The Lost Serpents

Chapter 9: The Impostors and Mercy .

Ryoma knew that the Band of Gold was good, he just didn’t know that they were really good.

Ryoma parried an attack from one Gold member and finished him with an upper slash to the jaw. Ryoma, breathing hard, looked to see how his allies were doing. Ike, with his sword Ragnell, was swatting aside Band of Gold members like they were flies, cutting them in half with little effort. Vinyl was cut above her eye and was temporarily blinded in one eye by her blood, but she still fought on. Julius was jumping here and there, taking out Gold soldiers like he was fighting a damn Giant Bat, his Vampire Killer whip slicing enemies apart.

Ryoma then turned his attention to the objective of the attack.

Star Reader ordered his men to kill the “traitors” as he sat there, laughing at the entrance of the tent.

The Band of Gold followed his orders without question, fighting in the name of an insane and delusional pony.

However, the Band of Gold was taking very, very, very heavy casualties. As powerful as they were, the Band was not good enough to fight heroes like these.

Ryoma sliced through another Gold soldier and pointed his Rajinto towards Star Reader. He yelled as a stream of lightning struck the mad pony, blasting him off his feet. The mad pony chuckled as he got up like he was a possession victim and he unhinged his jaw, laughing despite the fact that the lightning that struck him gave him a third-degree burn on his skull.

“Oh, this is so much FUN!” He said as he held up his hoof and a sword and scabbard materialized from out of nowhere. Ryoma stared and prayed that it wasn’t the sword he thought it was.

Star Reader pulled the sword out of its scabbard. Unfortunately, he knew what the sword was called.

Ganglari, the sword that killed his stepmother and a good handful of citizens with an explosion of magic.

Seeing the sword in the hands of another madpony filled Ryoma with rage. He quickly cut down another soldier and ran towards Star Reader, determined to slice him to ribbons.

Star Reader laughed as Ryoma landed a strike that he blocked. Ryoma could see the madness that filled this once honorable pony. The madpony shrieked with delighted laughter and slashed at Ryoma, who blocked the strike.

“Your mother was fun to kill, Ryoma. I laughed when she told Corrin her sugary words before she passed like the sow she was!”

Ryoma, who was blade-locked with the pony asked, “wait, how did you-”

“I am the hooded man, Ryoma. I am your mother’s murderer, hahahahahahahahahahaha!

“You fucking murderous fiend!” Ryoma yelled. Ryoma slashed again at the madpony, but he blocked and parried with Ryoma on an equal level of the high prince. As if the pony himself was a samurai.

Ryoma yelled as he slashed. He performed Astra and struck at all different parts of Star Reader’s body, landing three incapacitating blows and two blocked ones.

Ryoma then kicked the madpony with his right hind hoof and did a diagonal slash, the same move used to finish Remnant. Blood sprayed from the body of Star Reader as the laughter sounded from the entire room.

“Hahahaha…, So, my prince, how does it feel to cut down an innocent life?” it asked.

“What do you mean? Talk to me, monster!” Ryoma shouted.

Then, a hooded pony rose from Star Reader’s body, the hooded one said, “I think you know what I mean.”

Ryoma’s eyes went wide with the realization of what he has done. He roared in anger and pure hatred as he brought Raijinto down. As soon as the katana was going to cut him, the hooded pony vanished.

Ryoma stared at the spot the hooded pony used to be, then his eyes lit up with pure rage as he looked and shouted to the top of his lungs, “WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?! I’LL KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME? I’LL KILL YOU!”

“Ryoma, that’s enough!’ Vinyl yelled.

Ryoma turned to see his student with the other heroes. Ike was looking on while Julius had his mouth dropped. All the Band of Gold members were dead.

“I-I… don’t know what came over me.”

Vinyl gave him a sad look, “It’s okay, right now we need to explain to the others what happened to their leader of sorts-”

“You monsters!’” a voice said.

Featherfang stood in the entrance of the war tent, Wind Piercer in hoof. His eyes blazed with energy. Next to him was Lyra, who stood with complete shock.

“Featherfang, I can expla-”

Ryoma never got to finish his sentence, because Featherfang tackled the stallion with full Blood-curse fueled fury. Ryoma had enough time to put the Rajinto between him and Featherfang’s teeth. Featherfang let out a shriek as the lightning made contact with his mouth.

