“Praise The Alpha And Through His Light, Thou Shall Find Peace!”

Awe!

That was the only thing that I felt as I stared up at the legendary Alpha Temple of Salt Lick City. It was amazing that the temple was still mostly intact. The left spire of the front of the Temple having been destroyed. The spire looking like it had been cut off my a massive saw with pieces of the remaining granite looking like it had been through a meat grinder. The rubble remains of the spire laying a few yards from the entrance. The skeleton of a creature with the form of a pony lying smashed underneath the granite that made up the destroyed spire. Some unfortunate soul looking to have been crushed. All of the glass that made up the windows for the temple had been destroyed leaving the windows completely open with the hot quickly turning simply warm breeze of the evening rushing through them.

I was about to rush into the confines of the Temple, only to be stopped by the protective hoof of Breeze stopping me from moving forward.

I turned my attention over to my friend and I stared up at him with a look of confusion plastered on my face.

“Wh-What are you doing, Breeze?” I asked my friend.

“I’m stopping you from doing something stupid.” Breeze said back to me, his words were blunt, but I don’t think that was how intended for them to land. But I still took a step away from Breeze and held up my right foreleg up and close to my body. I must have looked a small puppy in front of him.

“Stupid, stupid!” I shouted back at him. “How could going into the most sacred place for me and the rest of my species be a bad thing!” I continued to shout at Breeze my body beginning to heat up as I felt something that felt like hot magma rushing throughout my body. I also felt something strange happen to my eyes as I stared daggers at Breeze. How dare he insult the Alpha. I knew that he didn’t believe in the Alpha, but he didn’t give him the right to deny me from paying my respects to him. Besides, after all of the shit that I have been through in the last week or so. I deserved to have so personal time with the greatest dragon that had ever lived.

“I don’t mean to offend you Eta, but you gotta remember. This place hasn’t been a temple for over two hundred years. Plus, I know you might be taken away by the sheer size of this place but…” Breeze said to me before pausing. Why was he pausing? Answer me damn it!

“But what!?!” I demanded Breeze to answer.

“But this isn’t a temple anymore, Eta!” Breeze shouted at me. Only to get an irritated snort from me.

I knew and understood what Breeze was saying. This wasn’t a functioning Temple anymore. But, it still was a Temple! Who would dare try to disgrace a beautiful place like this? It might not look perfect, it might be missing one of its spires, it might have survived a megaspell blast. But I didn’t care! This was my place of worship and if there was anyone that wanted to turn it into anything any but a House of the Alpha than were going to have to fight me. And I was armed and more than willing to put a few bullets in some pony’s skulls. Then pray to the Alpha for forgiveness afterward, of course.

“I know what you’re saying Breeze, but we need a place to stay for whatever this pit of Tartarus has for the night and this looks to be our best option right now.

Breeze was silent for a few seconds, almost like he was trying to come up with a good rebuttal to what I had just said. He seemed to find none as he breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Alright, but just this night. We still don’t know what is friendly and what is foe.” Breeze and I literally jumped for joy at his words. He was going to let me spend the night in a place that I am sure that most dragons would kill to just see, yet alone spend the night in.
“Excellent! Now follow me!” I exclaimed as I rushed into the opened doors of the Temple.

“Eta, wait for me!” Breeze called after me as I rushed into the Temple. I was really listening to him, I just wanted to experience the greatness that this Temple was so renowned for. Maybe if I had listened to Breeze more, or if I had been realistically cautious. I might have noticed the profane graffiti that lined the outside of the Temple. The graffiti that on a second glance depicted words and things that even I, a foul-mouthed dragon, wouldn’t even repeat. I thought that this place was a place of worship and peace.

Oh, how wrong I was.

My movements came to a stop once I had entered the Temple. Any delusion that I had of this place’s current state of repair was eliminated the moment that I entered the Temple’s confines.

The front room of the Temple was completely destroyed. Rubble from the Temple’s granite construction-littered the front room. I looked up to see that the room of the Temple had completely caved in and rubble from the wooden roof was spread across the floor. The remaining wood was no longer the usual brown color of wood but a sickly black color. There must have been a fire sometime in the past. Or the wood was destroyed during the bombing of Salt Lick City. The pieces of granite that were spread across the floor of the Temple were huge. Most them being around my size or even larger. Everything was destroyed! Everything! Nothing was left! Nothing!

I was doing my best to contain my emotions and anger but it wasn’t easy. Who could’ve done something like this? All of my emotional restraint left me once the claws on my right foreleg hit something that was lying on the cracked tile floor beneath me. I looked down and I felt a rush of something hot flow throughout my body.

My blue eyes, that must have been red at that moment, falling on the sight of a small black book. A small book that anyone that wasn’t a dragon would look on as nothing special. But a dragon would see and be brought to tears.

The black book was small, the book looking to have been made so that it would fit perfectly in the paw of a dragon my size or just slightly larger. The book’s cover made out of some kind of black leather that gave it almost a scaly texture at the touch. The book wasn’t it great condition, but I guess everything was relative given that I was currently standing in a Temple that could fall down on me at any moment.

The book’s cover read “Livet til Alfa. Historien om en levende legende.” The title of the small book read. My understanding of the dragon language before the Great War wasn’t best. But from what I had learned from my mother I was able to understand what the title of the book read.

The title of the small book reading “The Life of the Alpha. The History of a Living Legend.” This was what dragons would consider their holy book, or their own bible if you will. The collected life of the First Alpha and his two apprentices. Two Apprentices that were twin brothers went by the names of Delta and Omega. Two Apprentices that would later battle each other for the right to be named the Second Alpha.
I knew all of the stories that were in this book.

I felt my anger beginning to build throughout my body again. I felt hot. I felt black smoke coming out of my nostrils. I was mad, I was angry, I was… I wanted to kill something! I wanted to find the person, pony, dragon, zebra, whatever that was responsible for this and beat their skulls in with own claws. The one that did this didn’t deserve to live, they didn’t deserve to live knowing what beauty that had just taken from this pile of shit world.

I don’t know how I hadn’t noticed this all before, any of this!

