The Book of Salzar

Yet another village appeared below the Ancient-possessed crow. It was one in a many, for the Ancient's determination was enough for it to continue the journey until the task was complete. Although the book was heavy and the vessel's wings became less and less effective, the Ancient barely felt any of it, since it wasn't a body that truly belonged to it. As soon as the Ancient leaves the vessel, it will most likely die from exhaustion.

Its gaze was turned to the village. The ponies had no sense of architecture or even art for that matter. Every building looked like a rip-off from all the others, save for the color. To think that its people had to share their lands with such incompetent organisms was enough to make its stomach turn upside-down.

Approaching the outskirts, the Ancient was able to notice a rather mind-boggling scene. A makeshift wooden stage where a blue pony talked to its audience, which was busy staring in complete silence. As soon as the blue pony finished its obnoxious shouting, the stage burst into fire as fireworks flew upwards, straight towards the Ancient.

"Calm down! Please calm down! The Great and Powerful Trixie planned it all!"

Trixie felt like somepony cursed her. Probably Sparkle.

Needless to say, she never planned for the stage to set itself on fire. Not by the fireworks that were supposed to symbolize her introduction, at least. The entire show was ruined before it even started!

The ponies either screeched or scattered, searching for water. The little ones began crying and looking for their parents. And Trixie... Trixie just stared, then closed her eyes and slowly lowered her head.

She had it enough. The Downfall brought only misfortune to her and her business. Everypony was busy protecting themselves or being on edge. Nopony cared about her and her show. It was bad before, but now it felt like the whole thing was just cursed. Oh, if only she knew, how much that event would change her life. Trixie the entertainer would be gone, replaced by a Trixie that deserved to be called "the Great and Powerful".

She had no idea why she opened her eyes at that point. Perhaps because she could take one last sight of the world she lived in for so long. What was the point of guessing the reason when she would soon burn with the stage, since Equus rejected with extreme prejudice?

It was then when she noticed a small black dot on the floor. A small, insignificant dot amidst the burning Tartarus. For some reason, the dot started quickly expanding, leaving Trixie confused. Was she seeing things now? Strange, it reminded her of... of...

Of something falling.

Bam! Right there, right then. Something did fall and it had such an impact on Trixie that she jumped back in surprise, as if she awoke from her sleep.

What the heck was she doing?! She was the Great and Powerful Trixie! If she died, Equus would never recover! Everypony would mourn her death and eventually lose the war!

That couldn't be right, she thought. She needed to live, because at the end of all that mess, she would be seen as the true hero and savior. So without further ado, and after grabbing the object with such haste that she barely registered what said object actually was, Trixie bolted from the stage and somewhere down the road. Hopefully nopony will blame the whole thing on her.

Trixie suddenly turned and went straight into a dark alleyway, desperately hoping to hide from the eyes off the villagers. She didn't want to risk the ire of everypony.

"Calm down, Trixie. It's all in your head. Nopony is hunting you down."

After she calmed herself, the unicorn turned her eyes to the object she took back at the stage. Her first reaction was, understandably, one quick, angry thought.

"Sparkle."

It was brief and held no legit connection to the object, even she was aware of it. And yet, seeing such an object would trigger her to curse that name that brought her only harm upon harm. Not that it belonged to Sparkle herself, of course, unless that pony flew above her and threw it down just to warn her that she enjoys her suffering. But.. but no. The object, the book, definitely wasn't Sparkle's. She could feel it, even to her own surprise. It just wasn't possible. The book felt... different... from the usual boring ones that Twilight owns. Even the cover was the proof.

"Hm... if it wasn't Sparkle, then who dropped it?"

Her following thought was to open the book just to see what it was about, weird considering the fact that she wasn't really a bookworm, not like Twilight at least. She supposed that its owner wouldn't really care, if she did. Right? Maybe just one page, and she would return it! It was a promise!

