Winter is Coming

[Four Years Ago.]

   It began, with the death of King Sombra. The former, tyrant king of the Crystal Empire. Slain by unknown killer. At least, that's what Princess Celestia told the public. Fore most of the ponies of Equestria, the news about an undead revenant killing King Sombra would have sparked a lot headaches for the princesses. For one, countless ponies would ask to see the revenant. That would be a problem concerning Jason Voorhees violent nature and hatred toward adults. Second, ponies would cry out wanting to know how the king had returned. Celestia couldn't answer that herself because she had no idea either. She was just glad he was gone for good now. Sadly, Jason had paid the price as well from what Twilight had reported to her. Celestia, and most of the ponies that knew Jason, couldn't understand why the revenant was after Sombra in the first place. Constant debates were made but no actual answer could be made. Jason was the only one who knew why, but he perished and took that reason with him. Even though Celestia didn't know much about the revenant, he was dangerous to those all around him. When Jason attacked her, she saw the darkness in his eyes and the never ending anger towards everyone. Everyone, except those three fillies. He acted as though he was their guardian. Protecting them from harms way. No pony understood why, not even the fillies themselves. They said he approached them one day and made his friendship with them then. Whatever the reason, it showed the revenant wasn't completely lost to darkness. He still had a soul with in him, and that soul prevailed in vanquishing evil. Those days were stopped however, when Jason died along with Sombra. For the friends he made, it was a sad day. Ponies who didn't know Jason thought of it as another abomination is dead and out of Equestria's hair.

  Celestia would have agreed unfortunately, if it weren't for the fact Jason didn't kill her. If he attempted to, she would have said it as well. However, instead of killing her and possibly being hunted down by Luna and all of Equestria, he let her live and only inflicted minor injuries. After she got back to the castle that day, Luna was shocked to discover her sisters condition. She wanted to seek out Jason and hold him responsible for his crime. Celestia stopped her and Luna was shocked as to why.

"He is not out enemy dear sister." Celestia said.

  Luna was at a lost for words. Her sister was defending the monster who inflicted pain apon her. In a bitter rage, Luna clenched her fists.

"He could have killed you!" Luna said.

  Celestia signed.

"But he didn't Luna, think of it like that. If Jason was capable of killing me he would have, but he didn't."

  Luna felt as though Celestia was right. Her sister would be dead of the monster wished her to be dead but instead sparred her. She unclenched her fists and breathed through her nose. She gave a ashamed look toward her sister.

"I am sorry I spoke out of term sister, I was angry at Sir Jason for harming you."

  Celestia giggled and out her hand on Luna's shoulder.

"It is alright Luna, maybe you and him could become allies some day."

  With her flashback ending, Celestia was brought back to Canterlot's royal garden. She guessed she was so lost in her mind, she wondered off. The birds chirped in the trees high above the princess as she gazed at the garden. The princess breathed in deeply with a smile on her face. The fresh air felt rejuvenating to her and the sound of the wind blowing was like pure music. The princess walked down the garden and felt a strange presence over take her. She turned around to see nothing behind her. She turned all around but saw nothing. The presence became stronger and Celestia found herself being sucked over powered by it. She then felt a small poke to her leg, Celestia's eyes widened and she looked down to see Layla. She sat on her legs and she looked at Layla. The little filly didn't have her bear but still had her wide smile.

"Hello there Layla, why are you here?"

  The filly giggled.

"I just came by to let you know Jason is at peace finally and to let you and his friends know he had fun, I wanted to thank you as well for helping me find peace as well."

  Celestia and smiled and patted the filly on the head.

"Your quite welcome and I will make sure to tell the others of Jason's thanks."

  Layla laughed again.

"Oh, I already have." she said.

  The filly then seemingly evaporated into air with a smile on her face and a tear running down her cheek.

  Time past, and soon four years had gone by but Equestria hadn't changed. New fillies were born, and old ponies passed but that was the only thing that had changed. The princess looked over a balcony in the castle, looking over the white snow covering Equestria like a blanket. It was beautiful to say the least. The cold air didn't bother Celestia in the slightest, in fact, she enjoyed it. Same went for Luna who enjoyed star gazer at night and seeing the moons glow over the snow. Luna said it could melt a dragons heart seeing the sight and Celestia believed her. No cool wind blew through Celestia's mane, she smiled, enjoying the soft breeze. The princess then let her mind free. Letting herself become one with the environment. She enjoyed this for a matter of a minute until a cough came to her side. She opened her eyes and was addressed by one of her guards.

