She traversed the door that lay upon the bottom step, a delightful smell infiltrating her nostrils.
"Come Flutterblood, dinner has been served" Stargazer called from a nearby room.
Flutterblood followed the strong scent, which led her to a large dining room. This place was very well lit compared to the rest of the decrepit castle. Once again colorful stained glass windows decorated the stone walls, from the ceiling hung a glistening chandelier, it's shape was simple but obscure, a long metal rod with a large crystal cluster at the end of it with two more metal rods protruding from it, this time both bent at a estimated 110 degree angle. Truly unique? Her attention then turned to the main object of the room, an enormous table, the size of a royal feast, but completely covered my empty plates and dry cups. At the end of it sat Stargazer with an inviting smile on her face.
"Come on, what are you waiting for?" Asked the purple alicorn rhetorically.
Flutterblood realized she was frozen still all throughout her short inspection, she came foreword towards her dear new friend. Stargazer was sat on one of the six colored chairs that stood out from the rest, only the two belonging to the pair had plates served with some boiled vegetables. Flutterblood sat down and looked down onto her meal, the plants looked slightly old and the vegetables unfit to eat, but the boiling must have gotten rid of any harmful parasites.
"No worries my friend, as a hunter you can eat almost anything and deal no harm to your body, it will just go right through." Stargazer laughed.
Flutterblood fell silent for a moment.
"Does this mean we are dead?" She questioned.
"No, not at all." Stargazer giggled slightly and took a large bite from a very soft copper brown apple.
"Out bodies are much stronger now you see, we are not vampires and we are not the living dead. We are simply hunters, one step closer to the great ones, far more evolved than the usual ponies, but there is a small catch. Those who cannot control the power they are given turn into beasts, the elder blood is not a power to me messed with, but back then we did not know the risk. You will see its doing soon, but right now enjoy your meal." The alicorn stated in a reassuring tone.
Flutterblood leaned over and ate a piece of the decayed vegetables.
"It might not taste good but trust me this might be the last time you taste proper food, so treasure every bite. There is no more left out there, and what can be scavenged we should keep for the ones without the elder blood" added Stargazer.
"Please explain, what is the elder blood?" asked FlutterBlood.
"Oh, as Celestialplain not told you? Never mind. It is what makes us hunters, the blood of the great ones found deep beneath ground in the elder catacombs, the pony race has harvested his substance and used it as medicine. Groundbreaking phenomenon you see, it made us evolve drastically making us much stronger, drinking it can heal any illness, make you immune to it, the elder blood replaces food and can heal any wound almost instantly. It strains your mind to it's full potential, giving you the hunter senses and making you a borne killing machine, for survival of course." Stargazer explained as she took her last bite of the small meal.
"Stargazer gave me my purpose, and so when do we start?" Flutterblood said trying to sound positive.
"That's the spirit, now follow me!" Stargazer burst out in enthusiasm, she hopped out of her chair and quickly galloped out of the room.