There was once a Diamond Dog named Rocco, son of Jasper, son of Roger. He had no children or a wife. This Diamond Dog was a passionate miner, one of the best of his tribe, who would always find the most precious gems. One day, after a particularly long working session, Rocco retreated back to his chambers, to spend the rest of the day in the land of the dreams.

Rocco never bothered remembering his dreams, as it wasn't part of his profession. Most often the dreams would be something complex, bizzare, unworthy of mentioning. That day, however, the dream was much different.

He was able to hear a voice calling him: "Rocco!"An incomprehensible warmth filled his heart as he fell to the ground, bowing his head. He was scared, confused even, due to such turn of events. "Who is there?" He asked. And lo! He was in the middle of an oasis, where the water was blood-red and the trees were dead. It was neither too cold or too hot.

Salzar rose from the water and approached Rocco. "Stand up!" He ordered. "Blessed are you, my chosen one, for you shall be my prophet, the one who will spread my word across these lands." Rocco shed tears of joy when he witnessed the Dead God's form and soon understanding filled both his heart and mind. He knew what had to be done. When he woke up, he gathered all members of his tribe and began spreading the truth. These are the words that he spoke:

Trixie was confused. She had to read and reread the same passage over and over again. For some reason, the more she read, the more she felt as if she was at the point of discovering something, a truth, that not many ponies knew. True, it did have a certain creepy "feel" written all over it, but she knew that she could handle it... unlike Sparkle.

"Right. I need to find a safe place first."

She stopped and blinked. What did she just say?

"Doesn't matter now. I need to find a shelter, and fast!"

The Great and Powerful Trixie detested vandalism. She enjoyed making fun of ponies, yes, but she never thought of things like burning houses or destroying propriety just for the sake of it. But these were hard times. Nopony would really care if she broke a window and hid inside a house, more specifically an attic? The place looked like it was never used, to be honest...

So after she broke the window and hid into the attic, she used her horn to create a small light that would allow her to read the book further. She guessed that nopony would remember to search for her in a place like that.

"I am not ashamed to spread the truth among you. But what truth, you might ask. It is a rather simple one, brothers and sisters; our savior has come. He is the one who will free us from this prison of deceit, of oppression, of powerlessness. Indeed, the Dead God will save us all.

Have you ever asked yourself what does truly create life? Is it water? Is it nature? Is it the sun? Moon? No, dear brothers and sisters. There is only one thing in the whole exsistence that can give and take a life; it is blood.

Truly, blood is what makes us whole. It can be found everywhere in our bodies. In our lungs, inside the heart, our brains, everything. In fact, it is so important, that our bodies simply couldn't function without it. But there is more to blood than that. Blood is the very essence of life in a liquid form, for it also holds our souls, the part that actually matters. Blood is nature, blood is soul, blood is life.

But one question remains. Where does our blood come from? Is there somedog who gives it to us? For what purpose? I know the answer to that question, brothers and sisters. I know our savior. His name is Salzar, the Dead God.

He spoke to me, revealing truths that my eyes refused to see and my soul rejected to acknowledge. Every race on Equus stole that blood from him, including ours. It was Salzar who opened the Sacred Vein, forming the Great Lake, the mother of all that is living, the mother that takes care of him as if he were its young, the mother that gave him a body, so that he could finally come to Equus and take back what was stolen.

It is true, my brothers and sisters. The Great Lake belongs to Salzar, but mortals abuse of the blood that is within, thus giving birth to next generations that will keep repeating the cycle over and over again. Such injustice, such degeneracy, must not be allowed to go any further.

And this is where we come in. We, the enlightened ones, the ones who see the truth as it is, are the followers of the Dead God. He revealed his presence to us and with it, the truth. He blessed us with gifts beyond mortal's understanding. He sees us as his children, his family. And we need to return the kindness, by retaking the stolen blood from the thieves.

So come, accept Salzar, for he is the only thing that can save us all.