Traversing the Chaotic Shadows
Taking It Into Your Own Hooves
Chapter 01: Taking It Into Your Own Hooves
Standard Disclaimers (such as the ponies, the eight-pointed star, and the Secret Service) Apply
Prince Blueblood was in his personal quarter’s bathroom, busy washing off all the various pieces of cake on his body. Grimacing, he forcefully pulled an especially big one out of his wet, blonde mane.
This cake’s a lot stickier than I thought, Blueblood thought to himself. Of course, one would question as to why there would be cake on him in the first place. The answer to that question though, could be found in a donut shop, currently having a discussion with her friends while bemoaning the fact that her dream stallion was a complete and utter jerk.
Said ‘dream’ stallion was busy pondering on whether or not his idiot mask, as he so eloquently put it, was effective and convincing while he was at the Gala. He had spent years practicing and perfecting the façade, but it never hurt to be too careful, especially in a position such as his.
Stepping out from underneath the showerhead and in front of a mirror, the Prince took a while to simply observe his reflection. His white coat was as pristine as always, if a bit wet, as were his blonde mane and tail. He had the look of someone who had never had to work for a single day of his life. His eyes though, his light blue eyes told a very different story. While awhile ago they were coy and charming, yet condescending, now they were weary and sharp, as if on a constant lookout for any threat to the pony those eyes belonged to.
Suddenly, there was a knocking noise coming from the entrance to his room.
“Come in!” Blueblood said, in the midst of wiping himself down with his towel.
The door opened, and in came a member of the Royal Guard, specifically one from the Earth Pony Regiment. He was large, packed full of muscles, and covered in scars. The most prominent one though was a diagonal one stretching from the bottom of his left eye to the right side of his mouth. He had a dark grey coat and a white mane and tail, as was typical of many of the Royal Guard. The pony was dressed in typical Guard armor, sans the helmet.
“Ah! Sergeant! Any news from the front lines? Good news I hope?” Blueblood questioned hopefully, taking the time to return all of his toiletries to their original places.
“My Lord,” the Sergeant began, taking a bow as he did so, “I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we have found another one.”
The monarch suddenly froze in his tracks, his hopeful countenance almost instantly becoming grim. He trotted out of the bathroom, in thought.
“Exactly like before?” Blueblood asked.
“Exactly, my lord. The same name, the same markings, the same clothes. They were even based in a very similar location to the last one.”
Blueblood scowled as he began to started to move around the room, hoping to find some sort of solution to this problem. Sadly, he could not find any inspiration.
This situation may be more troublesome than I originally thought, Blueblood silently said to himself. Maybe it was time he went out into the field as well? It had been awhile since the last time he undertook a personal mission, and this seemed like something that none of the normal members could handle.
Yes, Blueblood though grimly, I shall have to take this matter into my own hooves.
Stepping out of his room’s door and gesturing for the Guard to follow him, Blueblood told the other pony, “Sergeant, prepare a chariot. It seems that I shall have to directly involve myself with this case.”
Though he followed, the Sergeant was quite obviously shocked.
“My Lord! Are you certain about this? Though we have captured all the cult members, we have not taken the time to scour the entire building! There may yet be traps, and you could get- Gah!”
Rubbing his now throbbing cheek, the Guard slowly turned his head to look into Blueblood’s now cold eyes.
“What is your name, Sergeant?”
The Prince said it quietly, but with such menace that the Sergeant froze in fear for a few seconds before snapping himself out of it.
“M-my name is Jet Black, my lord.”
Blueblood continued to stare menacingly at Jet, before responding in the same tone of voice as before.
“Listen, Mr. Black. Do not dare to presume that I cannot handle myself. I worked very hard to get where I am now, and I assure you that though I may be a little rusty, there is a very good reason why I was made Leader of the Secret Service. You ins-”
“Nephew?”
Only noticing now that Princess Celestia was approaching, Blueblood immediately started acting all idiotic and prissy again.
“Next time, do well to remember to- Oh hello, Auntie!” the Prince said as he turned to his aunt.
There was Princess Celestia, smiling as regally as ever, but looking at Blueblood with a faint touch of disappointment in her eyes.