Ryoma scrambled to get out of the way as Featherfang swiped Wind Piercer at him. Ryoma then got into his stance and was ready for Featherfang. But, Featherfang began to attack all the members of Ryoma’s group. He slammed Vinyl into the table, scattering maps and war pieces, knocking her out cold. Julius threw a holy water grenade at Featherfang, but it just got the heir wet and even more mad. Julius began to use his whip to try and incapacitate the heir, but he wasn’t fast enough to dodge and was sent flying out of the tent. Now, it was only Ike and Ryoma, and both did not know what to do.

Featherfang’s eyes glowed red as the smell of blood and the sight of carnage kept him in his Blood-curse state.

Ryoma and Ike charged and fought the heir as he turned into his sky serpent form.

Lyra was sitting there, helpless to do anything but watch as her lover fight the two heroes. She wanted to do something, she NEEDED to do something!

Then, she noticed two swords. One that was called Ganglari, and the other was not there before. It had a pale-blue blade, and a golden hilt and grip.

The weapon’s name came to her from out of nowhere, “Chillrend.”

She grabbed Chillrend and Ganglari, not deciding which one to use. She then put Ganglari in its scabbard and slung it on her back. She then took Chillrend and galloped with it in her mouth towards the fighting duo of heroes and a demigod. Featherfang was using strong winds to push back Ryoma and Ike and bring them to their knees. Ryoma and Ike were getting really tired as they fought the wind.

Lyra ran up behind Featherfang and smacked him in the face with the flat of the blade, causing the heir to flop to the ground. Featherfang was dazed as Lyra continued to smack the shit out of him with the flat of the blade, causing ice and frost to appear on his body, literally chilling Featherfang out. When all that came from him was groans and icy paralysis, Featherfang passed out.

(^*^)

Featherfang opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He found that he was no longer covered in ice, no longer paralysed and rested.

He continued to stare at the ceiling as he tried to remember what happened. He shifted uncomfortably, then noticed that there was something on his chest. He slowly looked down to see Lyra, sleeping soundly.

While this would provoke some kind of outburst of embarrassment, it only served to put a frown on Featherfang’s face, for he remembered who struck him while he was fighting Ike and Ryoma.

“She must of had her reasons...Right?” he whispered to himself.

Somepony knocked on the door, rousing Lyra from her slumber.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Ryoma and Julius came in. Before Featherfang could narrow his eyes in anger, Ryoma said, “just hear us out.”

~explaining everything else~

“Are you certain? It's a lot to take in at once.”

“I swear, Featherfang. I’m telling the truth,” Ryoma said. He then nodded to Julius and the latter pulled out a map. It showed Appleloosa and Dodge City on the bottom, Ponyville and Canterlot were in the center. Cloudsdale was to the side of Canterlot. The map showed the areas that were near the said settlements.

Julius pointed with his hoof, “while you were passed out, the army marched into Appleloosa and Dodge city and conquered them without a single weapon drawn. I guess the civilians didn’t want to fight us. However, Were are here,” He now pointed with his hoof to The Ruins. “It is this place that we are at currently, which means that we have to pass the Everfree Forest to reach our destination.”

“So what is stopping us?” Featherfang asked.

“The scouts i’ve sent into the forest have gone M.I.A, save one. He reported that a dense fog blankets the forest and red-eyed bat winged ponies are flying around and controlling the forest. Apparently, somepony named Flutterbat is leading them.

“Fluttershy…,” Lyra said with sadness.

Julius continued, “We already tried to send a strike force to take them out. But, as I heard the screams of pure terror and horror escape the woods and nopony came back to report, it confirmed my suspicions.”

“Suspicions of what?” Featherfang asked.

“Let me answer your question with another question. Do you believe in Vampires?”

(“_”)

It was times like these that Julius was glad he was a Belmont. He has just received a mission to lead some eagle pony warriors into the mists of the now corrupt Everfree Forest. He checked his equipment. He had his hatches, his holy water vials, had his divine magic at full strength, and his most prized possession, the Vampire Killer whip.

As he looked towards the forest as his units were getting ready, he heard the words of Applejack.

(15 minutes earlier…)

“Julius. Julius, wait!” Applejack said as she galloped towards him. He turned and said with a slight smile, “how can I help you?”

Applejack looked shyly down, “I wanted to ask you if you could do me a favor.”

Julius raised an eyebrow, “and what would that be?”

“I was wondering if you could spare Fluttershy.”

Julius shook his head, “in my world, anypony who went down that path never returned to the light. Vampires are Vampires, Applejack. They are nothing more than undead leeches that suck the life and soul out of decent beings. I never had spared a Vampire before, and never will.”