Maybe I was to cut up in the beauty that I wanted to see and the destruction and death that was actually right in front of me.

“Eta…” I heard Breeze say cautiously behind me. I couldn’t believe how much my friend actually feared of me. And he had good to be afraid of me. I had attacked him in a state of hallucination cause rage. He had seen me kill… no murder another pony in cold blood. I must have looked like an absolute wreck to him. A weakened hatchling crying into a small black book that he probably had no idea the significance A small book told the stories of the very life of the greatest dragon that had ever lived. Stories that I remembered my mother telling me when I just a hatchling and I hadn’t yet learned just how bucked up this world actually was.

How could a dragon that these stories had told me was capable of moving mountains allow something like this to happen!?! Was he even real… did he even ever live!?!

I didn’t know what to believe anymore. I had felt like my heart had ripped out of my chest and stomped on repeating and then forcibly put back in with some unknown power expecting it to be able to function like it had before.

“Are you alright?” I heard Breeze asked me in a voice that brought, even more tears to my eyes. Why was he afraid of me? Tartarus, I was afraid me. If I was afraid of myself what kind of chance does my friend have.

“No.” I said to Breeze in response, my voice being cracked. “No, I’m not.” I said as I placed the small book in my saddlebags. It wasn’t going to be left in this Alpha forsaken place again. It deserved to be read and worshiped by a dragon that actually knew that true meaning of this place.

“Eta, not to say that I told you so but…” Breeze began to say to me and my brain snapped.

“Then don’t!” I shouted back at Breeze snapping my head back to look directing at him, my unicorn companion taking a step backward in fright. What was wrong with me? Why was Breeze afraid of me? I breathed a heavy sigh as I turned my head to looked at the cracked tile floor of the Temple. I was ashamed.

I was silent and motionless for a few seconds as I just sat there. A rush of strangely cold air rushing over my scales as I just sat on my rump in complete silence. I had almost forgotten that I was with Breeze until I heard the clatter of his hooves making contact with the tile of the Temple.

Breeze slowly approaching me and taking a seat to my direct right. Me only being able to see him out of the corner of my right eye.

“Eta…” Breeze began to say to me. I could feel a lecture about looking for the good in things rather than the evil coming on. But I wasn’t isn’t in the mood to listen to another one of Breeze’s signature lectures so I just held up my right paw. Breeze heeded my silent warning and no other words came out of his mouth.

There was another round of awkward silence as Breeze just sat there next to me. I could help but think that he was studying me. Watching, listening, making silent mental notes. Had to have been. He told me that he was planning on going into more mental forms of medical expertise.

He was probably doing that thing that mother did to me when I was younger, or angry, or both. Whatever she called it, psychoanalyze. It was something like that. What it was, I didn’t like it.

Eventually, my brain couldn’t take all of the signals that I was sending it and I snapped.

“What do you want, Breeze!” I shouted at my friend. Breeze’s body drawing back at my outburst.

“Damnit Eta, why are you always the worst at talking to others?” I scolded myself.

“Ugh!” I groaned as I covered my head with my claws. “I’m sorry Breeze.” I apologized as turned my head away from my unicorn companion. I honestly didn’t know why he was still with me. Maybe he had already made the calculations that it would be worse for him to face whatever horrors this world had than having to deal with my bullshit every other second.

I don’t know. Breeze was always better when it came to math then me.

“I don’t what’s wrong with me.” I said as I felt the corners of my eyes begin to fill with tears. “You must think that I’m insane, don’t you?” I asked Breeze while still looking away from him.

What Breeze did next surprised, I guessed to shouldn’t have given that I was talking to Breeze. But… nevertheless, it did.

I felt the light touch Breeze’s yellow hoof on my right shoulder. I flinched slightly at his touch. I was still not at the point to allow any random stranger to touch, yet alone a stallion to touch me. But Breeze was a friend, he could touch me. At least, for now.

“No, Eta.” Breeze said to me with a soft voice. I turned my head slightly to my right to see Breeze out of the corner of my eye. A happy and reassuring smile plastered on the small portion of his face that I could see.

“I don’t think you are insane.” Breeze said to me and I could feel a small lump begin to build at the bottom of my throat. How Breeze was still able and willing to stand by me despite all that I have done to both him and myself for that matter. I might never know, but right then I didn’t. Breeze was giving me a level of kindness and patience that I really didn’t deserve and I wasn’t about to stop him.

“I have never thought that you were crazy, never.” Breeze said as he placed one of his hooves on my right paw. His hoof was cold but… I liked it.

“Eta, you have been through a lot. You’ve been through things that no mare should ever have to go through.” Breeze said to me. A small segment from the worst day of my life flashing into my find.

“Open up girl, you promised…” I heard that bitch’s words ring in my head. I had to close my mouth and shut my eyes as I felt an invisible cock being pushed against my mouth. I couldn’t explain what was happening to me, but it didn’t last for long. The beautiful words of Breeze bringing me back to the land of reality.

“But the mind and body need time to recover.” Breeze said as he put a little more pressure on my paw. “Time that is yet to pass.” Breeze said to me, a rather painful memory (but not the most painful) coming to me as he spoke.

“Breeze… I hurt you. I-I could’ve killed you.” I said to Breeze, referring to when I nearly killed him when I woke after… that happened. A knot beginning to form at the bottom of my throat. A knot that only seemed to grow as we continued to talk.

“But you didn’t.” Breeze said, his eternal optimism shining through again. A kind of optimism that I could only wish and pray to the Alpha in order to process.

Despite everything that told my body that we were safe and at peace. My mind kept sending me signals that were still in danger. Maybe I was just being paranoid.

I wasn’t, and I was about to find out just how unsafe we really were.

“Well… well… well. What do we have here!?!” I heard a voice that I didn’t recognize say behind me. I snapped my head around to see where the voice from. My eyes widening when I laid eyes on the first ponies, that weren’t dead, that I had seen since leaving Stable 70.
There were three stallions of varying size and shape. The only thing that they seemed to have in common was that they were all earth ponies and were clad in this strange looking armor that was nothing more than random pieces of metal welded together in a wash of steel that tried to resemble armor. Each of the stallions being different in their own right.