“Nephew, what are you doing here? I thought you were in your room? And why is that Guard hurt?” Celestia asked, suddenly turning stern as she said the last question.
“I just thought that I would go take a walk through the gardens, Auntie! After that simply dreadful Gala, I just felt as if I needed some peace and quiet. As for the Guard, he was simply passing by my room when I opened the door, thus accidentally hitting him in the face. Isn’t that right?” Blueblood quite smoothly stated, the Sergeant, who happened to have a stoic expression again, nodding his head in order to ‘agree’ with the last part.
The Princess simply sighed, before smiling at her nephew again, the glimmer of disappointment present again in her eyes.
“If you say so. Either way, I must be off, nephew.”
“Of course, Auntie!”
Quite smartly stepping out of Princess Celestia’s way, Blueblood turned back to Jet as soon as his aunt’s tail disappeared around the corner.
“As I was saying, you insult me with your presumptions. You are not to question me again. Do you understand me?”
Properly chastised, Jet bowed his head as he stated out an apology.
Nodding in acceptance of said apology, Blueblood then spun around before heading towards the chariots, Jet following behind him all the while.
~TtCS~
Blueblood was troubled.
Equestria was a peaceful country. It’s Princesses were kind and caring, it’s inhabitants very harmonious, and the surrounding wildlife lush and green.
The only troubles that Equestria ever had to face were other countries, various monster attacks, and Tartarus, and even then they were few and far between.
Or to the public, at the very least. The sad and honest truth was that many other countries were jealous of how much the Gods had blessed Equestria, that monster attacks were actually very common, and that the various Hellgates needed constant guarding, in case any unlucky pony or very lucky demon managed to discover their location. The town of Ponyville was actually extremely lucky when the Hellgate near it was discovered, since Twilight Sparkle happened to be there in order to calm the beast that had escaped, and promptly sent it back through the gate.
It was, and still is, the Secret Service’s mission to keep Equestria safe from all these major dangers, and more, while making sure that no one, not even the Princesses, bless their tired souls, ever got wind of it. A Prince led each and every generation, and though being the Leader was a tireless and thankless job, the Princes took comfort in the fact that at the very least all of the ponies that lived in Equestria were happy and content with their lives.
Until now, that is.
A few months back, Prince Blueblood, nephew of Princess Celestia, and five-year veteran Leader of the Secret Service, discovered through one of his spies that a group of ponies did not want Princess Celestia on the throne any longer, and were planning to try and assassinate her. Though they were young, they still had to be put down, and they were put down with great satisfaction. Hoping that that would be the only incident, Prince Blueblood immediately directed his attentions to other concerns of the Service.
Such was not the case.
Within those few months, the groups that rose up in protest grew and grew in number. Though all of them were put down before the public heard about it, what was most disturbing was that in the last two months, almost all of the groups were bearing the same banner, and the same insignia. They were even calling themselves ‘cults’, a term eventually used by the Secret Service to address them as well.
Currently, Blueblood was at the location of the latest cult to be put down. Their headquarters was this time located in the Everfree Forest, which was just nearby the quaint town of Ponyville.
He was in the building’s central chamber, where the cult’s symbol could be seen: an eight-pointed star. In the middle of the room was a circular wooden table, clear of any object. Aside from those, the only other things that could be found in this room were weapons: spears, swords, daggers, wingblades, brass hooves, and more. All other agents were sent out in order to allow him to concentrate, with the exception of Jet who was there to make sure that nothing would attack Blueblood from behind.
Blueblood found it strange that the weapons were kept in the central chamber, and not in the armory, where the armor could be found. He had his suspicions though….
Suddenly thinking of something, he went towards the table and started examining it from the surface all the way to the bottom. Though it was extremely hard to make out, he thought he saw a good number of small holes carved around the post the tabletop was on. Quickly using his unicorn magic to grab eight of the spears, he pushed each one into a hole, forming a vague mimicry of the cult’s symbol.
Suddenly clacking and cranking noises were heard, as if a large number of gears were moving in tandem. Stepping back, Blueblood triumphantly grinned at the stairs forming around the table, leading downwards. Jet was looking on in shock and awe as the stairs formed. He wouldn’t have been able to spot that if it was he looking around.
