Noirscape

My first proper attack after my first hunt (and perhaps the accidental Red Miles) took place in a small village. After all, I wanted to make sure I didn’t bite off more than I could chew, eh?

The little hamlet bore obvious signs of Discord’s interference. Several hills that couldn’t have been natural, floating structure I believed to be the town hall, upside-down houses and, of all things, Hot Wheels roads. If only I had a fitting car...

A car’s a vehicle you can drive. Not important now.

The town was populated with ponies, popcorn, and fish. I’m not even kidding. Roughly 53,7% of them were showing obvious signs of a discording (okay, so I made that number up just now, don’t pay any attention to that) and as such I mostly surveyed them.

Basically I just sat on top (or bottom) of the topsy-turvy town hall, and watched them go about their daily lives. I was also calculating their best mode of attack, and had chosen a spot well-in-sight of anypony. After all, this time I wanted to make sure not to shift blame to anyone but me, eh?

And notice me they did.

It started with a scream. I remember it rather well for once; it startled even me. One of the non-discorded ponies had seen me. Quickly enough, there was quite a crowd, with the discorded ones hanging back, not particularly interested in joining the herd. Perfect.

I started by standing and unfurling my wings to their greatest length. Then I started teleporting. I quickly fell into a pattern; 1) teleport behind a discorded pony, 2) gore them on my blade, and 3) rinse and repeat. My actions were noticed quickly enough, and that’s when the panic started. The herd was galloping out of town, hoping to put as much distance between me and them.

I slaughtered them. Nearly all of them. I left a scant few alive; after all, survivors were the best fuel for rumors of my terror. Seeing a job well done, I left, taking a corpse or two with me. Hey, that first unicorn was delicious, and the cows were getting a bit repetitive. Can you blame me for wanting something a little different every once in a while? I’m not made of stone, you know.

The attack was a success. The Whispers of the Land let me know that word of my terror had indeed reached the Princesses. So, with that out of the way, it seemed that my Plan was indeed working.

A meeting with Luna confirmed it. She spoke to me of the terrors unleashed by the "Demon Dog". So while I didn’t let on that I was indeed him, I regaled her with “a few tales of Human lore”. In other words, I told her what the actual Bec Noir got up to in his Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Man, the look on her face... There is only one time I have seen a better look on someone’s face. But that story is kind of for later. Besides, I’m sure you can guess. You’ve been following my story closely enough. You’ll figure it out, I’m sure.

While an attack was enough to garner attention, it wasn’t enough to keep it indefinitely. I knew I had to step up my game.

My next attack was a city of clouds. Not Cloudsdale or anything, but... kinda similar. I figured my wings could use a little exercise, and I could test out if I was able to stand on actual clouds as opposed to cotton candy clouds. That, and I wanted to know if Pegasus wings taste as good as chicken wings. What can I say? Ponies are delicious.

The city itself looked kind of normal, discounting the gravity anomalies. Anomalies... such a grown-up word.

Anyws, this time I decided to lead off the attack by upping the ante. I teleported in and grabbed a random Pegasus mare off the air, sinking my teeth into the firm flanks. Man, that plot. Juicy!

Still wonderin’ about proper food. The slop don’t count.

Naturally, my attack made waves into the city. They began screaming and fleeing as soon as the mare finally found her voice. Shrill as... something very shrill. Crazy dame.

I left her alive, of course; granted, it came at the cost of a flank (delicious, by the way), but at least she lived. Lived just enough to tell the tale of my slaughter, and no more. Is my timing good or what?

So what did I do next? Why, the very thing I promised to never do again, of course! I let the Green Miles rip on the city. Man the lightshow was awesome.

...There might’ve been craters.

...Lots of them.

Also technically the attack I promised myself to never cast again was The Red Miles, not the Green Miles. It makes sense, right?

Doesn’t matter.

The Miles did their job well. Clouds do not a Miles-proof material make. After all, if a simple buck or tornado can obliterate a cloud (or a bunch of them, respectively), what hope they would possibly have, to stand against the full might of the Miles?

Not even wisps were left. Only corpses; and the lone three-legged mare. I teleported her to the nearest city and left her there. Now, at least, rumors were sure to pick up, hmm?
Pick up they did. Discord and I had another minor falling out over it; He really prefers his playtoys alive.

It seemed that the Princesses also noticed. I had a close call when Luna caught me in a dream of me, in Bec Noir form, slaughtering her. Or an effigy of her. I was able to play it off as a nightmare.

On the plus side, I got to feed her a story about how “my kind” got their power from Artifacts, and how I feared that mine would turn me into a demon. I managed to make it seem as though we had no choice over Artifacts, or Alignments. Pure nonsense, of course, but she ate it up. And the apex of my plans crawled ever closer.