The largest of the three stallions was standing directly in front of me and Breeze. The other two stallions standing at his direct right and left. The stallion had a light gray coat with a light blue mane and tail. His mane being trimmed off and in the shape of a small mohawk. His tail being the same light blue color as his mane but was regularly cut, almost like somepony had cut with a piece of sharp glass or a shard from a mirror. He was smiling at me, but it wasn’t a happy smile or one the warm smiles that Breeze had given me whenever I was feeling down and always seemed to be enough to cheer me up. No, this smile was different. This was evil, his teeth were all yellow and crooked. Not to mention they were all pointed. His teeth only adding to the devilish smile that he was giving me. The stallion’s eyes didn’t help him earn my trust any more than his creepy smile. The stallion’s eyes being a dark brown color and he spent of the time running them up and down my body. When I moved my tail to cover the lower part of my body I could’ve sworn that I saw a small smirk spread across his muzzle and his pink tongue licked his lower lips. I couldn’t tell from where I was sitting what his cutie mark looked like. I couldn’t see and of the stallions’ cutie marks. The largest stallion looking to be the leader of the three stallions.

The stallion that was to the largest one’s right and my left was slightly shorter than his taller counterpart, there being about a three-inch difference in height. The stallion had a lime green coat and red mane with light orange highlights. The most notable thing about the stallion was the state of his left hind leg. The stallion’s leg looking to have been broken sometime during his past and having not healed properly since. His left knee being bent at a weird angle and looking to bend at a near diagonal angle whenever he bent his knee. The stallion also looked to have had a recently healed black eye. His left eye looking to have been swollen recently and having a slightly darker coloration of green fur under the eye. Speaking of his eyes they a light blue color. They almost reminded me of my own eyes. He was the one of the group that I trusted the most, nowhere near my level of trust toward Breeze, of course. But I still liked him better than the other two stallions.

Speaking of the other stallions, the stallion to the left of the largest was the shortest of the three. Him being a solid foot shorter than the one in the middle. This one just gave, and I would also assume Breeze too, the creeps. Even more so than the largest stallion. The small stallion having a bright orange coat and a shaved head. The stallion’s tail looking like it had been originally a forest green color but had turned a dark brown and black. His tail looking to have been burned in a fire earlier in his life and not having most of its original color coming back afterward. The shared the same crooked grin on his face that the largest stallion had, but this one was creepier somehow. Maybe it was the fact that he was smaller than me. Maybe it was that bright orange eyes just seemed to bore in my soul as he looked me over as if I was a piece of meat. Maybe it was the fact that he almost seemed to be jumping in place in either excitement or just plain insanity. I’ll let you be the judge.
“It looks like we got two lovebirds, boss.” The stallion with the strange looking hind leg said to the largest of the three stallions. The stallion confirming my original assumptions.

“Is that so?” The largest stallion said in a tone of voice that showed that he wasn’t really surprised.

“More like trespassers if ya ask me, boss.” The smallest of the three stallions chimed in. The stallion shaking his head every few seconds as he seemed to have some kind of strange tick.

“This place is a Temple! And you are the one that are the ones that are trespassing!” I shouted back at the three stallions. They all reacted in a manner that I had expected. Them all reeling back at my outburst. The smallest looking to have taken my outburst the worst as he looked like he was about ready to pounce on me.

“Come yourself, Hot Blooded.” The largest stallion said to the smallest as he held him back with his hoof.

“This is civil conservation between friends.” The largest stallion said down to his smaller counterpart, but I couldn’t stop myself from feeling that he was really talking to me. And in that case, this was not a civil conversation and we not friends. I doubted that this stallion even knew the real meaning of either of those words.

“We have no need for violence.” The largest stallion said to the smallest one. The two stallions sharing a look that just screamed “At least, not yet.” to me.

“Right, boss. But, let me have the dragon, I’ve always wanted to try dragon.” The smallest stallion said in a tone of voice that made my scales crawl. The stallion’s orange eyes also sizing me up, almost as if he saw me as nothing more than a piece of meat that he could sink his teeth into. I wasn’t and if he tried anything then he would get a firm reminder of that fact.

“Don’t worry Hot Blooded. But remember, I always get the first taste. I have to make sure that the meat is good before I pass it off to you.” The largest stallion said to… The two stallions sharing a look that made my blood freeze and my heart skip a beat.

“Of course. She’s all yours, boss. Just make sure you save me a slice.” The smallest stallion said as he took a step backward and the larger one approached me. The smell of something horrid reaching my nose as he trotted closer to me. I couldn’t tell what it was, but whatever it was it must have been what death smelled like.

I took a brief look over to my side to see Breeze, my unicorn companion looking just as comfortable as I currently was. Maybe even more so.

“Honey, darling.” The largest of the three stallions said to me in a patronizing way that made me want to beat his skull in with the very rubble that he was disrespecting.

He might have been tall but that was by pony standards. The top of stallion’s blue mane only being a few inches taller than me. Making our eye level about the same.

“I’m not sure that your little mare brain to there is able to grasp this but…” He said as I had already made my mind about him. Yeah, I wanted to beat his head in with a rock and then shoot him, twice, with a shotgun, in his junk.

“This place is ain’t no temple, as you call it. And it hasn’t been in a long ass time.” The stallion said in the most patronizing way possible. My body and eyes were burning with anger, it wouldn’t have surprised if they were red, and I was sending him a death glare that if it was connected to a laser it would be able to burn through marble. Despite my anger, the only thing that this stallion seemed to find was humor. A pathetic smirk spreading across his face as I continued to stare daggers at him.

“So, if you would be so kind as to vacate the premises and go on both yours way. Then we won’t any an issue.” The stallion continued to speak to me in the most patronizing way possible. The stallion walking past me and running his horrid hoof down my back. I had to fight with every fiber of my being not to take a bite at the hoof.