“Call the others, Sergeant. Have them form a perimeter around the staircase, and make sure that nothing else aside from you and me will be able to get in. Understand?”
“Yes, my Lord!” Jet quickly saluted, before heading outside to follow his Leader’s request.
~TtCS~
AN: Hey guys! This is captain_n00b here, and this is also my very first fic. Hope you guys like it, and if you don’t, don’t hesitate to tell me so! Just please give a reason.
This is n00b, signing off.
Traversing the Chaotic Shadows
Chapter 02: A Den of Demons
~Gore in this chapter; you’ve been warned~
Standard Disclaimers Apply, and not only to MLP.
Jet returned with four of the agents, having them take a perimeter around the entrance to the stairway. The Prince nodded once, before ordering the agents to make sure that nothing would follow him and Jet in.
Horn glowing, Blueblood then descended the dark stairway; Jet following him on the way down. As they went deeper into the secret path, the wall gradually began to change from smooth-cut stone to rough earth. Various floras were growing on the sides of the stairway, ranging from your basic daisies and vines all the way to plants found only within the mysterious depths of the Everfree Forest, such as Poison Joke or Heart’s Desire. All of these were at the back of both Blueblood’s and Jet’s minds though. They had noticed that every now and then, there would be unnatural grooves in the walls and on the floor. When these began to increase in number and frequency, the duo quickly tensed and prepared themselves for anything they might find.
Taking one last turn both stopped in their tracks as soon as they beheld the visage before them.
The chamber before them looked like a fusion of a place of worship, and a torture chamber. There were tiny cages with spikes protruding inwards, racks with dried blood, spears stuck into the ground blade up, and hooks everywhere. On the floor in the middle of the room, there was a small pool filled with dark red blood. The pool was connected to grooves that were coming from the doors and cages at the sides of the chamber, blood continuously flowing through them. To the sides of the pool were two columns of pews, with each being three rows long. At the back of the chamber, where the pews were facing, was a very simple stone altar. If it wasn’t for the cult insignia painted on the wall behind it in a strange black substance, said altar could have been easily mistaken for a simple block of stone.
Blueblood and Jet didn’t pay attention to any of these until much later though, because their eyes were drawn to the one thing that made this room even more sickening and horrifying: the bodies.
They were everywhere, and they were made up of all kinds of species. Young Drakes were skewered on the spears, most of the weapons running through the corpses from the groin area up towards the mouth. Diamond Dogs, Earth Ponies, and Unicorns were stretched out on the racks, some to the point that their arms and legs were already separate from the rest of the body. Headless and legless Pegasi were hanging from the ceiling via their wings, the hooks skewering the nerve bundles in between the wing and the torso as well as the holes where their missing appendages originally were. Griffins were stuffed into the tiny cages, most, if not all of them, having their bodies deformed from the lack of space along with being pierced by the spikes. In the corners of the room, Blueblood and Jet could even see bags made of rope filled to bursting with Zebra heads, Minotaur arms, Goat legs, and more.
The duo stayed in place for a while, before both of them suddenly ducked their heads downwards, vomiting in the same area. They had seen their fair share of brutality. They had seen their fair share of slaughter, of death. When you were in their business, seeing stuff like that was inevitable.
What they were seeing now could not be described with words such as those though, because to do so would be to completely underestimate the sheer horror and the disgust of the tableau before them.
Blueblood recovered faster than Jet, and so began patting the Sergeant on the back. After a while, Jet too got his act together and thus began looking around the room, his coat as pale as the pony next to him.
“Dear Celestia…what in all that is good and just is wrong with these ponies?!” Jet exclaimed, his voice a little weak, and his eyes trained on a small filly’s head.
Blueblood opened his mouth, and for a while, no sound could be heard from it, “…I don’t know, Mr. Black. I don’t know, but I do intend to find out. Search around. Find clues. Anything that can help us understand the meaning of this…this…tragedy…”
Jet nodded, and with one last look at the filly’s head, he stepped around the puddle of vomit and began scrutinizing the various objects along the left wall, making sure to not look too closely or for too long at the bodies. Blueblood did the same, but started at the altar at the back of the chamber.
