Equestrian Mythology: Dead Daysby Equestrian MythologistChaptersTales and Beasts of the Mythical Lands BeyondChapter 2: Beasts of the Night: Part 1The Seeds of DoubtTales and Beasts of the Mythical Lands BeyondTwilight Sparkle skipped happily through her new home, it was rather wonderful to have a castle for just you and your friends don't you think? She skipped along humming to herself as she headed for her new library, it was bigger than her old home was put together! She stopped in front of the big double doors and pushed the open to reveal her wonderous library filled with books for every age and style. She squeed. Twilight hopped up the small steps that led up to another level of the library and started in a section that she had newly shelved. This section she had labeled as Science. As she browsed through the books (every single one she had already read) she stopped at one that stood out. It had thick binding and course pages that were thicker then normal, making the book twice as big as a normal sized one. Curious she magically withdrew the book and walked over to one of the chairs in her sitting area. The book was labeled, Equestrian Mythology: Tales and Beasts of the Mythical Lands Beyond. She remebered reading it, it was actually fascinating, but she had seen through almost all of the stories as just fables and fairy tales, they just weren't scientifacly accurate. Twilight started to get up from her seat to put the book back when the doors opened up with a bang to reveal a certain Cyan and Rainbow colored Pegasus. "Hello Rainbow Dash! What brings you into the Library of all places?" Rainbow paused in her flight from one bookshelf to the other as she was adressed by Twilight. "Oh hi Twilight, didn't see you there. I'm actually looking for umm...uh...another book to read." Rainbow Dash blushed and hid behind her wing as best as she could to get away from Twilight's incredulous stare. "Really? Another book? Did you finally get bored of reading the Daring Do novels over and over again?" Twilight asked with a small smirk. "Hey! They're really good! I was just hoping for something similar but different... You know." Rainbow waved her hoof through the air as if that was supposed to clarify everything. Fortunately Twilight knew exactly what she was talking about. "Ok, let me see. Do you like Science? Math? Chemistry? Romance? Sad? Funny?" At all of these suggestions she had recieved a quick shake of the head. "Umm... Oh! Sci-fi? Aliens and supernatural stuff, no huh. Well..." Twilight trailed off as she tried to think of another book genre that Rainbow would be interested in besides Adventure. "Hey whats that you're holding?" Rainbow pointed at the Mythology book Twilight was floating at her side. "Oh this? Its about Equestria's Mythology. It contains stories and fables about stuff that isn't real. It even has sections for scary and sometimes gruesome ones." Twilight looked up from the book to see Rainbow Dash practicaly drooling on the floor, that sounded awesome to her! "Uhh, you can read it if you want." Rainbow zoomed forward and eagerly snatched the book out of Twilight's magical grasp and started reading it as she flew back to her house, running into a couple walls on the way. "Huh, that was easier then I thought it was going to be." ~~~>Rainbow Dash<~~~ After running into the third wall, Rainbow Dash closed the book and waited until she got back home to read it. She ignored the friendly waves from ponies walking down the street as she raced through Ponyville before heading up into the clouds and to her home. She almost destroyed her door by blasting through the hardened cloud but fortunately (or unfortunately in this case) it held when she charged headlong into it. Rainbow Dash walked into her house while shaking the dizziness away from her crash, it didn't hurt but it was disorientating. She heard a thwipping sound and ducked her head to avoid the oncoming flying turtle. "Hey Tank, hold down the fort for me?" The turtle seemed to understand her and bobbed its head in answer. Rainbow chuckled and headed for her room to start this amazing book. Rainbow always thought it was funny imagining a robber breaking into her house and then breaking out again as he was pursued by a flying turtle. Rainbow walked up to her bed and dived onto it, loving the bounce that she made as she landed. She settled down with her head against her pillows and book on her chest, ready to binge read it if it was good. Author's Note Hello! Welcome to my first Story! I'll hopefully write more stories exploring more of the myths and legends in Equestria. If you have an idea for a myth or legend and would like to see it written, PM me, and I will brew it up. Hope you enjoyed the story though, please tell me if I missed any typos too. Don't have an editor so I got to do it myself. Chapter 2: Beasts of the Night: Part 1"Wait...what?" Rainbow flipped through the first couple pages and double checked that she hadn't missed anything. There was the Table of Contents, the Intro and then Chapter 2, no Chapter One. Maybe the Intro was Chapter One? Yeah that had to be it, the page numbers were in order as well. She shrugged and kept on reading anyway, the Intro had been promising but that was just the Intro, where was the good stuff. An hour later Rainbow was huddeled in the corner of her room with the lights blazing and a flashlight turned on in her hooves, light streamed in from the after noon sun through the windows. "J-just a s-s-story Rainbow, pull y-yourself together. It's Mythology, it's not real, nothing with six legs, blood red fur and suction cup fingers will come out of your closet and steal all of your blood before devouring you whole. Rainbow stopped shaking. "Actually, now that I say that out loud, that does sound peetty ridiculous. Come on Rainbow Dash Pull yourself together!" Rainbow turned off her flash light, closed the blinds to her windows and picked up the book from its place on the floor. "Lets start again shall we?" ~~~>In the Book<~~~ Have you ever thought about making an animal? Or perhaps designing your own pet? What about creating a monster that would kill all peaceful life and destroy the ecosystem. How about all three. Mortuus Diebus, also known now-a-days as Dead Days was what we would call a mad scientist. He had not been treated fairly as a colt and he had the worst of luck as a Stallion, so he wanted to have his revenge