Flutterblood had almost finished her disappointing meal, but left in behind as she rushed to follow her guide. Following the noise of galloping hooves she entered another room of the maze like castle. Entering she was met with a fairly beautiful sight, the room looked to be a barbers workplace. It was filled with clothing designs, mostly the stile of what Stargazer whore with the long coats, hoods, arrow like hats, and pouches the typical so called hunter gear, but crafted and sown with magnificent designs. Some were colorful some were dull, all looked very detailed and made perfectly with mastered precision. Every set of gear was unique, some light and fast, some heavy and strong, all served a purpose and had practical advantages, still keeping a similar leather material with hints of distinctive unique color and pattern sown into straps of soft glamorous velvet. Stargazer stood next to another figure, the new pony was a unicorn her body was as white as a polished pearl and her very long hair a silky dark purple, styled in perfection first going down after a cone and twisting round like a spiral at its end. The unicorns eyes as blue as the long forgotten blue sky, long black eyelashes and a cutie mark depicting three sapphire blue diamonds, she only wore a worn out crafting apron, but obviously had a good clothes collection for herself somewhere within this room. Both figures turned to face Flutterblood.
"Flutterblood, this is Craftsmare. The pony who stands behind the gear that protects all hunters from their opponents" said Stargazer looking at the phantom white unicorn and then back at Flutterblood.
"I see you found the last element Stargazer? Well done, its good to see her safe... Good luck getting to the rest." Craftsmare said to the purple alicorn following up with a slight whisper.
"Craftsmare is will prepare your hunter gear as we progress to fit you with the right weapons." Stargazer said to Flutterblood.
"You will fit right in to what I've prepared for you Flutter, it will serve you well." Craftsmare reassured her customer.
"Thank you" Flutterblood replied as she left the room with Stargazer, pieces of cloth and strands of thread levitating towards the unicorn getting right into her work.
"Now she will have something to do, that wraith of a unicorn is a fearless fighter, but will do anything to stay here and craft clothing. Doesn't like getting her hair dirty." Stargazer smirked.
"What weapons do hunters use?" Asked Flutterblood.
"Well there is a lot of hunters, and a lot of weapons. I for example use a long ranged blunderbuss and two blades, the unique shape of them both provides a lot of helpful tricks to use in combat, which you have already seen in action. Craftsmare uses four flintlock pistols, to aim four weapons at once is a skill only a precise unicorn can master with practice, also they keep any blood from getting too close to her clothes, that's my speculation." Stargazer said.

The two ponies entered their destination, this room was a blacksmith's territory. The clanks and bangs of metal were echoing through the large empty space as the tall muscular earth pony smashed a heavy iron hammer onto the sizzling hot metal, sparks erupting from the iron and evaporating as they touched the cold water below. He dipped the glowing orange blade into the water creating a cloak of roaring steam to erupt, hiding his figure from view. Suddenly the stallions wrinkled face protruded from the wall of steam startling the two ponies.
"And who have we got here?" The blacksmith asked in a deep raspy voice.
"This is Flutterblood, the sixth element of this kingdom. Flutterblood this is the Smithstallion, the stallion behind all the master crafted weapons you will come across." Introduced Stargazer with pride.
"Nonsense, what I make is to the equivalent of a rusty spoon compared to what was made before the elder blood was found, but I'm all that is left so now you appreciate my fine work." Smithstallion responded.
"Well I certainly don't think so. So master blacksmith, we have an important order for a new hunter. So what would you like Flutterblood?" said Stargazer.
"I don't have a preference, but two blades would serve the job right." Flutterblood answered hesitantly.
"The old Smithstallion has it all planned, the unique blade design has been perfected for a while and will be reassembled now that you have arrived, I would never leave a customer with a simple pair of blades. Those will be perfect for your strong wings and I'l be sure to give them a little twist, just for you sixth element." Smithstallion said as a slight friendly smile broke the wrinkles of hi's emotionless face.
Flutterblood thanked him and was on her way, following Stargazer out of the room.

"So what do we do while my gear is assembled?" Flutterblood asked.
"As always there is no time to loose, I'm taking you outside. Only this way you can become more aware of the place you are in." Said Stargazer as she led Flutterblood out of the castle gates.
"We must take the blood of Pinkamena, only a small specimen. We need to keep a bit of it, she is an element of harmony and has not taken any elder blood. Better get some of it now before she gets into trouble, or worse becomes a beast somehow." Added stargazer.
"Is she an ally?" Flutterblood asked, questioning as to should she trust the newly introduced pony.
"Pinkamena? Yes she is a friend of mine, she may seam very strange, almost threatening at times, but she means no harm. You see, she has not taken the elder blood. This means she remember everything, she remembers what this kingdom use to be, the friends she use to have, the life we all use to have. That is all gone now and we do not worry as we all do not remember, but Pinkamena remembers it all far too well. This has driven her into a state of insanity we do not understand, but she is still an element and our friend, and so we need her." Stargazer said with a slight sadness creeping into her voice as she spoke.
The two ponies walked along the empty road, a bare yellow figure, her pink tail dragging along the ground and a dark crow feathered cloaked alicorn right by her side, traveling through a long forsaken city. This port of the town was calm, not a single trace of the beast hunters could be found.