It was a simple block of stone. Granted, it was smoother than anything he had ever seen, but it was still just a block of stone. Looking over the whole altar as carefully as possible, the Prince finally noticed something out of the ordinary: a small hole right in the middle of the entire thing. It was big enough to accommodate one drop of liquid without deforming the drop, and it was not deep at all.
Blueblood eyed the hole carefully, but could not discern any reason as to why there would even be a hole in the middle of the block of stone. Deciding to forgo searching the altar, as it had not yet turned up anything important of productive, he began to look within the altar's general vicinity. Finally, he spotted something that seemed useful: an old, gray tome on a book-stand. It was located in the only corner of the room that had no gore bag, or any other horrible instrument of torture.
How could I have missed that? Blueblood pondered, before trotting to where the book lay. Grabbing it with his magic, he noticed that there was a snarling face on the cover, almost as if it was part of the book itself. For a second, Blueblood was still, before slowly narrowing his eyes at the face, suddenly mistrustful of opening it. Bringing it with him to the altar, he set it on top of its surface and carefully began to open it. The tome wouldn't budge though, and the Prince thus slowly brought his hoof to the cover.
An inch away from touching it, a sudden yelp broke him out of his concentration. The hoof hovering over it stopped in its tracks, and its owner immediately looked up. The snarling face's eyes suddenly began to glow faintly with red, and the mouth twitched just a little bit.
Looking in the direction the yelp cam from, Blueblood saw that one of the corpses mounted on a spear tipped over near the area Jet was. The Earth Pony, not noticing until it was too late, had gotten hit by the body, and was currently trying to push it off of him.
Before Blueblood could react to the scene though, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right hoof. Looking down, he saw that the book had suddenly come to life, and had bitten down on the hoof hovering over it. In quick retaliation, Blueblood used his magic to fling the tome away from him, in the direction of the cult insignia behind the altar.
Just as the book was going to hit the wall, it suddenly stopped and started floating in mid-air with an eerie demonic glow. Facing the Secret Service's Leader, it opened its mouth wide.
“You are not of my kin, nor are you one of my masters. Prepare to die, interloper.” It stated in a very no-nonsense and quaint tone. In fact, it sounded as though it was describing the weather, and stating how such a fine day it was.
The tome suddenly flipped open while in mid-air, opening up to reveal a purple portal smack dab in the middle of its pages. The portal quickly grew in size, until it was big enough for an alicorn to pass through easily. Nothing could be seen through the portal except for darkness, but if one strained his or her ears, they would be able to perceive the sound of something heavy repeatedly and speedily striking the ground. They would also notice that the striking noises seemed to be getting louder, as if something was approaching at high speed.
Eyes widening in realization, the Prince used his magic to throw Jet, who had appeared behind him, out of the portal's path, Blueblood throwing himself in the same direction, and not a moment too soon.
Charging from the portal was something that could be described as having the same body structure as a Diamond Dog, although that was where the similarities ended. It was thinner and more agile-looking, for one, easily explaining the speed at which it burst out of the portal. Instead of having a coat of fur, it was completely naked. Spines were jutting out everywhere, from the top of its bald head to the back of its ankles. What was really attention grabbing though was the massive wooden club it held in its equally humongous claws. It was a crude and blunt weapon, but it didn’t lessen its ferocity and sheer might at all.
Roaring at them, spittle flying from its mouth, the Demon Dog, for it could not have been anything else, charged. Behind it, the demonic tome closed shut, before teleporting itself away in a hazy wind.
Not having enough time to dodge, both Blueblood and Jet were knocked back. Luckily, none of the spines actually hit the duo, although a few came very close.
Crashing into the right side of the chamber, Jet quickly reoriented himself and took in the situation. His Leader had hit the opposite side of the room and was currently keeping the Demon Dog from devouring his face. Looking around, Jet espied a spear that didn't look so rusted. Grabbing it with his mouth and pulling it out of the ground, removing the changeling corpse on it as he did so, the Sergeant grimaced at the taste of old, dried blood, before steeling himself and, with remarkable agility, tackled the Dog.