“The both of you might be new to this wasteland, and based on this one’s clothing. That might be true.” The stallion said to be me, directing his ‘this one’ at Breeze. Breeze still wearing his blue Stable barding. I didn’t wear any clothing. The Stable had near given me, or mother for that matter, any barding. The Overmare that ruled when I was I was just hatchling telling me that they had no bardings that were made to fit a dragon. I had believed the story for most of my life, but based on what had happened as of late. I wasn’t so sure.

I pushed away my thoughts as I went back to listening to the largest stallion. His disgusting hoof still touching my and drifting further down my body. I moved my tail so that it covered my privates and wrapped underneath my belly. I didn’t want to monster to even get a peek at my nethers. My actions bringing another wicked smile to his muzzle. The smile didn’t last, his muzzle returning to a neutral expression in a matter of seconds. He probably didn’t even realize what he had just done. But I did, and I wanted to slam his skull into the ground and shot him and his two lackeys with a shotgun.

“And given your lack of knowledge.” The stallion continued “I would be so gracious as to let the both you leave…” He whispered into my ear, my scales crawling as I felt his hot breath up against my ear. “Unharmed.” He finished his sentence as he put his body up against my own. I being able to feel something hard and twitching up against my left hind leg. I knew what it was, and I was disgusted.

“How stupid do you think I am?” I asked the stallion sarcastically as he ran his horrid foreleg up my back. A shiver of pure disgust ran up my spine as he ran his hoof over my right wing. I had use every fiber of my being to fight off the urge to just open my wing and slapped him in the face as he walked back in front of me.

“Given that you’re a mare, well… you can’t blame me for assuming things.” The stallion said with a smile that made me want to break every tooth in his precious mouth.

“Leave her alone!” Breeze shouted stepping protectively in front of me. I didn’t need his help, but it was nice to know that he had my back.

“Oh, look what we got here boys!” The stallion said sarcastically back to his companions, and I think I have never seen Breeze more angry in my life.

“I was beginning to think that you were just going to stand there in silence. Do you even care about this mare?” The stallion asked Breeze sarcastically. Him getting a few from his partners.

Their laughter came to a quick end when Breeze took a step forward and stomp his hoof.

“Yes…” Breeze said with an amount of firmness in his voice that I didn’t expect coming from Breeze. Breeze turning his head to face me and his angry frown dropped into a pleasant smile. Breeze’s blue eyes turning from ones of rage into ones of love.

“I love her.” Breeze said directly to me with a warm smile that brought one of my own to my muzzle. Breeze’s smile and eyes filled with love then quickly returned to eyes of rage and an expression of hate as he turned his, and his attention, back to the largest stallion.
“And you, and the rest of heathens can take your offer and shove right up your ass and have it stay there!” Breeze shouted at the stallion enrage. The entire Temple becoming silent just after Breeze spoke.

“I take it that you reject my offer?” The stallion asked Breeze, him seeming to already know Breeze’s obvious answer.

“No, we don’t accept offers from cretins like you.” Breeze said to the largest stallion. Breeze being more assertive than I have ever seen him before. I think I wanted to kiss him at that moment. Not a kiss between lovers, but like a kiss between siblings. He really was like that little brother that I never had, and I loved him for it.

“I see.” The stallion said while sounding genuinely disappointed. He remained silent for a few seconds before he cracked another one of his signature crooked smiles.

“Hmm… bravery.” The stallion said in a voice that sounded like he was genuinely impressed. “I like bravery, it’s not something that you see so much in this world anymore.” The stallion said to Breeze, seeming to direct his words towards his companion that had the messed up leg. The stallion sending a sharp look the other stallion’s way. The stallion with the messed up leg looking away from his boss’ gaze. “But, bravery is also a sign of stupidity.” The stallion said to Breeze, his tone becoming my much darker.

“Hot Blooded, if you would do the honor?” The stallion said back to the smallest, and seemingly the most mentally unstable, of his two other companions.

“Copy that, boss.” The smallest stallion said as he walked in front of his leader. The stallion both me and Breeze as if we were a piece of meat that he wanted to sink his teeth into.

“What are you talking about?” Breeze asked with a look of confusion on his face.

“Oh, you will find out soon enough.” The largest stallion said to Breeze. “Do it, Hot Blooded.”

“Ha, ha, with pleasure boss.” Hot Blooded, if that was even his real name, said as he pulled a small revolver seeming out of nowhere and put into his mouth.

Then… boom!

The Temple’s quiet atmosphere was broken by the sound of a gunshot. A gunshot from a revolver in the smallest stallion’s mouth. The stallion aiming the revolver directly at Breeze’s head.

“Breeze!” I shouted as I watched helplessly as my closest friend dropped to the ground. Breeze landing with a thud in front of me. His eyes were closed and he didn’t seem to be breathing.

“Breeze!” I cried out in terror as I dropped to his side and wrapped my forelegs around his body and neck. The bullet from the smallest stallion hitting Breeze right in the head, just above his eyebrow and piercing through his skin. The bullet looked like to have gone into Breeze’s skull, there was no exit wound. It seemed to just graze him, but… he wasn’t getting up! I could no longer see his beautiful blue eyes! There was no weight in his body!

“No, Breeze!” I cried as I shook my unicorn companion’s seemingly lifeless body with all of my might. “Breeze, get up!” I cried as I tried anything, and everything, that I could just in hope that Breeze would open his eyes. He didn’t even seem to be leaving.

I was so focused on Breeze that I didn’t even notice that the largest stallion had made his way behind me before it was already too late.

“Oh shut up, already!” The largest stallions said as he wrapped his disgusting forelegs around my body and began to lift me into the air.

“No! LET ME GO!” I shouted as I kicked my legs in every direction, in a desperate manner to break free.

“If you say so.” He said with a level of sarcasm that made my blood boil. He then threw effortlessly to the ground. My head hitting the crack floor of the Temple and making my vision go blurry and my ears begin to ring.

“You monsters!” I shouted at the three stallions as I tried to gain my footing. I tried to use my magic, but nothing seemed to work. Maybe it was the hit that I had taken to my head. I don’t know, but it just wasn’t working.