on the world for treating him unfairly. His plan was to create the ultimate predator, a monster that could kill withoit being killed, and then when the world was about to take his creation away, reproduce. The scary thing about this was, he had found a way to accomplish his goals. Of course, no pony who knew him would have guessed that he was trying to kill the world, and he didn't tell them. If they asked him he would just say it was for an experiment. He even managed to get Stsrswirl the Bearded to help out- ~~~>1029 years ago<~~~ Mortuus poured over his ingenious plans and made sure that everything was in order. He had one shot at this. The Squaks and Growls coming from the various cages around the room didn't help his cituation though, they were blasted loud. Mortuus magicaly lifted the designs up and pinned them to the facility wall where he could check them if he needed too. The procedure would start as soon as his 'friend' came to help. Mortuus looked around the room and made sure that he hadn't missed anything, but everything was in order. Mortuus was absolutely certain that his experiment would work, as long as Starswirl showed up. He was the key to all this. What Mortuus was planning to do required top notch machinery and magical capabilities of almost Alicorn level, as both Alicorns were unavailable and wouldn't help he was left with the next best thing. Mortuus' lab was located in the middle of a desert, why? That way if any of his experiments went wrong it wouldn't hurt anypony, not that they would care if any of those Zebra types got hurt. The REAL reason why he had constructed his lab in the middle of no where, was because he didn't want any of his experiments to be found out. He would be executed for what he was about to do. Just as it turned midnight Mortuus heard a knock on his laboratory doors. He kept himself from sprinting over to the door in anticipation, this was it! Mortuus reached the door and pushed it open to reveal Starswirl the Bearded and his magnificant cape. "Starswirl! You made it! Come in, come in. We wouldn't want you to bake outside before the project starts now would we?" Starswirl chuckled and strode into Mortuus' Lab and behind him he carried a sack of sorts. "I'm sorry but I must ask you to leave your bag inside the confined room, any unregistered Organisms in the Lab may contest with the results and cause a major problem. I hope you understand." "Of course, I expected as much. There how's that? Now, when shall we begin and what would you like me to do? Your letter was very vague." Starswirl stated as he examined the various animals and critters locked in cages around the white washed wood of the lab. "Oh we shall start as soon as possible, all I need you to do is wait right there." Mortuus put on his best smile as he carefuly maneuvered the magic inhibitor over Starswirls horn. "Hey! Wha- what are you doing!" Starswirl struggeled the with the ring that was firmly piched onto his horn. Inhibitors were very uncommon and absolutely illegal, he hadn't expected this from what he considered his friend! Mortuus laughed at Starswirls struggles before hitting Starswirl with a Paralysis spell, that certain spell had taken him half his life time to learn, then again, this plan had taken longer than that. now immobilized. Starswirl slumped to the ground and could only move his eyes as he watched Mortuus levitate his body over to a chair with straps coming from all over the place. Mortuus slipped the straps onto Starswirls limbs and even one across his forhead just under his horn. Now came the fun part. He brought down a complicated device that had been surprisingly simple to construct, of course that way have only been because he was a genius. The Device resembeled a hose and was conected to Starswirls horn and the machine in the middle of the Lab. Starswirl was terrified and curious as to what Mortuus' plan was, both Alicorns knew he had come here, and Mortuus wasn't enough of a fool to simply keep him here. What was his plan? Meanwhile Mortuus was humming happily to himself as he secured the final strap and stepped back to admire his work. Nodding silently to himself he walked over to the Mainframe and got down to business. "Now Starswirl, if you are as terrified as I hope you are, I imagine you must be wondering what I'm going to do to you. Correct? Oh don't worry you don't need to answer." He chuckled to himself as he funneled his magic into the various machines around the room and turned everything on. "But you don't need to worry, I, don't intend to harm you, I just need your abundance of magic, and these helpful critters." He gestured around the Lab. "Oh if you feel the floor rumbiling, don't worry, that's just the dragon." Mortuus pulled on his lab coat and put on his dark glasses, didn't want to go blind right? Mortuus did a quick system check before flipping on the Mainframe which powered up with a buz. "Now Starswirl, you maaay or may not feel a slight tingle." Mortuus pushed the Phase 1 button. Starswirl would have screamed if he could. "That is the feeling of your magic being drawn from you, unpleasant right? Anyway now begins the fun part." He pushed the Phase 2 button. At first nothing seemed to happen, but gradually the animals around the room quieted down and seemed to go into a deep sleep. Then as all the animals stopped moving altogether wisps of purple and blue energy coursed through the cages and up the wires conscting them to the Machine in the middle. "Splendid! Now we shall unleash all the power stored inside, mind your eyes Starswirl, it could blind you." Mortuus shrugged when he realised he had positoned Starswirls chair facing the machine, oh well. He clicked the Phase 3 button. Mortuus watched as the machine started to glow and vibrate as the energy coursed through the metal frame. The viewing glass walling the one side of the machine started to super heat and vibrate violently. Mortuus started to worry that it would fail. However, the machine seemed to stabilize at this point and just thrum with a deeper energy then before. Eventually the light got too bright for even his Darkened glasses and he wondered what Starswirl must be feeling right now. The machine then shut off instantly. No cool down, no warning, just off. The light disappearing with the noise. "Well that was interesting." Mortuus gently pressed the key that would open the Machine and release