Finally. It's all over.

The bearers of the Elements, along with the princesses, were finally able to defeat the foul being that threatened to consume all of Equus with its lust for power. The battle with Salzar, the Dead God, was perhaps one of the most frightening battles that the ponies had to go through, one that will undoubtedly be remembered for generations to come.

Truly, Salzar was a being of origins unknown. Even the two princesses, while able to feel its presence, were unable to comprehend its nature. It mocked them whenever it could, it laughed at their pathetic attempts to bring it down. It, a living god among mortals. But after great effort and incredible luck, they banished it into the void, now being nothing more than a statue in the gardens of the royal castle, waiting for the moment when the chains outlive their usefulness. Even today, the princesses claim to be able to feel its terrifying power leaking out of its cursed prison.

The cultists were slowly loosing the war after that tragedy. Day after day, the armies all over the planet would discover a carefully hidden coven, usually in the middle of their grotesque rituals, and imprison every member they could find. Most refused to surrender peacefully. Sadly, there was no other option.

Perhaps the most unsettling was the fact that one coven thrived in Ponyville, right under the princesses' noses. When discovered, no time was wasted, and the best warriors were sent after it. Even if the coven had lesser numbers, they were still posing a threat to the royal army, so much so that it took three days to imprison them all. Celestia, in all her love for her subjects, gave a chance to pardon their sins against the ponykind, against Equus as a whole. The answers she received were far from nice. Granted, the ponies in question weren't the most stable of individuals. Much to her sadness, she had to order their execution. The threat was far too big, forcing her hoof into doing things that she hoped she would never do.

As for the coven's location. It was burned down and destroyed for the fear that it could corrupt new ponies into joining the ranks of the cult. The objects used for the rituals found in the coven were sickening, even for the princesses who were used to see all kinds of things. Effigies depicting Salzar, tomes containing the ramblings of madponies, idols devoted to some horrifying beings, engraved minotaur horns, chipped claws and rusty knives, glyphed skulls, conjuring bones, enchanted codexes, archives, spellbooks, red-colored crystal orbs, stained golden chalices, pots decorated with various grotesque motifs; all of which were destroyed immediately, all...

Except for one.

Yet another day came for Celestia and her sister. Despite the tragical events that occurred during the last few months, everything in Ponyville came back to normal. Well, as normal as it could be, for while the cult was surely stopped from causing the apocalypse, there was the other threat which, while they were busy with the cult, was far from idle. One could say that the cult was nothing but a distraction, as much as preposterous such statement sounded, that they squizzed in their favor.

Staring at the city below from her balcony, princess Celestia frowned as she recalled that cursed day. The day when they decided to show up.

The room was quiet, as everypony stared at the unicorn trapped in a magical bubble that served as a prison, courtesy of Shining Armor and princess Cadance. The bearers of the Elements were ready to attack as soon as the suspect decided to act funny. Celestia stared at the grinning unicorn and walked forward until she was able to physically touch the barrier if she wanted to. She could feel an otherworldly presence emanating from the prisoner.

"Who are you?"

The unicorn raised its head and stared at Celestia, the confident grin never leaving its mouth. There was something unnatural in those eyes, she thought as the unicorn's irises were glowing in ethereal green. The voice that spoke from her ex-subject was the ultimate proof that she was dealing with an unknown threat.

"Others of your kind calls us... "the Ancients"."

Its voice sent chills down everyone's spine. The royal guards that were in the room freaked out and pointed their weapons at the prisoner, which were completely ignored as it was focused on her and her only. Cadance spoke up.

"Princess Celestia, while I appreciate your courage, I must warn you that I've never trapped a being like this. It feels... weird... but the prison will hold."

"Thank you, princess Cadance. I appreciate your concern, but worry not for me. I can take care of myself."

The unicorn prisoner laughed.

"What's so funny?!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"It's funny how dumb you are. All of you. There is none that can stop us, not even one."

"Why you-" A hoof stopped Dash from her intent.

"Wait, we need to know more about this new enemy before we can do anything! This threat may be more powerful than anything we faced before, so we need to be careful."

Rainbow sighed but listened to her friend.

"Why did you invade our kingdoms?"

"Your kingdoms? Do you honestly think that this... "Equestria" is yours?" It giggled. "Oh, you are about to learn the truth soon enough."

At the obvious threat, Celestia responded.

"Do you know who are you speaking with? You are in no position to threaten any of my little ponies."

"Is that so? Then go ahead. Destroy this vessel. I can always find another. All of you are nothing but weaklings. You lost this war before it even started."

"I heard enough!" Her sister, Luna, roared as her horn started glowing. Before she could do anything, however, the unicorn laughed once more before opening its mouth and releasing a spectral mist that easily passed the magical barrier and dissapeared through the roof.

Celestia shook her head as she went back inside. The mere thought of that event made her head hurt. This was a war on two fronts, where even the smallest mistake could lead to gargantuan consequences. On one side, there was the cult of Salzar, a bunch of madponies that worshipped the Dead God in the form of cruel and disgusting rituals. Even Discord, the embodiment of chaos, would cringe in disgust at the sight. And yet this Salzar, this Dead God, enjoyed and thrived on it. What kind of a heartless monster could enjoy something like that?!