“No, we aren’t monsters.” The largest stallion said in a soft voice that just didn’t fit the situation as his massive frame towered over me.

The stallion placing his left hoof onto my chest and pressing down with all of his weight. I cried out as I heard one of my ribs snapping like a twig.

“How can you even say that!?!” I cried out in pain.

“Because I know exactly what I am.” The stallion said in an even soft tone than before. His words that he spoke weren’t full of malice or creepiness, but instead, something that if given a different situation I might have seen as wisdom.

“I know that you see me, and my men as monsters.” He said down to me. I could only snort back at him in disgust. I quickly regretted it as my actions only lead to the stallion increasing his weight on my chest at my defiance.

“I have accepted the creatures of your type would see me and my men and such.” The stallion spat bitterly at me. I couldn’t tell if he was talking about me being a dragon, or me being a mare, or both, but I didn’t care. No matter what he said he was the monster in this situation, and I was going enjoying beating his skull into the ground when this was all over with. He then pressed his left down harder on my broken rib. A painful groan coming from me.

“Being a monster is simply just a matter of perspective, my dear.” The stallion whispered to me as he leaned down so that we were both muzzle to muzzle.

“And from my perspective.” He said as he returned to his full height. His left hoof still on top of my chest but the pressure that he was applying being less than he had before.

“You’re the monster and I am the hero sent to rid you from this world.” The stallion said as he began to rise his right foreleg off of the ground.

“In my own way, of course.” He said as he kicked me in the face. His words along with a short zap of pain being the last thing that I remembered before I blacked out.

I don’t know how long I was out but when I finally came to I could hear voices. I could only recognize one of them. The one that I recognized being the voice of the largest stallion. The other voice I didn’t recognize but since it wasn’t Breeze’s, it wasn’t that difficult for me to guess that it was the voice of the third member of their little crew. The stallion that had that one messed hind leg.

I didn’t open my eyes just yet. I wanted to hear what they were saying, maybe they would give some important information without even knowing it.

What I ended up hearing actually only made my heart break into over a thousand tiny pieces.

“What do we do with him?” I heard the stallion that I marked as the one with the messed hind leg ask. That was when my head flooded with memories of when Breeze was shot by the smallest stallion. He couldn’t be dead, could he? No, this was Breeze, he would never leave me.

“We’ll deal with his later, right now we have different matters to attend to.” I heard the voice of the largest stallion say. His words being followed by the sound of hooves making contact with the tile floor of the Temple. The sound of hooves started out quiet but quickly grew in volume as time went on. I could make out two different set of hoof steps. They were walking towards me and there was at least two of them.
“Are you sure that you want to do this boss?” I heard the stallion with the messed leg ask the largest stallion.

“Are you doubting me, Cool Headed?” I heard the largest stallion ask the one that had the messed up leg. I made a mental note of his name, he seemed to be the most reasonable of the three and the only one that I thought I could help me if things went awry.

“Of course not boss…” I heard Cool Headed say before his words seemed to stop mid-sentence. He had either paused or was now whispering to the larger stallion.

“Relax, Cool Headed. We need not worrying about the dragon.” The largest stallion said to Cool Headed, the two of them now talking about. Or they were already about me and I just missed the transition in their conversation.

“Besides, she a little chained up at the moment.” He said if and my eyes were opened I think they would’ve popped out of my skulls. That was when I finally realized that there was something loosely wrapped around the ends of each my legs. Out of instinct and fear I moved my right foreleg and came to find out that I could only move it about a foot in each direction. My movements didn’t go unnoticed as the two stallions stopped talking.

“Shit!” I thought as I knew my cover had been blown.

“Hmm… looks like our little meal has returned to the land of the living!” I heard the largest stallion say. A rush of disgust rushing over my body as he spoke. My disgust being directed at his choice to refer to me as his ‘meal’. I was no meal of his. If I didn’t want to kill me then, which I did, I definitely wanted to now.

“Oh come on, I know you are awake. Why don’t you let me see those beautiful eyes that you have?” I heard him asked me as he ran his hoof up my left hind leg. If I wasn’t chained up I would’ve kicked him.

“Boss, are you sure that is necessary?” I heard Cool Headed ask the largest stallion.

“Shut it, Cool Headed!” The stallion snapped at his companion. “A mare needs like this needs to be coked out of their shell.” The stallion said as he ran his hoof further up my leg. My scales crawled as his dirty hoof moved further up my body.

“Ah!” I cried out as he ran his hoof over my pussy. His hoof spreading apart my pussy’s lips and sending a zap of… throughout my body. My eyes snapping open at the sudden contact.

“There they are. I missed them. Plus, you got one very nice pussy if I do say so myself.” He said as he continued to run his hoof over my pussy. His hoof now working at speed. I arched my back and let my head hit the tile ground. My entire body being rocked with a flurry of mixed emotions and sensations.

“What do you want from me!?!” I spat at the larger stallion as he stood above me. My body was probably shaking with fright, but I didn’t care. The angry glare that I was sending him was enough for me.

“Hmf… I think you already know the answer to that question.” He said as he opened his mouth and ran his pink tongue across the purple scales of my chest.

He licked me, he BUCKING licked me! I tried every possible to break out the chains that constrained me but they didn’t budge.

“Boss, what are you doing?” Cool Headed asked the stallion that was about to rape me. Cool Headed’s question making the orange eyes of the larger stallion shrunk to the sizes of peas and he stood up and turned to face Cool Headed.

“I’m doing what we always do when we find a mare. We kill their male companion if they have one. We knock them out and then send them back her to have our way with them.” The larger stallion said to Cool Headed. I wasn’t really surprised that I wasn’t the first mare that he had raped, but damn. He said this as if was nothing. I guess I wasn’t surprised that he had raped mares before, but more just how long he had been doing it. The stallion didn’t look to be that much older than I did anyway. Was I feeling pity toward this stallion?

No! He is evil and deserves to die. No matter what his past might be, he deserves to get pummeled into the ground.

“Why must you rape every mare that we come across?!?” Cool Headed angrily demanded his boss to answer. I couldn’t believe it, one of this stallion’s was actually defending me. Maybe things were as bleak as I thought.

