at throwing off his voice to sound like that and Daytime Spark always loved giving people a real shocker so to speak. But if they are he wishes they wouldn't. Instead he wishes that they come out and help him in this moment of need.

"Don't worry, they're not. On either account." The voice speaks again this time in a more general direction.

Shielded looks up to see what's talking down to him, "Don't worry about looking around. I'm in you not outside of you."

Shielded moves his head and stares at his right foreleg. That black orb had done something to him. Something that has probably made him crazy. He laughs thinking that he's probably still in the basement passed out on the floor or something. And than there he realizes that part of his coat is covered in sticky red mess from the cellar floor. He eeps and finds himself launching into the river to wash the liquid off. At that moment is when his mother comes up.

"Honey? You ready to eat?" She asks sitting down beside a tree as he appears from the water.

He nods his head hoping she doesn't notice the liquid running down the river. He hops out and runs up to his mother as she gets up and walks back to the house getting her to move fast before she has a chance to notice the red water.

That afternoon Shielded sits in his bed staring out the window towards the ancient forest and beautiful night skies. Unfortunately, tonight he can hear it loud and clear. His mom and dad are yelling at each other about what's going on in the cellar and how he needs to reconnect with his kids. Father is yelling and telling her to shut her trap.

"Just like a crazed man. Hurt everyone around for power." The voice speaks up sounding like a stallion in his twenties.

He tries to get up to go talk to them. Usually when he shows a sign that he's up they both stop, but tonight he can't seem to move.

"No, I want to show you what power brings." It says in a croaky voice.

His face goes quizzical as he listens. The yelling gets louder and louder and soon it goes quiet again. Only little sounds of moving can be heard.

"Honey... Where are you going? Honey?" It's his mother talking.

He can hear her walking along with his father. The noise gets distant before something crashes and a scream resonates from where ever they are.

"I'm sorry... It has to be done... It's gone so I have to make another one... You'll get to see my work tonight hun." Blue Bass says before a loud thud sounds.

Shielded is shaking on the bed tears streaming down his face. For some reason he can see his father over his mother a bat in his mouth and than taking her by her mane and dragging her outside. But why? It makes no sense to him. He can't shake away the vivid image in his eyes nor the distress in his mind.

"Because he wants power. And men will do anything for power." The voice says sounding wise and old.

The colt suddenly finds himself in control of his body again. He stands and walks to the door in a hurry hoping to find that none of what he saw happened.. He opens it and walks out to the scene outside of it. Blue Bass has left his weapon of choice, a bat, laying on the ground with a trail of red beside it. The red almost looks just like the red from the basement. He can't figure out why it would be. Unless it came from that bat itself.

"Because its blood. Blood is what runs through your veins. Lose to much of it you die. I can tell I'm going to have to teach you a lot." The voice says with a bit of amusement in his voice.

The colt shakes his head not really getting it but he follows the trail none the less making sure not to step in it. He follows it to the open basement doors where he walks down and finds himself walking the same path he had earlier today. except this time he is not here for curiosity sake but to stop his father from whatever he's about to do. For some reason this is his mind set even thought he can't figure out why he wants to stop his father.

"You're about to find out." The voice says in a sing song like tone.

Shielded is just now noticing how different the voice is sounding from before. Its voice keeps changing from a bunch of different voices. From Higher pitched to lower pitched sometimes it even sounds feminine, but he isn't quite sure why. He really hopes that all of this is a dream. From the food he's eaten to the moment he could almost see his father hitting his mother over the head with a bat and red liquid pooling out of her.

"Face reality with your head up." The voice chirps sounding older.

The colt continues walking forward and until he reaches the point of where he found the orb before. There is where he finds his father standing before the circle with his mother in the center of it. He tries to walk forward but finds he can't. Oddly enough he has accepted the fact that the orb that's inside of him, he guesses, is probably controlling him. Just like in the stories.

"Watch." He says sounding like an army pony.

Soon the circle starts to glow blue and so does his mother. Slowly she starts to levitate off the ground and he finds himself not liking this one bit. He tries to move forward to stop his father but finds he's still stuck fast.

"Watch what power can do and remember well. This shall be my first lesson." The voice says really old as if on the death bed.

He shakes his head, the only thing he can move, before he watches what happens to his mother. His father grabs one of the broken spear and pierces it through her body spilling more red liquid, blood?, from her body as its floats there forelegs out to the side and hind legs dangling down. She doesn't scream, she doesn't struggle, she only gurgles as she watches what her husband does to her. It almost sounds like a why.