"Princess. We just received reports of some startling news."

  The stallion guard held out a letter from his hand. Celestia raised an eye brow and took the letter. She opened the letter and was met with something shocking. It was a letter from a military patrol north of the Canterlot. The report told of a gruesome murder of some of the soldiers. One guard was found with his heart missing. The other, which was a mare, was found nude near her teammate. She told of a cult that captured them and preformed sacraments on them. Her friend was used as a blood sacrifice while she was forced apon by one of the cult members. Celestia felt sick to her stomach after reading the letter. She didn't realize such a cult existed. The princess swallowed, trying to gather her thoughts. She looked back at her guard.

"Send a word to all forts and patrols of this cult. If they see any of them either arrest them or if needed, kill them."

  The guard saluted her and walked down the hallway. Meanwhile, the princess looked outward toward Equestria. The news of this new cult was startling. She would have to keep track their behavior from now. Their name however, is what really got her attention.

"The Disciples of Tarturus." she whispered.

  Dusk had arrived and the moon raised over Equestria. The temperature had dropped to below freezing and not many animals had come out. The snow had turned a darkish blue and twinkled under the moonlight. It looked like a professional painter had used Equestria as his canvas. Over a hundred miles away, in the boules of Tarturus. A large snow storm had started, the wind blew furiously and snow was coming down faster then it could build up. On top of on of the many mountains, purple cloaked figures formed a circle around one of the prison barriers on the mountains. Snowed had covered the mountain top. The guild members were freezing in place, the wind was eating away their body heat. All were chanting an ancient verse, which hadn't been used for thousands of years. One of the figures, a pony priestess by her clothes which were black in color. Her fir was a dark purple and her eyes were red. She wore a long loincloth with a top, down to her knees. Plenty of skin was showing on her  as she walked in between two of the cult members. From her waistband, she drew a black bladed sword. With a powerful thrust, she plunged the blade end of the sword into the prison barrier while whispering.

"Rise, my lord."

  The prison barrier changed from its baby blue glow to pure crimson red. The cult members all awed at the sight and backed away quickly from the pool. The priestess pulled her sword out of the pool while smiling. A shaky, discolored red hand came from the pool. The priestess grabbed the hand and slowly pulled an old deprived centaur out from the pool. He was the same size as the priestess but looked as though he was much older. He coughed and choked as he held his throat. Drops of the pool came out of his mouth as he growled.

"What...what is this!?"

  The priestess kneeled down to the centaur. She laid down her hood and grinned at him.

"My lord Tirek, my name is Ventures, and we are the Disciples of Tarturus. Were at your service."

  The centaur looked up at the priestess. She had her fist clenched and crossed over her chest. He looked around and saw the other cult members were doing the same thing. He smiled and stood on his legs.

"This is pleasant." he laughed. "This is very pleasant news indeed!"

  The centaur cackled and turned toward the cult members.

"But first, I need more power."

  Tirek then unleashed a violent stream of red and purple magic toward one of the cult members. He screamed in agony and ell to the ground, violently twitching as life was sucked from his body. Every one watched as Tirek grew in size, not by much though, and laughed as his felt his strength returning. The cult member he had sucked dry had turned to dust, only leaving his cloak behind. Ventures smiled as Tirek turned to face her.

"Quick question girl, why did you free me?"

  Tirek moved his fingers back and forth, getting the feel of his own grip back. The priestess smiled and flipped her hood back on.

"We are those who wish to seek power in Equestria and possibly the entire planet. That's we are willing to help those such as yourself Lord Tirek, to achieve those goals."

  The centaur had a puzzled look on his face, but soon nodded in understanding. Tirek was looking forward to getting revenge, but he was no fool. He would need to power himself to full capacity before he attempted an attack. He would need a much more powerful source to absorb. Ponies, griffons, they weren't much to feed off of. No, Tirek needed a much more powerful source. For that, he knew who some one, or should he say, some pony that could show him the way. Tirek cackled into the sky, making sound as though all of Equestria could hear him. The priestess smiled deeply with evil intentions in her eyes. She then walks toward one of the cultists, she grabs him and pulls him in to her face until the outer line of the hood was touching her nose.

"Let Rhen Var know phase one is complete and tell him to initiate phase two."

  The cultists saluted and sprouted wings from under his cloak. He took off into the night sky and dashed over toward another part of the Everfree Forest. Tirek raised an eye brow and looked toward the Ventures.

"Where is he going?" he asked.

  Ventures faced Tirek and crossed her arms.

"He is going to make sure our second target is ready."