“Don’t patronize me, Cool Headed. You know exactly why I do exactly what I do.” The largest stallion said to Cool Headed, and his subordinate went completely silent.

“No, if you are so insecure about this then why don’t you get rid of that trash in the time being!” The largest stallion snapped at Cool Headed.

My anger towards this stallion grew to a new height as he pointed at the lifeless body of Breeze. Breeze wasn’t trash and he deserved to be treated with the respect that he deserved

I then heard a loud crash come from seemingly nowhere. The largest stallion groaning at the strange occurrence.

“But make sure that Hot Blooded didn’t just kill himself first if you be so kind?” The largest stallion added to Cool Headed previous orders.

“Copy that, boss.” Cool Headed said to the largest stallion as he turned around as he followed the largest stallion's orders.

“I do I even still hang out with you two?” I heard Cool Headed ask himself as he walked away. He then turned around a pile of the Temple’s rubble and now I was alone. I was alone with him. And he knew it.

“Now that, that’s out of the way.” He said as he returned his attention back to me. His signature Omega sent smirk across his muzzle as he ran his orange eyes up and down my body.

“Let’s get down to business, shall we.” He said as he stood above me. My nose being rushed with his horrid scent again. I looked away from his muzzle and down his body. And that was when I almost lost my lunch.

My gaze falling on the stallion’s rock hard cock that was hovering just above my pussy. His cock was pitch black and had a flare that was twice as wide as the rest of his cock was. That was when it hit me.

This was happening again, I was going to be raped twice within the same week. I still didn’t know long I was knocked out the first time that I was raped.

“This is going to be fun.” He said as he repositioned his body so that his cock rested right up against the entrance of my pussy. Then I felt him began to push forward. My pussy, which was still sore, screaming in both pain and… as its lips creaked open.

“Wait!” I shouted just before he could insert the head of his cock inside of my pussy.

“Yes.” He stopped, I didn’t think actually would. “Yes, what is it that you need?” He asked in a tone of voice that in a different I might have believed that we were just about to have some really kinky sex, not me getting raped on the tile floor of the greatest Temple that had ever existed.

I swallowed an invisible apple in my mouth as I stared directly into his eyes.

“I won’t do this if you aren’t happy. I make it my duty to make sure that all of my mares enjoy their ride.” He said as he ran his hoof across my face. I felt the sides of my eyes fill with tears.

“I-I just…” I began to say. My voice being shaking and me choking over my own tears and a knot in my throat that only seemed to grow in size.

“Yes, what is it?” He asked me in a soft voice that my stomach turn.

“I just… want to pray. If that’s not too much to ask?” I asked him, a look a strange understanding spreading across his muzzle at my words.

“One last time before, you know.” I said looking down his hard cock that was twitching up against my swollen pussy.

“I understand.” He said as he began to get off of me. “You haven’t been the first mare to ask me for a prayer. And I might not be a religious colt myself, but I respect those who are. Finding something to worshiped in a place like this, is admirable.” He said to me, her voice holding the same softness as before. I couldn’t tell him he was being genuine with his words, or if he was just trying to butter me up before he fucked the daylights out of me. I wanted to believe the former, that there really was a good stallion buried underneath all of the evils that he had done. But, I knew that the latter was more likely, and that brought, even more tears to my eyes. Was this was the wasteland really did to ponies, and dragons. I guess I was about to find out.

“I’ll give you some privacy for the time being.” He said to me and I almost hear my heart jumping at his words.
My hope almost left me completely when the stallion finished his thought. “But I wouldn’t recommend it. This place has lost any kind of sacrality long ago.” He whispered to me as he lay back on top of me. His rock hard cock resting on top of my lavender colored scales of my underbelly.

“And it’s not getting it back anytime soon.” He said something that most have been sacrilegious somewhere. The stallion running his sickly pink tongue across the side of my face before he stood back up.

“But, I will still grant your request. Even as shortsighted it might be.” He said as he turned around and started walking away from me. An internal sigh washed over me as he continued to trot away.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, don’t go anywhere.” He said in the patronizing tone of voice that I had come assumed to getting from him.
“If you even could.” I heard him say to himself as he trotted away.

The moment he had left earshot I went straight for the chains that bound me. But no matter how much I tried and tried all I would get was the resounding clang of metal that refused to budge. The chains must have been made out of steel and each of their stakes had to have been implanted several feet into the ground.

My forelegs collapsed onto the tile floor. It was useless. There was no way that I could’ve broken out of my chains on my own. Despite being a dragon I could never find a way of creating any fire of my own, and my magic still didn’t seem to want to work. Maybe it was because I was too hungry, or because I was dehydrated. I didn’t know, all I did know was that I was bucked!

“It can’t end like this.” I whispered to myself as I stared up at the ceiling of the Temple that had fallen in on itself years before I was even a thought. That was when my eyes caught something that I hadn’t noticed before.

The roof had given away but it had also given me a perfect view of the statue of the Alpha that rested atop of the Temple. The statue was still in good shape, good in comparison to the rest of the Temple. I could still make out a small section of his golden finish and the globe that he held in his right claws was held firmly in his grasp.

I didn’t actually plan on praying to the Alpha, I had just said that in hope that it would make him leave and it would allow me to escape. But now with my hopes dashed and my gaze focused entirely on the statue of the great Alpha I didn’t have much of a choice. So did I only thing that I could. I prayed. I prayed to a creature that I had been having doubts even existing. I hope that all you don’t hate me for it. I was desperate, what else could I do.

Let me ask you a question. If you were in my situation, what would you do?

I prayed in a last ditch effort to get any kind of hope. What would you do?

“Alpha…” I began my small prayer as I stared up at the golden statue of the Alpha that was above me. “I know it has been a long time since I had talked to you, but…” I said up to the statue the black sky of above lighting up with what seemed to be some kind of green lighting. It had been… longer than I could even remember since I had actually prayed to the Alpha. Not including the times that I would join my mother in pray before we ate dinner. I mean actually, to him, it had been so long.