Soon he grabs another spear and pierces her stomach and grabs a sword that strikes into her skull. Soon her body starts spreading apart at the different point on where she has been punctured with the metal melting into the different parts.

Her blood pools to the edges of the circle and piece of meat rip forth from the body to lay in the puddle. The sound of ripping meat and organs fill the room and makes vomit rise to the back of his throat. He turns away and start retching onto the ground loudly. HIs father turns anger in his eyes. He grabs one of the nearby weapons and comes blindly in the darkness.

"Son? Is that you? What did I tell you about coming down here." He says in almost a fatherly tone. As if nothing is wrong with what he's doing.

He looks at his father who approaches looking for him. He can't see and yet Shielded can. He could use this to escape.

"Or a trap."

He considers it for a moment. He deserves it for what he did to mother. Her blood is on his hooves and. He stops himself and moves away knowing that those thoughts are not of his own.

"No. It's our combined thoughts. Don't worry it'll get better. Now go to the river. Let us send a message." The voice says in a mischievous boy's voice.

"Dad." Shielded says deliberately, he can't figure out why he said that, stepping into the blood enough where it'll make hoof prints.

He gallops away making sure there is foot prints that'll show where he'll be and that the sound of running can be heard. He runs up the stairs and heads for the river where he waits behind a tree. He starts to wonder what he'll do next. Thought he is more than sure that the voice will have a plan.

"Don't worry I'll handle it from here. Just breath in and breath out." It says in a soothing mares voice.

He does as it says more out of fear than anything else. He takes a deep breath and feels something rise through him into his mind and heart. As he breathes out his mouth he feels himself floating on clouds. His body slouches forward and moves to stand in front of the river. He sits down and stares into river into his reflection except something is off. Shielded looks into his own eyes to see them green and no longer cyan like usual. Than they close and tears start to come down.

Don't worry. It'll be over soon.

He sits there in silence until he hears the muffled steps of his father behind him.

"Son... I don't know what you saw. But its alright. You don't have to worry about it. You don't have to cry anymore. Daddy is here." He hears the great whoosh of something that is being carried with force.

He expects something to hit him. Something to hurt, but instead he finds himself turned around and grabbing the club that his father swings with all his might. His left hoof grabs and yanks the club and his father towards him while his other hoof, now formed into a long curved blade, flies towards his body. In one fell moment there is a stallion falling and the next there is two parts of the same body. Blood gushes out from both end and he finds himself licking red off of the black blade. He even pokes one of the organs that is laying on the ground before him.

The taste of the red liquid is bitter and foul tasting. Just like he expected. Than the blade disappears back into his body before he walks to both ends of the body and rolls it into the river.

"You wanted a weapon. Now you have one." The voice says more in his head than out loud. Though he is sure he heard that get said out loud too, but he didn't say it... Did he?

He watches as the leaves fall onto the body as it falls into the river. The river runs red for a second before more fresher water rushes over it. The body sinks down below and the boy finds himself sitting there and laughing watching as the red rises to the surface and washes down towards the town. He wonders if it'll be doing that in the morning too. It makes for an interesting thing to watch.

"He wanted a weapon. So he got one." The voice says more in the back of his head, "And congratulations on your first kill. I didn't cut him in half you did. I didn't roll his body you did. You're just now realizing that aren't you? That's probably the reason you're laughing."

The voice heckles him but he doesn't care. The colt looks at the red liquid on his fur before blackness over takes the red and his fur turns back to teal. He looks behind him at the smithy house and wonders what will become of it. He doesn't want to come back and he doesn't want to leave.

"It shall house us. Just because they met their end doesn't mean we meet ours. Now I have lots to teach you. So let's go home." The voice says almost likes his father's. But at this point he doesn't care.

He doesn't even heed the voice in his mind. He just sits there laughing and crying at the same time. Laughing because he feels like he should and crying because he wants to. He doesn't like this at all. But this is what has all happened.

And he enjoyed every bit of it. At this point he considers himself crazy after all. He thinks about everything that has happened today and laughs even harder at what comes to mind.

"Just all water under the bridge now Dad!" The colt yells out laying on his side more and more losing his mind as he tries to figure out why just why all this had to happen.

Oh well.