his final creation. The machine unfolded with a soft hiss and steam pooled out of it, the heat finally being released. Inside revealed what looked like an egg. Mortuus' shoulders slumped in disapointment, he had wanted a mammal, one at the age of an adult too. It twitched. Mortuus took off his glasses and took a more careful look at the creature, it wasn't an egg, it was just curled into a ball. Mortuus stepped closer and saw that the newly made creature had fur and feathers. Perfect. It also had two large ears, good. Two wings sprouting from its back in between its four legs, correct. It had a long tail that ended in a fin that could be used for either guiding or fighting, just what the doctor ordered. However, what surprised him was that the creature had three main toes on each paw with a fourth at the heel. It also had a big glowing spot in the middle of each wing that looked very intimidating. As well as a spot on each side of it's flanks, as well as two on each side of the tail fin. "Interesting...I wonder if I should wake it up." As Mortuus reached his hoof forwards to poke the Creature awake it opened its eyes. Mortuus jumped back as he gasped in surprise, the eyes had no pupils or irises. In fact, they looked exactly like the spots decorating its body. It lifted its head and looked over at Mortuus, he noticed that it didn't appear to have a mouth, that was wierd. It then shifted its body and blended into the machine, it was a Chameleon! "Sweet Celestia! You are better than I had ever hoped you wound be! Come to daddy my little Dae-" Mortuus was cut off when an unseen claw popped out of the creatures fourth toe and slashed his throat. The creature had mistook his playful gesture as one of a challenge. "My...L-little...Dae...de...sol." Mortuus cluched his throat as he stumbeled towards his main frame and hit the emergency button labeled as repeat. He fell down to the floor and gurgled as his blood splashed past his hoof and onto the floor. The creature newly Christened as a Daedesol slinked up to him and a slit appeared in its mouth. The Daedesol opened its mouth wider than should be possible by unhinging its jaw and bit down over Mortuus' head. Promptly snapping his neck and ending Mortuus' life. The Machine whired into life again and started producing more Daedesols, all the while Starswirl sat in the confines of his chair and listened to everything going on around him. He would be able to heal his sight as long as he got that blasted ring off his horn. The problem wasn't IF help was coming, but WHEN. Would he still be alive when somepony came? ~~~>In the Book<~~~ The rescue team found Starswirl unbound and blinded as Mortuus Diebus lay in his own blood. Nopony knows what the so called Daedesol looks like, as the only witness to its birth was killed by it. Ponies have searched the Desert for this beast but no reports of it have ever been spotted. There wasn't even any charts or sketches of the Daedesol, just the possible capabilities. Starswirl, however, claimed that he had been cut free from his bonds by something which he had assumed was the Daedesol but couldn't have been sure. The only fact that is know about this creature (if it exsists) is that it has wings and is capable of flight. Author's Note The little seeds of doubt have been planted, shall we wait till they grow? The Seeds of DoubtRainbow Dash closed the book with an audible snap and let it fall onto her lap. That little section had got her thinking. If it was related to Starswirl the Bearded then there would be plenty of information to prove or falsify this. Rainbow blinked her eyes and scrunched up her face, she was becoming an egghead! First the books, now research! Rainbow banged her head against the wall behind her and groaned, this was all Twilight's fault. If she hadn't gotten her hooked on the Daring Do books then she wouldn't have been interested in all of this mumbo jumbo. She also would have been very bored on those miserable rainy days. Rainbow opened her eyes and looked out the window to see how much time had passed, just fifteen minutes or so. Rainbow shrugged and jumped out of her bed and flew through her house and out the front door. She wouldn't let this perfect day go to waste by reading a book. As she was flying around just enjoying the good day she had provided, she started thinking about the mysterious creature. What was it? A Daedesol? She thought of how awesome it would be to have one as a pet, a creature that had wings and ferocious talons that was incredibly loyal but massively intimidating. She imagined herself walking down the streets of Ponyville with her Daedesol at her side with its scaly hide and large teeth sticking out of its mouth because they were too big. She imagined the look on everypony's face as they saw her Daedesol. It was too perfect to be true. Rainbow Dash looked around her as she came back to the real world and found herself at the outskirts of Ponyville near Twilight's castle. It was too good to be true. Rainbow flew over to Twilight's place and landed at the enterance before walking in, exploring the place wasn't a bad idea as Twilight hadn't yet managed it. Rainbow walked the halls of the shiny walls and floors, it was actually quite stunning. She still thought it would look better with more red, yellow and blue. Rainbow found herself walking into the main Chamber of the castle with the six seats laid out for her and her friends. Spike's chair didn't count. Rainbow trotted over to her throne and plopped down in it, it was actually kind of comfortable; it wasn't cloud soft but it fit nicely. She idly tapped her hoof on the arm rest and wondered what to do now. Rainbow was about to get up and continue exploring when the ground started to rumble and a table sprouted out of the ground in front of her! Rainbow Dash stared at the table for a couple of seconds before realizing that it wasn't a table, but a map. Rainbow leaned forward and examined it closely, it only showed Equestria, not any other countries. She marveled at the detail that the map showed and wondered who made it. A small red lightning bolt flashed on it. Rainbow stared at it for a couple of seconds before frowning, it was flashing over a section of forest that seemed oddly near Daring Do's cottage... She wasn't stalking her! Rainbow reached over the map edge and gently tapped the icon, to her surprise the map zoomed in and focused on a very