Applejack began, “But-”

Julius said, “the first chance she gets, Fluttershy/Flutterbat will try to kill me, or make me into one of them. If you know of a cure, I better hear it.”

“Ah bet that magic could cure her.”

“That was a maybe, not a definite cure.”

Applejack said in a dangerous tone, “Ah will not let her be killed by you.”

Julius coiled up his Vampire Killer and said, “Listen, whatever Fluttershy was before Flutterbat is gone. All that she is now is an evil bloodsucker. There is no going back from that path. Nopony ever has…”

Applejack turned away, and said as she walked out of his tent, “please, have mercy on her.”

(Present)

“Mercy…” He whispered to himself.

He turned to his battalion of one hundred and fifty Serpony soldiers and nodded, indicating that the march began. They approached the Everfree Forest with nervous thoughts clouding their mind. They were soon surrounded by fog as they entered the woods.

They marched in absolute silence, not making a sound. All the ponies on this side of the world have heard tales of what went on in Everfree Forest. They heard legends of Timberwolves, Manticores, and other creatures of nightmares. They heard how the forest has a mind of its own, unnaturally taking care of its own through dark magics and other means. One of the most prevalent tales of the Everfree Forest, is the legend of the dark shaman that haunts these woods, using her most darkest spells to experiment on intruders and cause strive to anypony that lived in nearby.

Julius knew about the legends, and really wasn’t surprised. In his line of work, legends were the truth told in story form.

Julius knew the plan well enough. He was to go through the Everfree Forest and secure a route to the abandoned Castle of Two Sisters. There the army can use it as a launch pad for their invasion of Ponyville and the surrounding areas.

Julius was also supposed to secure the Tree of Harmony as soon as the castle was taken, to prevent the rest of the element bearers from reclaiming their elemental powers. The rest of the army would come when Julius would send a scout to deliver the message that he had succeeded.

Julius and his battalion trekked through the thick fog. No sunlight was getting through the stormy overcast anytime soon. In fact, this overcast had been here the entire time Flutterbat has taken residence.

They marched into the woods for half an hour when Julius and his battalion heard something hiss. The ring of weapons filled the air as the soldiers drew their weapons, alarmed and uneasy.

Julius himself slowly uncoiled his Vampire Killer, noting that the hiss sounded familiar.

Then, a Sepony that was next to Julius was jerked back. Screaming, the Serpony soldier disappeared into the fog. A wicked laughter echoed throughout the forest.

Before the terrified Battalion could even scream, several more Serponies were pulled into the fog by an unseen force. Shadows of creatures zipped through the fog, tackling soldiers with blood-chilling screams. Julius cursed himself as he realized that this was an ambush of the darkest kind.

Julius turned towards the way they came, only to see Serpony soldiers trying to fight in vain the dark forces of Flutterbat. He looked to see a pony biting into a Serpony soldier. The pony looked up with a blood-smeared face and smiled with its serrated fangs as blood and drool dripped. It hissed and began to get up.

It died as Julius snapped his whip across its head, killing it.

Julius then began to channel his divine power, raising into the air. All the vampiric ponies started to get caught in a vacuum. A large cross made of holy energy erupted behind Julius two inches away from his back while Julius himself was covered in holy energy. The vacuum caused all Vampires to fly into the cross, causing them to burn away in a flash of holy blue-fire.

Julius landed back on the ground.

Julius looked around the now silent, foggy area. The fog hid as much as it could, but he saw the bodies of his dead battalion, not a single soldier survived.

Julius produced lighter fluid and a box of matches from his coat. He went around the corpses and sprinkled lighter fluid on all one-hundred and fifty of them and threw a match on them too, burning away the fate they would of had if they we just to lay there in the woods. Lesser vampire bites had an infectious quality to them, meaning that they can simply bite you and turn you into them, while Vampires of higher power need to give you their blood and drain your to make you one of them.

Julius then left the bodies to burn, confident that the fires won’t burn the forest down.

Julius knew that he needed to complete his mission, to find the Castle of Two Sisters. He also knew that he burned up a large amount of Vampiric ponies, so there shouldn't be a large amount of them left. He wondered if there was anyway he could of saved his battalion during those few moments.

He went deeper into the forest. Fully aware of his surroundings, Julius prayed that the nightmare would end quickly.

He came across a hut in the forest. In front was a zebra, chanting spells and drawing a symbolic circle around her house.

Julius called out, “you there! Are you a normal hu-pony?”