"Our destination has been reached Flutterblood." Stargazer notified as the two ponies stood in at the foot of a decrepit house.
This certain house looked not much different to the ones surrounding it. Just the usual creaking of old splintering wood and shuffling of the rat infested walls. Stargazer approached the wooden door, it's surface was wrapped in barbed wire so she knocked at it with the pommel of her blade.
"Pinkamena, it's me Stargazer with Flutterblood the sixth element." Stargazer said, loud enough for the one inside to hear, but in a whispered tone not to alert any unwanted guests.
One by one loud clanks were herd as four locks swiped open from the other side, the door then slowly creaked open, squeaking like a dying rat.
"We will now come in" Stargazer informed before entering and motioning Flutterblood to follow.
The two ponies walked down the hall, a straight staircase on their left and closed rooms on the left, they crept up the rotting wooden stairs. A small drop of a liquid fell on her nose, a smell of clotting blood swept her senses. She looked up, the ceiling was very dark as the only light came from the top of the stairs, long tendrils of barbed wire shined by reflecting the little light emitted. Wrapped in the razor grasp of the shredding wire hung large portions of meat most unidentifiable, but some was full bodies of rats and birds. She then noticed the buckets placed beneath all the hanging corpses collecting all the dripping blood as she almost walked into one of them. They reached the stairs end, and walked into the room, following Pinkamena's lead.

The room's ceiling was not much different to the one leading up to it, once again a collection of abominations was displayed hanging from barbed wire attached to the ceilings supporting wooden structure, a carpet of buckets covering almost every square inch of the room's surface. At the end of the room lay a medium sized medical table, on it an already well dissected pony's torso. Right next to it a large system of tubes and flasks all connected together into a circuit of constant blood flow, probably made to mix certain blood types and prepare it for the right transfusions, but Pinkamena was no where to be found. The two guests crept closer to the table, looking at the piles of blood stained articles describing the anatomy of every organ and going in great detail into the vein system, describing the blood flow of every single vein and the pressure of every single artery. The heart of the dissected organism on the table looked to be still beating, pulsating with life, her concentration fixated on the subject before her.

Her ear suddenly moved. Flutterblood jumped backwards, knocking over a few buckets but keeping her balance. Stargazer turned looking at the terrified pegasus, as she drew her two blades. Flutterblood just stared at the scalpel that had fell from the dark void of the tall ceiling. From the cover of darkness smoothly popped out a ponies head, her extremely long straight pink hair dangled almost touching the ground, almost glowing bluish green eyes and a wide smile plastered across her face.
"Sorryyy, didn't mean to scare you, it just slipped." Pinkamena reassured the frightened ponies.
"What were you doing on the ceiling?" Flutterblood asked, slightly annoyed.
"I don't know, it's fun. Just giving you a little welcome surprise." Pinkamena responded with a grin.

Pinkamena let go of the ceilings wooden support structure and fell to the ground with a small crash. She shook off a few spider webs from her perfectly straight mane all hairs smoothly flowing downwards like a pink waterfall. Her ears were pierced with all kinds of earrings, all made up of a single solid dull bone like material, a necklace hung down from her neck a small crocodile or alligator scull dangling at the end of it. Her back legs were wrapped in cloth straps, probably for protection as a lighter replacement of shoes, similar cloth straps also tied at the beginning of her tail to keep the long mass of long hair tidy and prevent it from reaching the ground. Her body did not have much scars, if she took the elder blood the scars and wounds would be healed, but for a pony that never took the poison of life she had very little scars, probably meaning she avoided most battle. The only scars visible were two small cuts upon her front left leg, and in-numerous cuts dealt to her cutie mark, making it almost unrecognizable.