accurate scale model of Daring Do's cottage. This was definitely wierd. Rainbow watched as a miniature Daring Do walked out of the Cottage door and looked around almost wistfully before sighing and turning back inside. Strange, wonder what was bothering her. Rainbow leaned back from the edge of the map and it lowered back into the ground with a similar rumble. Why had that happened and what was she supposed to do that involved Daring Do? Maybe she was supposed to visit? That made sense anyway, if she was supposed to help her with something then she would have to go there anyway. Yeah, thats what she would do, she would visit Daring Do. If she didn't need anything then she could just say it was a friendly visit. ~~~>One Day Later<~~~ Rainbow stood outside Daring Do's Cottage and was relieved to find that it was in much better condition than the last time she had been there. She walked up to the door and was about to knock when the door opened inwards anyway. "What do you want, Rainbow Dash." Darimg Do didn't look her best despite her Cottage being in better shape, she also sounded like she didn't want visitors. "Umm... I was wondering if you needed anything." Rainow self-consciously rubbed her hoof against her other foreleg when she was rewarded with raised eyebrows. "What do I want? I want to know what you are doing here. If you are looking for an exciting adventure then I'm afraid you have reached the wrong mare. Nothing going on around here with taking note of, or writing a book about." Daring Do seemed crestfallen as she looked behind Rainbow's shoulder and sighed to herself. Rainbow was uncertain what to do, was Daring Do just bored? Was that why she was supposed to come down here? To releave her boredom? Rainbow snorted at the thought and instead tried to start up a new conversation. "Well I was wondering if maybe you would help me with something? If you aren't busy..." Rainbow trailed off as she remembered that Daring Do had just told her that there wasn't anything happening. "I read a book about a creature that may or may not exsist and I was wondering if you were willing to help me find out? It would be stress free and get you out of the house." Daring Do stared at Rainbow with winder in her eyes. "You want me, to come with you, to search for a possibly imaginary creature just to get me out of the house?" When Rainbow Dash nodded she sighed "Fine, I'll come with you, maybe something exciting will happen on the way." Daring Do didn't even bother getting packed, she just waalked out her house and closed the door. "Lead the way." Rainbow Dash drew a blank card, what was the next step? She hadn't actually planned on her coming so willingly. They could ask around for any Mythological enthusiasts to see if they had any clue to the creature. Then she remembered something. "Hey, do you like Myths and Legends?" Daring Do brought a small smirk on her face as she followed Rainbow Dash through the winding trails of the forest. "I love them, if they didn't have a small degree of truth to them then they wouldn't be. However, thats the tricky part, what is the true part to the Legend or Myth? Sometimes it might be a name, a detail, a place, or the general guidline of the story. Why? Are we hunting for facts here?" "Uh, yeah, there was a myth that I found rather interesting so I figured you could help me figure out if it was true. This way you could get out of the house and I could have my curiosity cured." Rainbow Dash hoped that Daring Do wouldn't turn around now that she knew it wasn't as action packed as either of them probably wanted. "Sounds fine to me. Wait, how did you know I needed to get out of the house?" Rainbow Dash started to panic, she couldn't tell her that she had seen her, that would be creepy. What could she say? "Oh whatever, I guess it was just the Elements of Harmony talking to you. What is this Myth anyway? I have heard of a lot of them so I might have a clue to begin with." "Its A myth about a creature actually, one called a Daedesol. Ever heard of it?" Rainbow Dash turned around to see Daring Do staring at the ground in fromt of her hooves with a heavy frown. "Whats wrong?" Daring Do didn't respond in words but instead sat down with a heavy thump. Rainbow Dash rushed over to her ideal and wasn't sure if she should comfort the rock-hard pegasus or if she should just stay quite. Indecision made her fidget. Eventually though Daring Do spoke up. "Is that a creature that was made from a Mortuus Diebus by any chance?" "Y-Yes." Rainbow wasn't sure where this was going. "I'm sorry. But I won't be joining you on this journey. I would be a foul if I told you to not do the same. Only bad things have happened to the Ponies that looked for that creature." Then in a smaller voice she said "Even the ponies most qualified." Rainbow Dash was shocked, Daring Do giving up on an adventure that hadn't even started? Something really bad must have happened. "U-uh ok, well we can do something else if you wan-" Daring Do was shaking her head "No Rainbow, I'm going back home." Rainbow Dash sat in stunned silence as she watched Daring Do walk back down the trail towards her Cottage. Then she flew in front of her. "Hey! Whats gotten in to you! I wouldn't think Daring Do herself would ever turn down a fight. Why now?" Daring Do snapped her head up to Rainbow Dash and shouted at her with tears forming in her eyes. "BECAUSE HE NEVER CAME BACK!!" Daring Do stopped walking and tried to hide her tears with her hoof as they freely flowed for the first time in almost eight years. Rainbow had landed as she was shouted at by Daring Do, something definently was wrong, who hadn't come back. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know that that was such a touchy subject." "How could you? You are the only other pony who knows that now. Look, I understand if you want to keep looking for this cresture but don't expect me to come with you. The only thing I can do for you is tell you where he last went, maybe it will help, as long as you find out what happened to him. I need to know." Daring Do had stemmed some of the tears to look at Rainbow as she ofered her hoof to the other pegasus. "Deal?" Rainbow stared at the hoof as she considered what Daring had told her. She needed to find this lost Stallion? Was that why the map told her to come here? Making up her mind, Rainbow leaned forward and hoof bumped Daring Do's raised hoof. "Deal." Author's Note The comedy tag will come into clearer detail soon, I promise.