She was now in the royal gardens. More precisely, in front of the statue that was Salzar. It stood tall and proud, few hooves taller than her, staring at her highness with a look of hatred and hostility. Despite being trapped in the void, she felt nervous around it whenever she was close.

She sighed as she turned around. One enemy was, hopefully, out of the game. Still, she wanted to learn more. She wanted to know of its origins. And the only way to do it was to read that cursed book. Who knows, perhaps it had something that could aid her in her fight against the Ancients?

After some fifteen minutes, she reached her private library and took the book confiscated from the coven. It was the only remaining object that testified about the cult's existence, as much as everypony knew. In order to prevent another possible rise of the cult, Celestia placed the book in a special box that could only be opened by her and Luna, for only they knew how to do it. Not even her student was able to know about the method, as much as she pleaded and told her she would be careful. There was simply too much at the stake. Not to mention the ever-growing threat of the Ancients...

Her horn glowed as the box opened and the book flew out. She took it to her private rooms and sat comfortably on her cushions. Before opening it to the first page, she gave one last look at its covers; hard and pitch black, covered in glowing, bright red runes. Among dozens of signs she was unable to recognize, there was one that stood out like a sore thumb. The best way she could describe it was two squares placed on top of each other, fusing together to form a star, surrounded by a circle where every inch was covered in eighteen symbols, each more complex than the last. Inside the square-star was a triangle, which in turn had an eye that stared at the reader. In fact, she was sure that, no matter in what angle the book was placed, the eye would always stare at her. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. A small ruby was engraved in each edge of the cover. Sometimes they would glow, sometimes they wouldn't.

With a final sigh she opened the book on the first page and immediately noticed something strange. The pages looked... different. No, not different as in the color of text or whatever, but in its... roughness, as if the pages were crumpled time and time again before used for their intended purpose.

She began reading.

In the beginning, there was only blood. The blood was with life, and life was blood.

The Sacred Vein formed blood, and the blood formed the Great Lake, which is to this day abused by mortals who roam in this realm of uncertainty and entropy. Their flesh weak and rotting, their hearts slowly beating with something that is not theirs. But what all fail to understand is that the stolen blood is borrowed blood, which must be paid sooner or later, thus returning to the Great Lake and repeating the cycle over and over again until the end of time.

Truly, the Great Lake is a caring mother. And like all caring mothers, it brought a child to the world. But even a caring mother can be fickle at times, and her child would suffer for it.

I was no different.

Immediately after I gave my offering to the Great Lake, I found myself in the middle of a wasteland, unsure of how, or why, I was sent there. Could it be that the great mother cursed this child of hers and wished for its suffering? There was seemingly no other explanation for my limited understanding.

I was confused, shaken, rivers of blood fell from my eyes. I cursed the great mother just like she cursed me. She wished for my death, for I was only an unplanned side effect in the great scheme of all things.

There was defiance still left in me, so I moved on. My feet touched the ground scorched by the unforgiving sun that surveyed the land. Time was irrelevant and so was my journey. There was no meaning to it all, no greater significance, no destiny, no fate, nothing. Only blood that boiled within me.

At one point, there was something that my eyes caught a glimpse of, flying in the air like the sons and daughters of the wind. My presence was known to it, so it landed not far away from me. It was no bird, unless my rotting eyes were deceiving me. But if they did, I would be eternally blind. There was no deceit present in the heathen that dared to stand in my way. A heathen malformed, a twisted creation of nature.

It happened when it began talking, that I realized its reason for exsistence. A challenge. Blood in its solid form.

It called to me. It begged me.

"Return me to the Great Lake, oh chosen one. Time is of the essence."

So I came forward and ripped its eye out of the socket. Blood gushed out the wound, spilling on the sands below and giving birth to new life unfathomable to me. Then I took a knife I held all this time and slit its throat. It was methodical, precise, so that the precious liquid can be finally free from the cage that was the flesh.

It was then when something within me roared. I could feel a desire that I never felt before. My own soul was drawn to it. When I realized my mistake, I fell on my knees and praised the great mother. The meat, although that of a heathen, filled my pit while the blood satiated my thirst. As soon as my lips tasted the copper and my nose caught the pleasant smell, I felt reborn. Even the Sacred Vein didn't brought so much pleasure as this did. My head felt numb, my senses relaxed, my soul ecstatic.

Such was my journey. For forty days and forty nights I feasted on the corpses of the heathens, drank their blood and ate their flesh. At first, it was painful, it was an object of nightmares, just like the Great Lake. Some begged. Others fought. It made no difference to me. I was the chosen. Through me, the world will finally learn the truth.

Then I found a cave...

Author's Note

Hello! My name is MarioBrosMan and, while I am new to this site, I am not new to writing. So, why did I decide to start this story? In all honesty, it came to me as an idea, one morning. And here it is. I know, I know, not really the most awesome of backstories but hey...

Anyways, this was the first chapter. Be sure to write your thoughts on it. What you liked and what you did not. The second chapter should come out soon... hopefully.