"It's good to see you once again Pinkamena" Stargazer broke the silence.
A sudden mood switch seamed to have occurred within Pinkamena, she no longer looked as happy as just moments ago.
"Let me guess, you only came here for the blood." That was no question, Pinkamena stated the quote in a matter of fact kind of way.
"Twilight, you use to love books remember? What about Rarity? Fluttershy? What happened to all your animals? You use to love them so, so much." Piknamena rambled underneath her voice.
"Pinkamena, forget about it." Stargazer demanded in a slightly agitated voice.
"Remember Applejack and Rainbow? They were our friends." Pinkamena continued rambling.
"Pinkamena, stop!" Stargazer shouted, ordering the pink pony to silence.
"Tell me... Where are they now?" Pinkamena added in a whisper before giggling, a tear falling from her cheek and onto the wooden tiles.
Flutterblood looked over to Stargazer, the alicorn looked enraged, but had nothing do say, as she kept her tears in.
"What if I decided to join them." Pinkamena said as she picked up a syringe filled with a crimson substance.
"Wouldn't want to fail your deer princess, would you? Pinkamena taunted.
Stargazer's horn lit up the room with an amethyst purple glow. The syringe in Pinkamena's mouth emanated with the pinkish purple aura as Stargazer attempted to levitate it out of Pinkamena's grasp with her magic.
"Hunters ate not beasts!" Screamed Stargazer in a roar of anger.
Flutterblood tackled the pink pony onto the ground spilling many buckets around them. Pinkamena let go of the syringe, but now was attempting to free herself from Flutterblood's grasp squirming wildly in the spilled blood.
"But all hunters fall! They can only fall! It's only a matter of time and we will all be like Rainbow and Applejack. The elements will not bring them back!" Pinkamena shouted in absolute rage.
"Pinkie, forget about it!" Flutterblood raised her voice.

The room fell absolutely silent.
"You called me... Pinkie." Pinkamena muttered calmly and stopped all struggle.
"You may take my element... And be gone" Pinkamena muttered.
"Fluttershy, I want to believe it will be like it use to... But it's so hard. Pinkamena's eyes released multiple tears.
Stargazer came up to the two mares and gently pierced the pink pony with an empty syringe marked "element of laughter" and filled the small vial with her blood.
"Pinkie, we can make it better, but we need your help." Flutterblood calmly said to the pink pony as she helped Pinkamena up from the ground.
Flutterblood smiled at Pinkamena as they made eye contact, but the pink mare did not smile back. Pinkamena looked down to the ground, stared at the previous syringe filled with elder blood.
"Hunters only fall." Pinkamena said as she crushed the syringe with her hoof.
"Fear the elder blood, and keep safe pinkie, when this is all over we will come back for you. I promise." Flutterblood said.
"And I shall wait." Pinkie replied, a small friendly smile appearing on her face.

The two ponies left Pinkamenas house, the third element of harmony has been preserved.
"Flutterblood?" asked Stargazer while levitating another empty syringe towards her.
Flutterblood nodded in approval, four elements safely in vials, ready to be given to the Celestialplain.
The two ponies made their way to the royal castle, entering back through the gates.
"Well, those were your first glimpses of what this world has become, not the nicest, but not the worst." Stargazer said calmly.
"This is the only world I know Stargazer, but I will fight for what is better for the ones that still remember what it use to be." Flutterblood responded as they both came into the castles main corridor.

"Oh gosh, Flutterblood! You are covered in blood. Thank Celestialplain as I can smell its not yours." Shouted Craftsmare as she inspected Flutterblood with a worried look on her face.
"Stargazer! How dare you put her into such a state on her first trip out of the royal grounds." Complained Craftsmare, furious at Stargazer.
"It's fine, she helped out a load. If not her we would have another beast on our back, or another hunter to fight... Till she falls." Stargazer answered, with her voice turning to a whisper at her last sentence.
"Flutter, you must take a bath immediately. I will not allow you to ware your gear till you wash all of this off of you." Demanded Craftsmare.
"It's hunter gear it's going to get bloody anyway." Stargazer protested.
"Not on my watch" Craftsmare followed up, and guided Flutterblood to the bathroom.