The zebra looked up and said, “indeed I am.”

“I’m Julius Belmont. I have more ponies like me coming soon. I was wondering if you could help them when they pass through here?”

The zebra frowned, “why would I help the invaders of the jungle?”

“Because you and I both know that an unnatural evil lurks in these woods, One that drains the blood of the living. They are not prepared to face it,” Julius said.

The zebra nodded sadly, “yes, I suppose so...,You know, she came for me. Poor Fluttershy tried to turn me when she stayed her first night here. I had to ward her off that night. All the other zebras had to relocate in Ponyville.”

“I see…”

The zebra continued, “I cannot believe Celestia is to blame, all this pain to tame… Celestia would never transform her into what she is. I cannot forgive her for that.”

The zebra lifted her head, “I will help your army cross the Everfree. But only because I don’t believe Celestia is Celestia.”

Julius said thank you and continued on his way. Before he left the hut, the zebra called out, “the name is Zecora, tell Fluttershy I miss her, if you see her.”

Julius nodded and plunged back into the Everfree Forest.

Julius eventually came into a clearing, a clearing with a castle in it.

Julius sighed, “the Castle of Two Sisters.”

The castle really did look abandoned, vines were on the walls,stones and walls were crumbling and it gave off an aura of lost sorrow and deceit.

Julius went through the gate and into the castle. He began to search all the rooms, finding relics and the occasional band of skeleton pony warriors and zombies. He made short work of them, hardly a challenge to him all. He checked them all and then went to the abandoned courtyard. There, the decomposing bodies of the previous scouting party of the Serponies were strewn across the courtyard, their throats ripped out.

Julius then saw the double doors that led to the throne room.

He trotted up to the doors, moving a body out of the way, and went inside.

The twin thrones in the throne room were crumbling and in a state of disrepair. Blood was spattered all over the stone floor and dried up on the torn red carpet. The moon was showing through the windows, indicating that the overcast will be gone till morning, and illuminating the throne room. On the throne of the moon, sat a yellow pegasus mare with bat wings that looked more menacing than her other bat wings she got after the fruit bats. Her crimson eyes fixed in sadness on a wine glass she had, filled with blood. Her ears were pointed and tidy, not like a bat pony’s ears. She threw the wine glass to the stone floor, shattering it.

“I don't want to fight.”

Julius raised an eyebrow, “you don't want to fight?”

The Pegasus mare slowly stepped down from the throne and said, “who are you? I never seen a stallion like you before?”

“I'm Julius Belmont. I am a Vampire Hunter.”

The mare slowly made her way to him, eyes weary. “I take it that you want to kill me?” She asked.

Julius nodded and said, “yes, I plan to do that… what's your name?”

“Fluttershy,” The mare said.

“Fluttershy, I must ask, why do you support Celestia?”

Fluttershy’s crimson eyes filled with hatred, “that is NOT Celestia, or this wouldn't do this to me. She… She took my bunny hostage, force feed me some blood and told me...told me…, She told me She would kill my pet if I didn't do what she wanted me to. So now, I command a force of turned ponies and undead creatures in the forest, waiting for your foolish army to march in.”

Julius readied his whip and said, “I killed the turned ponies, and fought off the undead threats in the castle. If anything, you only delayed the invasion.”

Fluttershy slowly trotted over to Julius. She stopped when she was five feet in front of him. “I never wanted to do this, I never wanted to cause harm or take lives. Poor Applejack, I think she feels the same way…”

She looked at him with the saddest eyes, “I'm sorry.”

Julius was not swayed by her apology, in fact, no pity was given by Julius at all. He cracked his whip and said, “your apologies won't work on me, monster. I fought against many of your kind and I can honestly say that they had no regard for mortal life, and they never regretted what they have done.”

Fluttershy closed her eyes, a single tear sliding down her cheek, “why, why, why did it have to be you? Why did it have to be by your hooves?”

Julius still felt no pity, or even a tiny bit of sadness. He was about to gather some divine energy to make a holy cross boomerang, when Fluttershy closed the distance between them in a blink of an eye. Julius was taken off guard, which didn't happen often, and he mentally scolded himself. The two stayed still for ten seconds before the unthinkable happened.

Instead of going for Julius’s throat, She went for his lips.

Julius was definitely surprised that time. She kissed the stallion for three seconds then transformed into mist. Julius, now on full alert, jumped back.

Fluttershy reappeared in front of the throne of the moon, sadness and guilt written all over her face.