Tales and Beasts of the Mythical Lands BeyondTwilight Sparkle skipped happily through her new home, it was rather wonderful to have a castle for just you and your friends don't you think? She skipped along humming to herself as she headed for her new library, it was bigger than her old home was put together! She stopped in front of the big double doors and pushed the open to reveal her wonderous library filled with books for every age and style. She squeed. Twilight hopped up the small steps that led up to another level of the library and started in a section that she had newly shelved. This section she had labeled as Science. As she browsed through the books (every single one she had already read) she stopped at one that stood out. It had thick binding and course pages that were thicker then normal, making the book twice as big as a normal sized one. Curious she magically withdrew the book and walked over to one of the chairs in her sitting area. The book was labeled, Equestrian Mythology: Tales and Beasts of the Mythical Lands Beyond. She remebered reading it, it was actually fascinating, but she had seen through almost all of the stories as just fables and fairy tales, they just weren't scientifacly accurate. Twilight started to get up from her seat to put the book back when the doors opened up with a bang to reveal a certain Cyan and Rainbow colored Pegasus. "Hello Rainbow Dash! What brings you into the Library of all places?" Rainbow paused in her flight from one bookshelf to the other as she was adressed by Twilight. "Oh hi Twilight, didn't see you there. I'm actually looking for umm...uh...another book to read." Rainbow Dash blushed and hid behind her wing as best as she could to get away from Twilight's incredulous stare. "Really? Another book? Did you finally get bored of reading the Daring Do novels over and over again?" Twilight asked with a small smirk. "Hey! They're really good! I was just hoping for something similar but different... You know." Rainbow waved her hoof through the air as if that was supposed to clarify everything. Fortunately Twilight knew exactly what she was talking about. "Ok, let me see. Do you like Science? Math? Chemistry? Romance? Sad? Funny?" At all of these suggestions she had recieved a quick shake of the head. "Umm... Oh! Sci-fi? Aliens and supernatural stuff, no huh. Well..." Twilight trailed off as she tried to think of another book genre that Rainbow would be interested in besides Adventure. "Hey whats that you're holding?" Rainbow pointed at the Mythology book Twilight was floating at her side. "Oh this? Its about Equestria's Mythology. It contains stories and fables about stuff that isn't real. It even has sections for scary and sometimes gruesome ones." Twilight looked up from the book to see Rainbow Dash practicaly drooling on the floor, that sounded awesome to her! "Uhh, you can read it if you want." Rainbow zoomed forward and eagerly snatched the book out of Twilight's magical grasp and started reading it as she flew back to her house, running into a couple walls on the way. "Huh, that was easier then I thought it was going to be." ~~~>Rainbow Dash<~~~ After running into the third wall, Rainbow Dash closed the book and waited until she got back home to read it. She ignored the friendly waves from ponies walking down the street as she raced through Ponyville before heading up into the clouds and to her home. She almost destroyed her door by blasting through the hardened cloud but fortunately (or unfortunately in this case) it held when she charged headlong into it. Rainbow Dash walked into her house while shaking the dizziness away from her crash, it didn't hurt but it was disorientating. She heard a thwipping sound and ducked her head to avoid the oncoming flying turtle. "Hey Tank, hold down the fort for me?" The turtle seemed to understand her and bobbed its head in answer. Rainbow chuckled and headed for her room to start this amazing book. Rainbow always thought it was funny imagining a robber breaking into her house and then breaking out again as he was pursued by a flying turtle. Rainbow walked up to her bed and dived onto it, loving the bounce that she made as she landed. She settled down with her head against her pillows and book on her chest, ready to binge read it if it was good. Author's Note Hello! Welcome to my first Story! I'll hopefully write more stories exploring more of the myths and legends in Equestria. If you have an idea for a myth or legend and would like to see it written, PM me, and I will brew it up. Hope you enjoyed the story though, please tell me if I missed any typos too. Don't have an editor so I got to do it myself.
Chapter 2: Beasts of the Night: Part 1"Wait...what?" Rainbow flipped through the first couple pages and double checked that she hadn't missed anything. There was the Table of Contents, the Intro and then Chapter 2, no Chapter One. Maybe the Intro was Chapter One? Yeah that had to be it, the page numbers were in order as well. She shrugged and kept on reading anyway, the Intro had been promising but that was just the Intro, where was the good stuff. An hour later Rainbow was huddeled in the corner of her room with the lights blazing and a flashlight turned on in her hooves, light streamed in from the after noon sun through the windows. "J-just a s-s-story Rainbow, pull y-yourself together. It's Mythology, it's not real, nothing with six legs, blood red fur and suction cup fingers will come out of your closet and steal all of your blood before devouring you whole. Rainbow stopped shaking. "Actually, now that I say that out loud, that does sound peetty ridiculous. Come on Rainbow Dash Pull yourself together!" Rainbow turned off her flash light, closed the blinds to her windows and picked up the book from its place on the floor. "Lets start again shall we?" ~~~>In the Book<~~~ Have you ever thought about making an animal? Or perhaps designing your own pet? What about creating a monster that would kill all peaceful life and destroy the ecosystem. How about all three. Mortuus Diebus, also known now-a-days as Dead Days was what we would call a mad scientist. He had not been treated fairly as a colt and he had the worst of luck as a Stallion, so he wanted to have his revenge on the world for treating him unfairly. His plan was to create the ultimate