The Demon Dog and the Earth Pony immediately began to exchange blows, Jet using the spear to devastating effect. Although Demon Dogs were known for their legendary offense and speed, they sorely lacked an equally important area in their style of fighting: defense. Normally, it would take at least three Ponies to effectively kill a Demon Dog, but thanks to the size of the chamber they were in, the Dog's speed was severely limited, thus greatly lowering its chances of defeating the duo.
Jet, finally getting the chance to aim at a vital area, thrust down with all his might. Centimeters before it penetrated the smooth skin though, a claw suddenly reached up and grabbed the head of the spear. Ignoring the pain it felt in its hand, the Demon Dog growled and reared back its other claw for a punch.
Not having enough maneuverability to dodge it at the moment, Jet was forced to take it as it was, and ended up hitting the side of one of the pews.
The Demon Dog, grinning victoriously, stood up and was just about to renew his attack on the Earth Pony Sergeant, when suddenly said Sergeant was lifted up into the air via magic, and carried over to Blueblood’s side, who was suddenly at the stairway leading up to the main building.
Becoming angered from losing the opportunity to kill yet again, the enraged Demon Dog quickly moved in to attack Blueblood.
Repressing the urge to smirk at his enemy’s folly, the Prince stealthily got the spear behind him ready, having pulled out another one after regaining his hoofing. The Demon Dog, snarling as it charged the duo and with its club held high, suddenly gained a look of surprise and confusion on its face as it slipped and fell on its back, the vomit it slipped on hitting its back and making it slide forward until it came to a rest at Blueblood’s hooves.
Not wasting any time with theatrical displays or gloating, the pure white stallion stabbed down with the spear with all his might, the spearhead breaking through the soft skin of the Demon Dog easily and stabbing its heart. Blueblood, not wanting the Demon to just suddenly begin attacking again even if it was hit in the heart, pushed extra hard, and so was able to get the spearhead buried into the earthen floor.
Sighing in relief as he finished, Blueblood helped Jet up, who was still a little woozy from being hit by a Demon Dog without being able to defend himself. There was a large but shallow wound on the Sergeant’s brow, and so was forced to keep his eyes closed to keep blood from touching them. Blueblood, having taken a little first aid, concentrated and was able to close the wound up.
“There,” Blueblood said, “that should help for now. Don’t put too much stress on the wound, and it won’t reopen. Mind you, you still need to have that checked on by our field medic, Mr. Black. Since I haven’t learned that much in the way of healing, the magic will only last for so long.”
Jet quickly replied, “Thank you anyway, sir. Now we-”
Whatever suggestion that Jet was about to put forward quickly died in his mouth as the Demon Dog suddenly began howling and writhing, a glowing purple mist emerging from its body. After an extra long howl, the Demon Dog’s spines suddenly began to retract back into its skin, and fur began growing all over. The entire body mass of the Demon shrunk down until, at the very end, Blueblood and Jet were looking at a normal Diamond Dog.
“Thank…you…”
With those words leaving the lips of the former Demon Dog, it gave a great big sigh, before finally falling limp and quiet.
The duo was stunned. They were not expecting that at all. First, they discover that the cult they were shutting down had the audacity to murder all those creatures in such horrible ways, and now said cult had the capability to turn Normal species into Demonic ones? And not only that, Blueblood recalled, they also seem to be in possession of demonic tomes. Tomes that were most likely involved in the turning of this Diamond Dog.
Bearing a grim look on his face, Blueblood turned to look at Jet. Both stared into each others eyes, and were about to begin debating as to how what they just witnessed could have been possible, when suddenly another agent appeared at the stairway. She was bleeding in multiple areas, and seemed to have just slipped out of a fight.
“A large number of Demon Dogs just appeared! We’re getting slaughtered out there, so we have to get you two out of here, sirs!” the agent quickly exclaimed.
Eyes widening in surprise, Blueblood and Jet quickly galloped up the stairs, the agent that had delivered them the news right behind them.
~TtCS~
AN: It’s been awhile, eh? Sorry about the really long time between the first chapter and this one, but that’s what happens when your laptop gets busted. I was finally able to transfer all my document files into my USB flash drive recently (two days ago), and so I was able to begin working on this again. I’ll do my best to make sure that the next update does not take too long of a time to get online!
This is n00b, signing off.