“I need you right now and I’m sorry.” I said up to the golden statue. I must have looked ridiculous to someone who was watching me. A dragon that was chained spread eagle to the ground praying to a golden statue. Yeah, ridiculous. But I still did it.

“I’m sorry that it has been so long since we had talked last. I’m sorry that would even think to doubt your existence. I’m even sorry for the current state of your Temple.” I apologized to the golden statue. I knew that the last apology was not my fault but given what was most likely going to happen to me next. I guess I just needed to cover my basis beforehand.

“So, if you do exist. If you still have any power to change the world. If this place is still as sacred I believe it is. Please, for the love of you, please. Please, set me free. Set me free from this chains and allow me the strength to get vengeance on the ponies that would dare try to destroy your name.” I said to the golden statue.

“I say this in the name of you, the Alpha, the greatest dragon that has ever lived. Amen.” I finished my prayer and it might have been my imagination by I could’ve sworn to the Alpha himself that I saw a small twinkle coming from the eye of the statue of the Alpha.
That was when I heard something that I thought I would never hear again, and it brought tears to my eyes.

“About time he left.” I heard the voice of somepony that I thought I would never hear again.

“Breeze!” I shouted out into the emptiness of the Temple.

“Shh!” Breeze scolded me as he quickly ran over to my side. I felt tears flow from my eyes the moment that I saw his signature yellow coat.

“Don’t worry Eta, I’m going to get you outta this death trap.” Breeze said to me as to began to fiddle with the chains that held my forelegs.

“But… Breeze… I-I…” I tried to asked my closest friend. I was still in a state of shock that he was even alive.

“Saw me get shot?” Breeze finished my question for me. I could only nod my head in response, it was one of the few things that I could do given that I was still chained to the ground.

I saw a small smile spread across as he fiddled with the chain that restrained my right foreleg. “That small stallion, Hot Blooded or whatever his name is, isn’t the best shot. The bullet barely grazed me.” Breeze said to me as he pointed his right hoof up to his left eye. There being a small cut that ran up from his left eyebrow and ended just before his hairline. If you didn’t know any better you might have thought that he had been cut by a small knife and not just be shot in the head by a revolver.

“Are you going to be ok?” I asked Breeze out of concern for his health, I did believe that he was dead less than a minute earlier.

“I’ll be fine, it was just a flesh wound. It will heal and probably won’t even leave a scar.” Breeze said to me as he continued to struggle with my chains. Breeze’s voice making it sound like getting shot in the head was nothing special. Had Breeze always been like this and I just hadn’t noticed, or had this happened this entering the wasteland. I don’t know. But right now I had bigger things to worry about than Breeze’s choice of words. I was still chained to the ground after all.

“It’s great to see you, Breeze.” I said to Breeze, a small smile spreading across his muzzle at my words. A smile that faded when the chains that had me refused to budge an inch.

“Damn it!” Breeze exclaimed as he let the chains that held my right foreleg to the ground. “They must be made of steel, I can’t do anything to them.” Breeze said as he began to scan the room.

“What are you looking for?” I asked Breeze. Despite my position, I could still help him.

“Your saddlebag.” Breeze said as his light blue eyes widened as he saw my brown saddlebag laying on top of some rubble. “Ha, perfect!” Breeze said as he ran over to where my saddlebag was and began to run through its contents. “If I can’t break the chains that hold then I am going to do the next best thing.” Breeze said as he pulled his father revolver out my saddlebag. Breeze holding the gray revolver in his gray magic.

“And what is that?” I asked Breeze with alarm in my voice in my voice. Breeze raising the revolver and pointing it directly at me.

“The only way I know how, now don’t move.” Breeze said as he pointed the revolver at the chains that restrained my right foreleg. I followed Breeze’s instructions to the letter and made sure not to move a muscle in my legs. My head being the only thing that moved. I shut my eyes and moved my head to the left away from where Breeze was aiming. And I waited, and I didn’t have to wait for long.

Boom! The shot from the revolver rang out. Then heard the sound of chains that held my right foreleg in place shatter. The bullet from the revolver working perfectly as intended.

The shot from the revolver didn’t go unnoticed, however, the voice from the largest stallion of the trio sound out.
“What in Tartarus!”

“Eta, stay down!” Eta ordered at me with more command in his voice than I had ever heard from him before. “I’ll handle these cronies.” Breeze said as he cocked the revolver, ready to fire the moment the stallion returned.

“Breeze, are you sure?” I asked my closest friend, he wouldn’t even fire his revolver at zombie-ponies. Nothing more than wild animals, what made him so sure that he would be able to shoot actual living and breathing ponies now.

“Yes.” Breeze said without hesitation in his voice.

“But what about before?” I asked Breeze.

“Before you weren’t being chained to the floor by ponies that don’t deserve to live!” Breeze angrily shouted as his light blue magic tightened around the pistol that he was holding. “I’m not killing ponies, Eta. I’m riding this bucked planet of some of its trash.” Breeze said to me before shifting his attention back to the pile of rubble that the largest stallion that left from. Breeze eagerly awaiting for his gray coat to poke around so that he could feel his body full of lead.

“What is Tartarus is going on here!” I heard the largest stallion said as I saw the gray color of his fur pick out from around the large pile of rubble.

I watched as Breeze’s light blue magic took on a slight green coloration. A clear sign that he was using SATS.

Then… Boom! The similar sound of a shot from the revolver sounded out. The largest didn’t know what hit him. Breeze’s bullet rang true as it went straight through the largest stallion’s neck.

“Buck!” The stallion shouted as he dropped to the ground covering the bullet hole with his hoof. He squirmed on the ground for a few seconds until his body went limp and his hoof left his neck. Me not having a doubt in my mind that he was, in fact, dead.

“And stay dead!” Breeze bitterly shouted at the dead stallion as he returned his attention back to me.

“Don’t worry, I got you covered.” He said as he quickly shot out the other chains that were holding me in place. The chains that restrained me breaking loose with a single shot from Breeze’s pistol.