predator, a monster that could kill withoit being killed, and then when the world was about to take his creation away, reproduce. The scary thing about this was, he had found a way to accomplish his goals. Of course, no pony who knew him would have guessed that he was trying to kill the world, and he didn't tell them. If they asked him he would just say it was for an experiment. He even managed to get Stsrswirl the Bearded to help out- ~~~>1029 years ago<~~~ Mortuus poured over his ingenious plans and made sure that everything was in order. He had one shot at this. The Squaks and Growls coming from the various cages around the room didn't help his cituation though, they were blasted loud. Mortuus magicaly lifted the designs up and pinned them to the facility wall where he could check them if he needed too. The procedure would start as soon as his 'friend' came to help. Mortuus looked around the room and made sure that he hadn't missed anything, but everything was in order. Mortuus was absolutely certain that his experiment would work, as long as Starswirl showed up. He was the key to all this. What Mortuus was planning to do required top notch machinery and magical capabilities of almost Alicorn level, as both Alicorns were unavailable and wouldn't help he was left with the next best thing. Mortuus' lab was located in the middle of a desert, why? That way if any of his experiments went wrong it wouldn't hurt anypony, not that they would care if any of those Zebra types got hurt. The REAL reason why he had constructed his lab in the middle of no where, was because he didn't want any of his experiments to be found out. He would be executed for what he was about to do. Just as it turned midnight Mortuus heard a knock on his laboratory doors. He kept himself from sprinting over to the door in anticipation, this was it! Mortuus reached the door and pushed it open to reveal Starswirl the Bearded and his magnificant cape. "Starswirl! You made it! Come in, come in. We wouldn't want you to bake outside before the project starts now would we?" Starswirl chuckled and strode into Mortuus' Lab and behind him he carried a sack of sorts. "I'm sorry but I must ask you to leave your bag inside the confined room, any unregistered Organisms in the Lab may contest with the results and cause a major problem. I hope you understand." "Of course, I expected as much. There how's that? Now, when shall we begin and what would you like me to do? Your letter was very vague." Starswirl stated as he examined the various animals and critters locked in cages around the white washed wood of the lab. "Oh we shall start as soon as possible, all I need you to do is wait right there." Mortuus put on his best smile as he carefuly maneuvered the magic inhibitor over Starswirls horn. "Hey! Wha- what are you doing!" Starswirl struggeled the with the ring that was firmly piched onto his horn. Inhibitors were very uncommon and absolutely illegal, he hadn't expected this from what he considered his friend! Mortuus laughed at Starswirls struggles before hitting Starswirl with a Paralysis spell, that certain spell had taken him half his life time to learn, then again, this plan had taken longer than that. now immobilized. Starswirl slumped to the ground and could only move his eyes as he watched Mortuus levitate his body over to a chair with straps coming from all over the place. Mortuus slipped the straps onto Starswirls limbs and even one across his forhead just under his horn. Now came the fun part. He brought down a complicated device that had been surprisingly simple to construct, of course that way have only been because he was a genius. The Device resembeled a hose and was conected to Starswirls horn and the machine in the middle of the Lab. Starswirl was terrified and curious as to what Mortuus' plan was, both Alicorns knew he had come here, and Mortuus wasn't enough of a fool to simply keep him here. What was his plan? Meanwhile Mortuus was humming happily to himself as he secured the final strap and stepped back to admire his work. Nodding silently to himself he walked over to the Mainframe and got down to business. "Now Starswirl, if you are as terrified as I hope you are, I imagine you must be wondering what I'm going to do to you. Correct? Oh don't worry you don't need to answer." He chuckled to himself as he funneled his magic into the various machines around the room and turned everything on. "But you don't need to worry, I, don't intend to harm you, I just need your abundance of magic, and these helpful critters." He gestured around the Lab. "Oh if you feel the floor rumbiling, don't worry, that's just the dragon." Mortuus pulled on his lab coat and put on his dark glasses, didn't want to go blind right? Mortuus did a quick system check before flipping on the Mainframe which powered up with a buz. "Now Starswirl, you maaay or may not feel a slight tingle." Mortuus pushed the Phase 1 button. Starswirl would have screamed if he could. "That is the feeling of your magic being drawn from you, unpleasant right? Anyway now begins the fun part." He pushed the Phase 2 button. At first nothing seemed to happen, but gradually the animals around the room quieted down and seemed to go into a deep sleep. Then as all the animals stopped moving altogether wisps of purple and blue energy coursed through the cages and up the wires conscting them to the Machine in the middle. "Splendid! Now we shall unleash all the power stored inside, mind your eyes Starswirl, it could blind you." Mortuus shrugged when he realised he had positoned Starswirls chair facing the machine, oh well. He clicked the Phase 3 button. Mortuus watched as the machine started to glow and vibrate as the energy coursed through the metal frame. The viewing glass walling the one side of the machine started to super heat and vibrate violently. Mortuus started to worry that it would fail. However, the machine seemed to stabilize at this point and just thrum with a deeper energy then before. Eventually the light got too bright for even his Darkened glasses and he wondered what Starswirl must be feeling right now. The machine then shut off instantly. No cool down, no warning, just off. The light disappearing with the noise. "Well that was interesting." Mortuus gently pressed the key that would open the Machine and release his final creation. The machine unfolded with a soft hiss and steam pooled out of