Craftsmare and Stargazer waited for her in the dining room, the hunter gear was ready and the weapons have been assembled. Flutterblood entered the room, the pegasus looked better than ever, much needed refreshment after the last couple days of agonizing work.
"Flutterblood, you look fantastic. So what do you think of your gear?" Asked Craftsmare in enthusiasm.
Flutterblood did not even glimpse at the magnificent craft displayed upon the table as she already rushed towards the two blades Stargazer was holding.
"Unfortunately Smithstallion is too busy to present those himself, but here are the two saw cleavers he had made for you" Stargazer stated.
Flutterblood held the two fairly heavy blades, one in each bony featherless wing. Both blades looked exactly the same, a very long curved handle slightly longer than the blade. At the end of it a round, toothed, gear, cog mechanism to which was attached a curved blade that went around and down the outside of the handle. The handle was wrapped in some tattered cloth straps and had a long metal lever like trigger. The blade was slightly thick which added to the wait of the weapon but also could also give it some strong cutting power, it's outer edge had jagged teeth like cuts in it the typical ripping shape common in a saw, while the inner edge was a slightly sharpened blade edge ending with a slight spike that would perfectly dig into flesh, only to be ripped right out. Flutterblood was slightly confused as to how the inner edge of such a blade would be used if it is surrounding the handle, out of reach from the opponent.
"Hold the lever." Stargazer instructed.
Flutterblood held the blades levers, when pressing them down a click was herd as in an instant the mechanisms rotated and the blades rotated away from the handle making a more original sword like shape, this was a very helpful function as an opponent would not expect such a close range weapon to be simply and effectively turned into a double sided long blade.
"It's certainly a master piece, but how will I know how to use it right?" Flutterblood asked.
"Combat is in your instincts my friend, leave it all to your hunter instinct." Stargazer replied happily.

"Please could you try the armor now?" Craftsmare demanded in exited.
Flutterblood nodded in agreement and with the unicorns help put on her hunter gear set. It fitted perfectly, a very long blackish brown leather coat, thick leather layered gauntlets. The finest details like thick elbow layers and a nice silver chain dangling from her left pocket, a strong leather belt fastened across her chest that could hold numerous blood vials and molotovs. Underneath the coat was a small tether jacket held tight by four belts that could be used for minimal storage, a nicely placed scruffy scarf wrapped round her beck and under that a black cloth to hide the her mouth. Attached to her inner jacket were two loose leather strip to harness her two saw cleavers when they are not being used. On top of all the typical pure black hunter hat, a traditional arrow shape with the two wing like ends ripped and jagged to give it that rogue look.
"It's well crafted, stealthy, and practical. Thank you Craftsmare." Flutterblood responded.
"Anything for you my dear." Craftsmare smiled.

"Alright better be going, your a hunter so you don't need no sleep and I think you had a good rest in a warm bath tub so..." Stargazer was interrupted.
"The water here, its cold." Flutterblood muttered.
"Oh, yes, right. So as I was saying, we should head out. Our next destination is the rotting apple acres farm." Stargazer continued.
"Is the place dangerous?" Flutterblood questioned with little to no hesitation.
"Yes, yes it is my dear." Replied Craftsmare in a worried voice.
"We have not herd from the Apple family in months... or maybe years. Anything could have happened, we are expecting the worst." Stargazer said in a voice not as confident as she would usually sound.
"There is only one way to find out, judging from the name, is Applejack the pony we are looking for?" Flutterblood responded following up with a well thought out question.
"Yes, she is the fifth element of harmony. We must go." Stargazer responded sadly.
"I will come searching with the royal guards if you two do not return in a day." Craftsmare stated in a reassuring tone.

The two hunters were on their way, the path was not much of a struggle. Much blood has not been spilled, but a lot of enemies had been avoided, a danger far stronger was awaiting them and no blood vials must be wasted. Their destination has been reached, they both stood as the strong smell of decaying fruit penetrated their nostrils. Flutterblood covered her mouth and nose with the black cloth to numb the revolting smell, and off they went into the deep rotting forest.

Author's Note

Thank you to anyone that has read all the way to the end of chapter 2 of FlutterBlood. It takes me a long time to write each chapter as I put a lot of thought into the FlutterBlood universe and I'm constantly drawing the characters I create in the story on my DeviantArt. Overall I'm having a lot of fun writing this story and making it what it is. To all that support me and my work, thank you. -ImTheCASUAL