“I'm so sorry, please forgive me!” She cried. She then spread her wings and assumed a battle stance.

Julius shook the kiss out of his mind and charged at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy flew at him, fangs bared in sadness, Julius jumped and bucked her out of the air, sending her into the ground. She became mist again and reappeared behind Julius, sending a ball of mist at him. He dodged and cracked his whip across the left side of her body, causing her to scream in pain. She was mist again.

The mist trick was really starting to annoy Julius. He got ready as he tried to heighten his senses.

It didn't work, Flutterbat appeared in front of him and wrapped her bat wings around him. She brought down her teeth, intent on piercing his jugular. Instead, Julius brought up his whip to block the attack, forcing her to bite the Vampire Killer. The whip burned her lips, causing her to release Julius from his winged prison.

Fluttershy brought out a potion and drank it, healing her left side and lips. She then charged at Julius, shrieking like the many vampires that died at Julius's hooves.

Julius produced an ax and threw it at her, causing her to dodge. He then performed his Omnia Vanitas, he became a blur and appeared behind her, Vampire Killer ready to end her. However, Fluttershy turned around, her crimson eyes seemingly piercing his soul. She bucked him into the throne before he could land the hit.

Julius got up. He knew that she shouldn't have reactions like that at all. The only being he could compare her with in terms of reaction speed was Dracula himself.

That was when it dawned on him. Reaction time… vial of blood…

She drank Dracula's blood.

Julius, now fully aware of her power, calmed himself and charged.

Fluttershy flashed her fangs as she closed the distance with him. She became mist as soon as Julius got near her, hoping to confuse and irritate him. However, Julius knew what was coming. She silently materialized behind him, snarling and about to shred his neck with serrated fangs.

Instead Julius turned around, brought up his hoof and socked Fluttershy in the face. She flew backwards and took to the air. She sent icicles at the Vampire Hunter, he dodged them. She sent fireballs at him, he dodged. She swooped low in an attempt to tackle the Belmont. Julius preformed his Omnia Vanitas again and appeared behind her. He swung his whip, causing it to wrap around her right hind leg. Then with all the force he could muster, Julius used the whip like a rope that was tethered to her leg, slamming her into the ground.

Fluttershy tried to get up, but Julius slammed her again. She whispered as he trotted up to her, and grabbed her neck. He then choke slammed her into the stone floor, then threw her at the foot of the throne of the sun. He brought out one of his axes and threw it at her. Fluttershy barely dodged, but the axe caution her wing, pinning it to the throne. She screamed in pain as she tried to free herself.

Julius trotted up to her, Vampire Killer in hoof, ready to finish her off.

Fluttershy looked at him with pleading eyes, begging him not to end her life.

Julius raised his whip, ready to end her existence. But, something was holding him back.

It was the kiss, he wanted to know why she kissed him.

Julius, with his whip still ready to deliver, asked, “why did you kiss me?”

Fluttershy looked at him, tears ready to pool out of her eyes, “I-I don't know. P-please don't kill me, I beg of you! W-who is going to take care of m-my pet, who is going to… to…”

Then she broke down and sobbed, crying and cursing the world for bestowing this curse upon her. She has been through a lot, and this was the closest she had ever been to completely looking it.

Julius knew that Celestia gave her the blood and forced her to drink it, he knew that she had friends that cared for her, that are willing to look for a cure. They are willing to show her mercy, to forgive her… didn't Julius worship a god that does the same for everypony else in his universe? Did he know someone named Alucard that had the blood of Dracula in his veins, and they ultimately became a force of good, helping them stop Dracula when they needed help the most?

Julius was faced with a dilemma. He could kill her now and this world will be rid of Dracula's blood, or spare her and hope she doesn't go rogue.

Fluttershy looked at him, and nodded, like she understood what he was thinking about. Fluttershy, thinking resistance was futile, lowered her head, exposing her neck. She was ready to be executed.

Julius gripped his whip, his mind made up.

Fluttershy closed her eyes, expecting the sweet embrace of death.

The silence lasted until...

Julius began to coil the whip with the words, “Go, I don't want to kill you anymore. The army will be hear soon, so you can say hi to Applejack. Until then, get out of my sight.”

Fluttershy, overjoyed that he decided to spare her, nodded with a sad smile and transformed into a bat and flew into a mouse hole in the stone walls of the throne room.

Julius then trotted toward the doors and went outside. He breathed easy as he noticed that the fog was lifted from the forest, and the rays of dawn casting their beautiful rays of hope onto the castle.