it, the heat finally being released. Inside revealed what looked like an egg. Mortuus' shoulders slumped in disapointment, he had wanted a mammal, one at the age of an adult too. It twitched. Mortuus took off his glasses and took a more careful look at the creature, it wasn't an egg, it was just curled into a ball. Mortuus stepped closer and saw that the newly made creature had fur and feathers. Perfect. It also had two large ears, good. Two wings sprouting from its back in between its four legs, correct. It had a long tail that ended in a fin that could be used for either guiding or fighting, just what the doctor ordered. However, what surprised him was that the creature had three main toes on each paw with a fourth at the heel. It also had a big glowing spot in the middle of each wing that looked very intimidating. As well as a spot on each side of it's flanks, as well as two on each side of the tail fin. "Interesting...I wonder if I should wake it up." As Mortuus reached his hoof forwards to poke the Creature awake it opened its eyes. Mortuus jumped back as he gasped in surprise, the eyes had no pupils or irises. In fact, they looked exactly like the spots decorating its body. It lifted its head and looked over at Mortuus, he noticed that it didn't appear to have a mouth, that was wierd. It then shifted its body and blended into the machine, it was a Chameleon! "Sweet Celestia! You are better than I had ever hoped you wound be! Come to daddy my little Dae-" Mortuus was cut off when an unseen claw popped out of the creatures fourth toe and slashed his throat. The creature had mistook his playful gesture as one of a challenge. "My...L-little...Dae...de...sol." Mortuus cluched his throat as he stumbeled towards his main frame and hit the emergency button labeled as repeat. He fell down to the floor and gurgled as his blood splashed past his hoof and onto the floor. The creature newly Christened as a Daedesol slinked up to him and a slit appeared in its mouth. The Daedesol opened its mouth wider than should be possible by unhinging its jaw and bit down over Mortuus' head. Promptly snapping his neck and ending Mortuus' life. The Machine whired into life again and started producing more Daedesols, all the while Starswirl sat in the confines of his chair and listened to everything going on around him. He would be able to heal his sight as long as he got that blasted ring off his horn. The problem wasn't IF help was coming, but WHEN. Would he still be alive when somepony came? ~~~>In the Book<~~~ The rescue team found Starswirl unbound and blinded as Mortuus Diebus lay in his own blood. Nopony knows what the so called Daedesol looks like, as the only witness to its birth was killed by it. Ponies have searched the Desert for this beast but no reports of it have ever been spotted. There wasn't even any charts or sketches of the Daedesol, just the possible capabilities. Starswirl, however, claimed that he had been cut free from his bonds by something which he had assumed was the Daedesol but couldn't have been sure. The only fact that is know about this creature (if it exsists) is that it has wings and is capable of flight. Author's Note The little seeds of doubt have been planted, shall we wait till they grow?
The Seeds of DoubtRainbow Dash closed the book with an audible snap and let it fall onto her lap. That little section had got her thinking. If it was related to Starswirl the Bearded then there would be plenty of information to prove or falsify this. Rainbow blinked her eyes and scrunched up her face, she was becoming an egghead! First the books, now research! Rainbow banged her head against the wall behind her and groaned, this was all Twilight's fault. If she hadn't gotten her hooked on the Daring Do books then she wouldn't have been interested in all of this mumbo jumbo. She also would have been very bored on those miserable rainy days. Rainbow opened her eyes and looked out the window to see how much time had passed, just fifteen minutes or so. Rainbow shrugged and jumped out of her bed and flew through her house and out the front door. She wouldn't let this perfect day go to waste by reading a book. As she was flying around just enjoying the good day she had provided, she started thinking about the mysterious creature. What was it? A Daedesol? She thought of how awesome it would be to have one as a pet, a creature that had wings and ferocious talons that was incredibly loyal but massively intimidating. She imagined herself walking down the streets of Ponyville with her Daedesol at her side with its scaly hide and large teeth sticking out of its mouth because they were too big. She imagined the look on everypony's face as they saw her Daedesol. It was too perfect to be true. Rainbow Dash looked around her as she came back to the real world and found herself at the outskirts of Ponyville near Twilight's castle. It was too good to be true. Rainbow flew over to Twilight's place and landed at the enterance before walking in, exploring the place wasn't a bad idea as Twilight hadn't yet managed it. Rainbow walked the halls of the shiny walls and floors, it was actually quite stunning. She still thought it would look better with more red, yellow and blue. Rainbow found herself walking into the main Chamber of the castle with the six seats laid out for her and her friends. Spike's chair didn't count. Rainbow trotted over to her throne and plopped down in it, it was actually kind of comfortable; it wasn't cloud soft but it fit nicely. She idly tapped her hoof on the arm rest and wondered what to do now. Rainbow was about to get up and continue exploring when the ground started to rumble and a table sprouted out of the ground in front of her! Rainbow Dash stared at the table for a couple of seconds before realizing that it wasn't a table, but a map. Rainbow leaned forward and examined it closely, it only showed Equestria, not any other countries. She marveled at the detail that the map showed and wondered who made it. A small red lightning bolt flashed on it. Rainbow stared at it for a couple of seconds before frowning, it was flashing over a section of forest that seemed oddly near Daring Do's cottage... She wasn't stalking her! Rainbow reached over the map edge and gently tapped the icon, to her surprise the map zoomed in and focused on a very accurate scale model of Daring Do's cottage. This was definitely wierd. Rainbow