I didn’t waste any time regaining my feet and was quickly back at Breeze’s side. Me sending a quick look up at the golden statue of the Alpha that was above and mouth a thank you up at him. He had answered my prayer. I had no doubt in my mind anymore, he was real and he definitely still had power.

“Breeze, pistol me!” I ordered at Breeze, returning to the role as leader of our small group. Breeze following my command and giving me the other pistol that I had in my saddlebags. Breeze also throwing my saddlebags over to me. I simply just draped the bag over my shoulders. I wasn’t going to bother going the extra time and effort in order to properly wear them again.

I quickly reloaded the pistol that Breeze had given me and sent out hunting. The sounds of hooves thundering on the tile floor being a beacon that a battle was about to commence.

“Die!” The smallest stallion shouted as he fired his revolver at the both of us. The both of us taking cover behind a large piece of rubble. Breeze was right, he was a terrible shot. The stallion only hitting the piece of rubble that we were heading behind only once, and even when he did it was only barely. He was an earth pony, after all, maybe it was just a species thing. Aiming a gun with nothing but your mouth must be difficult.

But, no matter. If he’s shooting didn’t get any better it would just make it easier for the both of us to kill him with a bullet of our own.

“You will both pay for what you have done!” I heard the smallest stallion shout as he fired another shot at us. The bullet hitting the pile rubble that we were taking cover behind as few inches from where my head was. The small section of the granite rubble cracking off at the impact.

He was getting better, damn it!

I hadn’t seen Cool Headed since he had left earlier. Maybe he had taken the gunfire as a means to get himself out a bad situation. If so then good for him, he has so far been the only stallion (outside of Breeze) to actually show any kind of kindness in the last week or so.
There weren’t any gunshots for several seconds after the last one that the stallion had fired at us.

Thinking that the stallion was busy reloaded I deemed it safe enough to peek around our cover. I quickly began to reject my life decisions as I heard another shot ring out and the force of a bullet scraping across my face hit me like

“BUCK!” I shouted as I dropped to the ground. The bullet from the stallion’s revolver having scraped passed the scales that covered my nose. The force of the impact making me lose my balance and I dropped to the ground with a thud. I wasn’t hurt that badly. The bullet doing nothing more than scratching my hard scales.

“Eta! Are you ok!” Breeze cried out as he used his magic to dragged back behind cover.

“I’m fine!” I grunted as I gritted my teeth. My veins being filled with the familiar sense of both adrenaline and rage.

“Yeah, take that you stupid bitch!” I heard that evil stallion shout in triumph behind me. And my brain snapped.

“That’s it!” I shouted as I climbed to my feet and bomb rushed around the corner of our cover. The stallion had left his own cover and was beginning to advance on our position. I guess he wasn’t expecting either of us, yet alone a dragon with scales of steel, to attack him. The stallion getting startled and dropping the revolver that was in his mouth. The revolver falling to the ground in a small crash.

I didn’t allow the stallion to recover any ground. My body slamming into his with the force of a bull at full speed. I could hear the sound of his bones cracking at the impact. A small smile spreading across my face at the sound. It was satisfying, finally I was the one giving the pain, rather than the receiving end of it.

“You like taking advantage of mare!?!” I shouted as I slammed the slammed the stallion’s body into the ground. The tile floor cracking from the impact.

“You like my them your playthings!” I shouted as I punched the stallion across the face with my right claws. My rage blindly my brain and my actions. All I knew was that he was evil and needed to die. My rage did the rest.

“You like defiling them!” I roared as I delivered another spike on the stallion’s face, this time with my left.

“Well what about now, how do you like this you sack of shit!” I shouted as tears began to feel my eyes as continued to deliver punch after punch on the stallion’s skull. The sound of the bones of his face crushing from the force of my punches being the only thing stopping me from passing out from exhaustion.

“Die, die, Die!” I shouted as I delivered my last few punches on the stallion’s face. My energy was spent. I couldn’t even move my body anymore. My vision was blurry from both my tears and the blood of the stallion whose face I had just pounded into the ground.
The stallion’s face being completely unrecognizable and looking more like a mushy pile of oatmeal than anything else. A pile of bloody red oatmeal.

“Breeze…” I whimpered as I turned away from my work. My gaze being my the open forelegs of Breeze.

I didn’t hesitate as I fell into his soft embrace. He hadn’t stopped me, he just let me let out all of my anger.

“Thank you, Breeze.” I whispered to Breeze as I tightened my grip around Breeze’s body. My small claws digging into his back. I could feel the muscles in Breeze’s shoulders tightening up as my claws dug into his skin. But he didn’t say anything.

“You’re welcome, Eta.” Breeze whispered back as he lightly kissed my forehead.

I slowly pulled out of the hug and began to walk in the direction of a set of stairs. I made sure not to step in the blood and gore of the stallion that I had just killed. I didn’t care about ‘disgracing’ his body. I just didn’t want to get any more of his bodily fluids on me. I had enough already.

“Where are you going?!?” Breeze called out to me, but I didn’t stop.

“Exploring, we have this whole place to ourselves. We might as well make the most of it!” I called back to Breeze as I turned down a corner that led up to a set of stairs that were made out of the same granite material that the rest of the Temple seemed to made out of.

“You’re the boss, boss.” Breeze said as he lightly nudged my shoulder. A small laugh coming from me as I lightly nudged him back. I don’t know what I would do without Breeze, but I knew that nowhere how far into the Pits of Tartarus we would go Breeze would be right beside me.

I was ready for whatever was going to come. And soon our little duo would grow in size. But I’m getting ahead of myself. You first would have to meet her first.

Silver Bullet, the mare that would change my life forever. In more ways than one.

Level Up! New Perk: No Pen For You!--Your body has built up an immunity to penetrations. All melee weapons that have a blade and all forms of bows have their damage reduced by half.

Author's Note

Who is Silver Bullet, well there is only one way to find out. I'll see you all next chapter.

The language that the title of the Alpha 'bible' is written is Norwegian. I used Bing translate for the title so if someone actually speaks Norwegian and knows it is wrong, please feel free to tell me.