watched as a miniature Daring Do walked out of the Cottage door and looked around almost wistfully before sighing and turning back inside. Strange, wonder what was bothering her. Rainbow leaned back from the edge of the map and it lowered back into the ground with a similar rumble. Why had that happened and what was she supposed to do that involved Daring Do? Maybe she was supposed to visit? That made sense anyway, if she was supposed to help her with something then she would have to go there anyway. Yeah, thats what she would do, she would visit Daring Do. If she didn't need anything then she could just say it was a friendly visit. ~~~>One Day Later<~~~ Rainbow stood outside Daring Do's Cottage and was relieved to find that it was in much better condition than the last time she had been there. She walked up to the door and was about to knock when the door opened inwards anyway. "What do you want, Rainbow Dash." Darimg Do didn't look her best despite her Cottage being in better shape, she also sounded like she didn't want visitors. "Umm... I was wondering if you needed anything." Rainow self-consciously rubbed her hoof against her other foreleg when she was rewarded with raised eyebrows. "What do I want? I want to know what you are doing here. If you are looking for an exciting adventure then I'm afraid you have reached the wrong mare. Nothing going on around here with taking note of, or writing a book about." Daring Do seemed crestfallen as she looked behind Rainbow's shoulder and sighed to herself. Rainbow was uncertain what to do, was Daring Do just bored? Was that why she was supposed to come down here? To releave her boredom? Rainbow snorted at the thought and instead tried to start up a new conversation. "Well I was wondering if maybe you would help me with something? If you aren't busy..." Rainbow trailed off as she remembered that Daring Do had just told her that there wasn't anything happening. "I read a book about a creature that may or may not exsist and I was wondering if you were willing to help me find out? It would be stress free and get you out of the house." Daring Do stared at Rainbow with winder in her eyes. "You want me, to come with you, to search for a possibly imaginary creature just to get me out of the house?" When Rainbow Dash nodded she sighed "Fine, I'll come with you, maybe something exciting will happen on the way." Daring Do didn't even bother getting packed, she just waalked out her house and closed the door. "Lead the way." Rainbow Dash drew a blank card, what was the next step? She hadn't actually planned on her coming so willingly. They could ask around for any Mythological enthusiasts to see if they had any clue to the creature. Then she remembered something. "Hey, do you like Myths and Legends?" Daring Do brought a small smirk on her face as she followed Rainbow Dash through the winding trails of the forest. "I love them, if they didn't have a small degree of truth to them then they wouldn't be. However, thats the tricky part, what is the true part to the Legend or Myth? Sometimes it might be a name, a detail, a place, or the general guidline of the story. Why? Are we hunting for facts here?" "Uh, yeah, there was a myth that I found rather interesting so I figured you could help me figure out if it was true. This way you could get out of the house and I could have my curiosity cured." Rainbow Dash hoped that Daring Do wouldn't turn around now that she knew it wasn't as action packed as either of them probably wanted. "Sounds fine to me. Wait, how did you know I needed to get out of the house?" Rainbow Dash started to panic, she couldn't tell her that she had seen her, that would be creepy. What could she say? "Oh whatever, I guess it was just the Elements of Harmony talking to you. What is this Myth anyway? I have heard of a lot of them so I might have a clue to begin with." "Its A myth about a creature actually, one called a Daedesol. Ever heard of it?" Rainbow Dash turned around to see Daring Do staring at the ground in fromt of her hooves with a heavy frown. "Whats wrong?" Daring Do didn't respond in words but instead sat down with a heavy thump. Rainbow Dash rushed over to her ideal and wasn't sure if she should comfort the rock-hard pegasus or if she should just stay quite. Indecision made her fidget. Eventually though Daring Do spoke up. "Is that a creature that was made from a Mortuus Diebus by any chance?" "Y-Yes." Rainbow wasn't sure where this was going. "I'm sorry. But I won't be joining you on this journey. I would be a foul if I told you to not do the same. Only bad things have happened to the Ponies that looked for that creature." Then in a smaller voice she said "Even the ponies most qualified." Rainbow Dash was shocked, Daring Do giving up on an adventure that hadn't even started? Something really bad must have happened. "U-uh ok, well we can do something else if you wan-" Daring Do was shaking her head "No Rainbow, I'm going back home." Rainbow Dash sat in stunned silence as she watched Daring Do walk back down the trail towards her Cottage. Then she flew in front of her. "Hey! Whats gotten in to you! I wouldn't think Daring Do herself would ever turn down a fight. Why now?" Daring Do snapped her head up to Rainbow Dash and shouted at her with tears forming in her eyes. "BECAUSE HE NEVER CAME BACK!!" Daring Do stopped walking and tried to hide her tears with her hoof as they freely flowed for the first time in almost eight years. Rainbow had landed as she was shouted at by Daring Do, something definently was wrong, who hadn't come back. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know that that was such a touchy subject." "How could you? You are the only other pony who knows that now. Look, I understand if you want to keep looking for this cresture but don't expect me to come with you. The only thing I can do for you is tell you where he last went, maybe it will help, as long as you find out what happened to him. I need to know." Daring Do had stemmed some of the tears to look at Rainbow as she ofered her hoof to the other pegasus. "Deal?" Rainbow stared at the hoof as she considered what Daring had told her. She needed to find this lost Stallion? Was that why the map told her to come here? Making up her mind, Rainbow leaned forward and hoof bumped Daring Do's raised hoof. "Deal." Author's Note The comedy tag will come into clearer detail soon, I promise.
